Thursday, August 13, 2020

I went out to the grocery store first thing this morning, before I even had my coffee. I really didn’t want to go but I knew if I sat down with my coffee and my iPad I wouldn’t make it for the senior’s time slot.

Once I was home I got the garbage and recycle out to the curb. And when that was done I decided to tackle the rest of the recycling in the laundry room – cans, bottles and stuff for the depot. I got everything sorted out and put it all in my car for another day.

I wanted to hit both the bottle depot and the recycle depot when they first opened but I have a video chat tomorrow morning so it would be a couple of days before I could get it there and, in the heat, I didn’t think that was the best idea for my car.

So I checked the hours and hit them both closer to closing time. When I arrived at the bottle depot there weren’t too many people there but the cars started arriving shortly after. There was only one person ahead of me at the counter though so it moved quickly. The recycle depot was practically empty so I was able to unload all my bins one after another.

Once I was home I recycled all the drink boxes into the curb side pickup bin and brought the containers I wanted to keep for next time into the house. By then the garbage can and curb side recycle bin were ready to come back to the house.

I cut up a lot of apples today and got my applesauce made. They shrink down a lot and I only got one container rather than my usual three or four. That’s a good sign though as the better apples I freeze for apple crisp so there are probably more of them than usual. And I also managed to keep a few apples out for eating fresh.

I have a bit more work to do on my templates before supper but then I can cut out the pieces this evening. It feels like ages since I’ve stitched a seam but hopefully I’ll get there tomorrow.

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

For the last couple of days I’ve seen red through the leaves of the apple tree so I went out this morning to pick them. I don’t often get the variety of apple that turn red; we only get a few and they often fall to the ground before I get to them.

I picked two buckets full (from all the varieties) and they are soaking in the sink right now. I’ll sort through them and cut some for apple crisps, make some apple sauce with some and, maybe, I’ll be able to have a few fresh ones.

While I was in the yard I cut back a few of the daisies in the corner by the apple and then I started cutting back the grape and the wild morning glory. If left alone they both attach themselves to everything and could take over very quickly. I’m far from done but when I look out the window they aren’t the first thing I see. The mornings are a bit cooler these days so I’ll try to get out again tomorrow.

I didn’t do any sewing today but I did a lot of prep work. My next clue in the Hex-Along was released so I’ll get the fabric and templates cut tonight and maybe start basting them. I also drew all the templates for the aprons that will be on my Farmhouse quilt; lots more cutting for tonight.

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

I started my day with a visit from the Orkin man to remove a wasp nest that has been growing and growing over the last month. We first noticed it before our extended stay on Texada; although we were home a couple of times it was never at night so we couldn’t spray it. The next time Pat was home for the night he decided the nest was too big for him to tackle with the can of spray so we called in the pest control guy. But he was on holiday for a week and it wasn’t until today that he was able to come over and get it down. I didn’t watch to see how he did it but he said he was fully suited up and they were trying their best to attack him.

These were Bald-Faced Hornets and they are very aggressive. He said this was the largest wasp nest that he had taken down this year and the first for this type of wasp. I’m just glad it is gone although I have to say I have sat out on the back step, on the opposite side to where the nest was, and I was never bothered. I wasn’t able to hang clothes on the clothes line but that wasn’t a big hardship.

The second nest I had to deal with today was a rat’s nest of yarn. The skein of yarn I am using for Taylor’s blanket didn’t unravel properly; I wasn’t able to start it from the centre so ended up knitting from the outside of the ball to the inside. I was having trouble this morning getting the yarn to unwind so I decided to get at the centre and wind it into a ball before carrying on.

If you’ve ever done this you will know that it is just a matter of finding the right loop to pull through the rat’s nest and everything more or less unravels. This mess was no exception except that it took almost eight hours to find “the right loop”. Pat said I was very patient but after about hour four my patience turned more to stubbornness.

It’s done now and I have to say the entire day was quite relaxing as I worked my way through the mess.

Monday, August 10, 2020

The goal today was to get at some quilting. Many months ago I started quilting a project in the workshop on Texada. When I worked on other projects at home I realized that quilting wasn’t working well. I thought it was because I didn’t have the sewing table for my quilting machine. A couple of weeks ago we brought the sewing cabinet back to Powell River. I quilted a couple of cards but that really wasn’t the quilting that needed to be done; I needed to get back to some free-motion quilting.

I had a chance to test things today and it didn’t go well. In one small space I broke the thread twice and then broke two needles. Obviously the sewing cabinet wasn’t the problem. I’ve switch back to doing straight lines and the sewing is going okay but I’m not happy. The project is one that I don’t really like – a Guild Block of the Month that I don’t think anyone else finished (at least they weren’t showing it off). I think once this is done it may become a blanket for George!

At least my daily block turned out well.