Thursday, January 11, 2018

I don’t think I should plan my days ahead of time. I knew today I wanted to start my cleaning (for concert performers this weekend) and it was my first hand stitching session in such a long time. Although I got everything done as planned, it wasn’t exactly what I thought I’d be doing.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning with my plan for the day (and for the next few days) running through my head; I gave myself an hour to go back to sleep and then I got up. I was at my computer and had a lovely “chat” with Alex before he left for school. I managed to finish up the Guild work I didn’t get to yesterday, as well as clear out a few things from my personal in basket. I filed my project book pages and set out my hand stitching bin for the afternoon.

Once Pat was up I headed downstairs to get started cleaning. We decided to move the treadmill from the front entrance so when I use it I’ll be able to watch the TV. It hasn’t had much use since it was moved to the entrance so it was piled with a number of boxes and bins. Pat cleared out enough of them that we were able to start moving; first it had to go outside in order to be turned around enough to get it back inside. When we pulled up the rubber mat under the treadmill there were a number of stains on the concrete floor. Once we had the treadmill in place (and that wasn’t an easy task) I got out my scrubbing tools; one pass with the scrub brush to remove the dirt, a second pass with the scrub brush and some bleach, and a third pass with some Lysol wipes (for their anti-bacterial powers). The floor came out remarkably clean and I’ll finish the rest of it tomorrow.

Once that was all taken care of I did the cleaning I originally planned; made the bed, cleaned and scrubbed the bathroom and did the vacuuming. It was almost noon when I finished but I was please that I’d done all the extra work plus what I had originally planned.

I had my project ready to go for hand stitching but at the last minute I changed my mind. I was going to sew some Farmer’s Wife pieces together but decided I wanted something that would take less concentration. I have a bag of leftover yarn sitting in the middle of one of my rooms; I was going to pass it along to one of the fibre groups but decided there was enough of a few colours that I could make an afghan. I’d been looking at a crocheted Granny Strip blanket but it called for a chain that was a multiple of three plus two and I didn’t think I’d ever be able to get the numbers counted and right – especially while visiting. I found another pattern for a corner to corner granny square afghan so, with crochet hook in hand, I headed out.

It took me a few tries to get the pattern figured out but I’m almost a dozen rows into it now. It is very relaxing, I can visit while I do it, and I’m liking the combination of colours I’ve picked. It will be my Thursday project for the next while, although Gail and I are thinking about working on a quilting project that makes use of all her cutting dyes. She has several and she’s hardly used them. It is just the two of us now so plenty of room in her studio for a couple of machines.

I think I’ll head downstairs now and see how the treadmill actually works now that it is in its new spot!