Monday, February 19, 2024

It’s a holiday today but since I’ve retired long weekends don’t mean the same as they once did. That being said, I’m having a rather slow day and not really getting a lot done.

We got home just after lunch yesterday and for the rest of the day I pretended I was still relaxing on Texada. I unpacked but I didn’t necessarily put everything away. I read in the afternoon – my books from the library were all finished so I had time to pick up one of my own books that I had already started. I’m picking up two more from the library tomorrow afternoon.

It was an early hockey game today so with the bit of time I had this morning I sorted out fabrics for some of the “almost done” projects I have. I cut the first border for my Stash Buster quilt and found (after a lot of looking) the fabric for the second border.

I sorted out the remaining crochet cotton I had left from my tablecloth. I’ll see if I can sell it locally; if not I’ll probably put it back in the bin for something else. I hadn’t picked out another “while we watch TV project” since I finished my tablecloth. I thought I was going to knit the wool I purchased in Ireland into a wall hanging but since I was altering the pattern on that one I decided on something relatively mindless. I’ve started another afghan; once I pulled the yarn for it I was able to empty another bin. I can’t believe how much yarn I still have left though – at least two more afghans for sure.

After the game I numbered all of my 1880 Sampler blocks so I’ll know which of my blocks match the blocks in the layout I’m following. I also cut all the sashing and binding for that project.

I’ll get my bin ready for sewing tomorrow and then do some more reading.

Thursday, February 24, 2024

I’m enjoying my week at the studio. The sun has shone almost every day but it is still on the cool side. We got out and walked the nature trail one day and we went out for lunch on Valentine’s Day – there are no restaurants open in the evenings here.

I’ve managed to get quite a bit of work done. My Stash Buster blocks have been put together into a quilt top. I’ll add a border when I get home and then wait for a sunny and warm day to sandwich it on the back deck. I needed to work out some measurements for my Alias Grace blocks and I think I have a plan now. It works on paper anyway.

I’ve been working on the grad gift the last couple of days. Still lots to do but it is going well. I finished my huge book in time to get it onto the library bin at the post office here. I’ll finish the second book tonight. I have one more library book to start so I won’t need to dig into the bookshelf here on this trip.

We’ll be heading home on Sunday but that still leaves lots of relaxation time.

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

It seems every day this week I’ve been working a day ahead.

• On Monday I was getting ready for Tuesday’s sewing.
• On Tuesday I was getting ready for today’s session of coffee with Gail.
• This morning I was getting ready for two days of sewing with Stacia and Deloise.

But what I’m most looking forward to is our week on Texada.

Tuesday, February 6, 2023

I was off to the Guild this morning and didn’t come upstairs to my desk. But when I got to it this afternoon the first thing I did was turn over my Quilters’ Block-a-Day calendar. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Do you recall the Alias Grace block I had so much trouble with when I was putting it together from only a picture? Today’s block of the day was Solomon’s Temple, the very block I struggled so hard to get right that I had to redo it a couple of times.

It never occurred to me to look at the blocks on the calendar. Very few of them are traditional blocks but if I’m ever stumped again I’ll look there first.