Sunday, December 10, 2023

It was a tough job but one that needed to be done. With all my packages ready for the mail, and most of them already send and/or delivered, it was time to start the cleanup in my sewing area.

My cutting table was littered with bits of fabric (not only Christmas ones), bits of wrapping paper, bits of ribbon – you get the idea. Pretty much anything I had used while finishing my projects and wrapping them had some remnant left on the cutting table.

My sewing table was in the same condition. Threads of all colours, sewing machine feet, bobbins of different colours with varying amounts of thread on them. There were pins and clips and even some of the ribbons made their way across to the surface.

My quilting machine was bogged down in projects that I want to do right away. I turned over a quilt top to Community Quilts but when I was looking at a photo I realized I had a block turned the wrong way. I dug it out of the Community Quilt cupboard at the last Guild meeting and I hope to have it fixed and back in the bin by the next meeting. I still have my Jelly Roll Race top to add borders to and, for some mad reason, I brought home a sandwich from the last Community Quilt weekend to quilt. I have another donation quilt that I’ve decided needs some borders before donating, and I don’t want to forget the placemats that need to be quilted – a Guild challenge from 2022.

I managed to get everything tidy enough that I was able to do the vacuuming this morning. The hallway and the room across the hall will have to wait another day for their turn.

I saved the toughest job of all for this afternoon. I have a library book that is due back on Tuesday so I need to sit down and finish it. I tried that yesterday afternoon but after reading just a chapter I had a little nap!

Thursday, December 7, 2023

After pushing myself to get everything in the mail yesterday Pat convinced me I should take the rest of the day for R&R. It didn’t take much convincing. So after my appointment and post office trip in the morning I decided to start tackling some of the clean up required before starting my Christmas decorating. First up was a pile of 200+ CDs that came out of the two players when we were getting rid of the one that didn’t work. I thought I’d do a few at a time but Pat was helping and we managed all of them. We had to go through several boxes of empty CD cases to find the right ones for the CDs that we took out of the old player. I’m not sure it was what either of us had in mind regarding an R&R day but at least it is done.

I had lunch out today with the group from the Book Circle. I said I would go, then thought I’d just go long enough to get my book signed, but before the morning was over I’d decided to go and stay for lunch. They are a nice group and we have always had good conversations and discussions on a variety of topics. It was my anti-social behaviour that made me not want to bother but I’m glad I went and stayed. There is talk of another meet-up at the bowling alley for a game and lunch; one of the group works for the brewing company that owns the alley.

I had the rest of my Christmas projects underway with the expectation that they would be done by the time my last delivery was made. It wasn’t supposed to even ship until the 12th, but it arrived today. I have all the fabrics cut for the projects and they won’t take long to put together but I hate that “I’m behind” feeling.

I’m off to a Guild meeting tonight.

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

In the middle of the night I had an OMG moment when I realized I didn’t have any packages wrapped for the mail. Not really a problem as I could wrap them in the morning and drop them off when I stopped in at the Guild.

I came upstairs to my computer and I had a warning about a malware program on my machine – it’s the first time I’ve seen that. I ran the CleanMyMac program but it didn’t detect anything. I did a bit of research and tried a couple of different solutions but nothing worked.

In the meantime Telus came to change our modem. While he did his thing I got ready to wrap some parcels but my colour printer wasn’t working. Pat tried to fix it but time ran out and he had to give a guitar lesson. By lunch he had it working and I was able to do my printing.

When I couldn’t clean my computer I decided I’d look to see if I was behind on any updates, although I always keep an eye on them. I found an update to my browser so I installed it but the malware message came up again. So I updated my operating system which I really didn’t want to do but it was done as a last resort.

After the upgrade finished and I restarted the computer the message reappeared but I was able to send the report to Apple and the message disappeared – hopefully for good.

I didn’t waste all my morning as I got a good start on the last of my Christmas projects. I didn’t make it to the Guild but I’m okay with that. The packages are now wrapped and ready for when I go out tomorrow so I guess I really haven’t wasted the entire day, even though it feels like it.

If I hurry I may be able to get some hand stitching ready for tonight while we watch the hockey game.

Monday, December 4, 2023

I needed to go out to the post office this morning so I went early in order to avoid the rush and the rain. It was only raining a bit when I left but I had about a ten minute wait at the post office. By the time I got home the rain was coming down quite heavily but not nearly as bad as later this afternoon when the atmospheric river hit us. It is quite windy out now and I’m sure it is raining again – they were forecasting 70 mm for us today.

I started to work on the last Christmas project idea when I got home but it didn’t go well. The prototype ended up in the bin, but I was able to save a part of it to use again. I watched a youtube tutorial but I needed to adjust the pattern and my adjustments didn’t work out. I found another tutorial for the same idea and it has worked out much better. Just seven more to do and I’ll be done!

I haven’t packed anything up for Guild sewing tomorrow. I probably won’t go to sew even if the rain lets up but I need to drop off a couple of things for the Christmas party.