You probably think I took a vacation over the Easter break. You’d be wrong. I worked almost three full days (and I mean from morning coffee to supper) working at archiving the Guild’s blog. I’m not really finished but I managed to get our usage down from 98% to 20% so that will give me a bit of breathing space to add some new photos. There is still some work (a lot of work) that needs to be done before the archived years are ready to be printed off and sent to our library.
There were some parts of the process that I enjoyed. There were lots of photos that I recognized as my own projects. I also enjoyed seeing the faces of several members who have come and gone in the eleven years I’ve been a member; for nine of those years I’ve been photographing and blogging about our activities. Perhaps the oddest thing to see though was that several of the shirts and sweaters I wear now showed up in photos from eight or nine years ago. I must go shopping once this pandemic is over.
Along with my knitting and book reading I’ve managed to finish another cross stitch block. I think I have eight left to go.
We’ve had a lovely day today; I was out to do an errand at the Hall and to pick up a few things for supper. Pat is making pulled pork and I made a potato salad to go with it. Almost like a summer meal.
I spent all day cross stitching and I have very little to show for it. There were four projects and I did a little bit on each one.
This is the result of my first month in a stitch-along. I’m pleased that I have been able to keep up, but there are really not a lot of stitches required each week. Most of them I have found easy to stitch but occasionally I get off on the wrong foot and it is more challenging to find and correct the error.
This is my first ornament of the month; I’ll use it as a card and that part of it still needs to be done. I thought it looked a bit cluttered so I’m starting another one and leaving out a few of the stitches. The second one is on green fabric and I only have a bit done – not really enough yet to see if the change I made has made any difference. At one a month I could likely keep up but now that I’m planning two a month I’m not so sure.
But that didn’t stop me from signing up for another stitch-along. It is called a Neglected Floss project. I have a drawer full of floss that has been left over from various kits; there are also some brands of floss that I don’t normally use. The instructions are coming out once and sometimes twice a month and I’ll try to keep up. It will be scrappy but the border around it will be the same throughout.
While my bread baked I did a few stitches on my cross stitched quilt block. It’s been awhile since I picked it up because I’ve been working in my puzzle book and/or reviewing Pat’s latest manuscript.
Back to normal might just be a dream, but I’m certainly looking forward to getting back on schedule. I’ve enjoyed a long break, stitching whatever I felt like whenever I felt like it. I had my sewing machines back from the technician for a couple of days before I even bothered setting them up.
Windmill
Crossroads
I haven’t been completely lazy as I finished another two cross stitch quilt block (#12 and #13 of 24). Christy posted, and perhaps challenged me to make, this little snowbird. Mine doesn’t look too much like the pattern because I used what yarn I had on hand and handy, but he is growing on me.
When we were putting things back together in the basement after the renovations Pat had two grocery bags full of old computer manuals. He posted them on Facebook for free but didn’t have any takers. I contacted our local Let’s Talk Trash team who consulted with the Recycle BC folks to find out if they could be recycled. A couple of months passed and the books moved from the kitchen to the laundry room. I did a quick search on the City’s website last garbage day and they say books are not recyclable either at the curb or at the depot. So out they went to the curb with a garbage tag on the bag. I went out for some groceries right after I put them out and when I got back home (before nine) the bag of books was gone! Who knows who took them, or what they will be used for but I’m glad they are gone.
Don’t mind the mess – work is in progress!
I played a bit with lights over the holiday. I had a large clamp-on magnifier light that has been moved from pillar to post across the years – sometimes in use, sometimes just stored away. I most recently had it attached to my “craft” table but it was in the way of plugging in (and unplugging) my iron. So I moved it over to the other side of the desk. But it was so dark and stormy the last few days that it was too dark (the fact that another light bulb had burnt out didn’t help) at my cutting table. So I moved the light over there and it is working really well for me.
Over the years I have spent hours cutting up and storing scraps of fabric. Large pieces get stored back in my fabric cabinet, smaller pieces are stored in a chest that I pull from for small projects. Strips get put in shoe boxes and the smallest pieces go into drawers in a small cabinet separated by size. It takes a lot of time and work to get everything where it should be when I clean up.
Stacia, Deloise and I are planning another retreat in a couple of weeks. I had one project almost ready to go but when I read the pattern I noticed that the technique they used for half-square triangles was completely different from the way I have learned; I’d never seen them done this way. I tested this new method out on a few scraps and couldn’t make it work. So I decided to cut my losses (as in recut the pieces I needed) so I could make the HSTs my way. I was so happy to be able to go to one of my scrap drawers and pull out 100 squares of the right size, as well as some strips that were easily cut into the additional 50 squares I needed.
But all was not lost. One of the projects we will be doing together needed 35 squares and from the fabric that I had pre-cut for that first project only needed to be cut down to give me all the pieces I needed.
I think this is the first time I’ve been able to make extensive use of my fabric scraps. It was definitely worth it this time around so I’ll continue cutting and storing in hopes that I’ll again have just the right sizes for whatever project I have in mind.
I spent most of the morning working on Hall stuff for my meeting tonight. My thought was that now that since I had passed the Secretarial duties on to someone else I wouldn’t have much prep work to do; I guess that won’t happen until the next meeting. Last year I worked on and distributed a procedures manual for the new Board members; today I updated the information and printed out copies not only for the new Board members but also for the “old” ones. Some of the information had changed and it seemed easier to print out new copies for everyone rather than figure out which pages had changed. I’m not convinced anyone reads them but they can’t say I didn’t try.
We had another squirrel whale moment at lunch when we were talking to Kathryn. Two humpbacks were swimming down the Salish Sea and doing a lot of pectoral slaps as they moved through; it was quite something to see. We’ll finish our conversation with Kathryn another day!
A couple of weeks ago I finished my first Hardanger lesson. I purchased a series of five lessons when we were in Victoria for Christmas. I started the first lesson the last time I was on Texada but finished it at home. When it was done I pressed it and attached it to the back of my door so I could admire it when I came into and left my sewing room.
The other day when I was cleaning up I took a break and stopped to admire my work because on this trip to Texada I’ll be starting lesson two. Much to my chagrin I noticed something asymmetrical about the piece. It was then I realized I had only done some of the cross stitching in the margin and not all of it.
Lesson One (No cutting involved)
I pulled it off the door today to pack in my bin but decided since it was a small amount I would get it done. Fortunately it was cross stitch and not any of the other “fancy” stitches or I might not have finished.
