Almost Done The Quilting

 Yesterday was a lovely day with a high of 25.3C and a humidex of 31C. This morning it is 20C and cloudy. Henri is coming our way but will be later arriving than anticipated. We are expecting 26C and showers today.

Lifestyle

We were busy yesterday morning doing some weed control. Just before lunch we left to get some items we needed. We were home by 2:30 pm happy with our shopping. 

We put down the chairs and laid down the umbrella due to Henri. We are being careful though they say we are not to have a lot of wind. One never knows what these storms will do. 

Sewing

I finished up one of the rectangular hot pads. The other one is at the sewing machine to do the horizontal stitching.

I am learning a lot about how crazy it is to sew many many rows of straight stitching. Square up before stitching and don't square up afterwards. Things do shift even when using basting spray. 

I may end up making 4 bowl cozies for daughter out of the teal fabrics. I am going to make some for us in snowflake fabric so can do hers at the same time. That will finish up her set. As ours is for the summer, I will do a table runner in the teals for the server. 

Knitting

I am working away at the gusset. I think I am about half way done. Keeping track of the instep pattern, decreasing the gusset, and the padding stitch under the heel is a lot of thinking. No mistakes so far. Hopefully pictures tomorrow. 

Today

I am going to do housework and laundry today and sew this afternoon and knit tonight. It is a stay at home day for us. 

Until the next time......................................................

Crashed and Burned

 Yesterday was another warm day with a high of 25.4C with a humidex of 29C. This morning it is 14C at 6 a.m. with lots of fog. We are to have sunshine and 27C today.

Lifestyle

I crashed and burned yesterday. I hit the wall of exhaustion that led to me being cranky and angry. Let me say, I wasn't a nice person to be around. Outside I pulled some weeds around the house that I had sprayed and inside I did get 2 loads of laundry done ready to be folded. 

By last night I was aching in a lot of my joints. I took Advil and slept good. I even slept in this morning for an hour. It will be a slow moving today but I'm feeling better. 

The Spousal Unit picked grape tomatoes and I took a bag of ripe ones to family. The rest need to be sorted and some go to friends. The crop of grape tomatoes is on track to being bumper. Four Early Girl tomatoes have been picked and will ripen in the window for a couple of days. 

Sewing

I spent quite a bit of time in the sewing room calming down. I am quilting the last rectangular hot pad and, if there is enough thread, I will do more quilting on both of them. 

Next up is to sew the strips of binding together so I can bind the 5 pieces. The pot holders and hot pads have used up 2.3 meters of fabric and when the 4 place mats are included the total is 4.9 meters of fabric. That doesn't include the batting or insulbrite. 

I am looking forward to starting the quilt for the cat. But, before I start, I will make some piping for daughter. I'm trying to sew more of it for her and doing it between other projects. I am behind on making it.

Knitting

I enjoyed knitting yesterday. I watched the videos on the sock and by last night I was knitting the gusset. I'm back in the round. 

I am impressed with the lady who does the videos as she explains why you do certain things. The edge of the flap was wonderful and made picking up the gusset stitches so easy. Where to add extra stitches so no hole when you join the gusset to the top of the sock. I get the process now. One thing she does is the padded stitch of the heel right under the heel to the arch. I'm doing that on this pair also and may continue doing it on all the socks I knit. It doesn't take much extra time to do. 

Today

I am going to be doing what I can inside and out. I want to finish up the quilting of the hot pads and start sewing the binding together. I will knit also. I'm not pushing myself as I need another good night's sleep. 

Until the next time........................................................

Leg of Sock Completed

 Yesterday was a wet humid day. The high got to 25.4C with a humidex of 34C. There was 1.5" of rain fall by 2 p.m. This morning it is 19C and we are to have sunny weather with a high of 26C. 

Lifestyle

I headed into the city with daughter-in-law and we did up Home Depot. I got a pint of primer, a roller, paint tape, and grub killer. I'm ready to kill the grubs that are eating the lawn and paint some furniture. Daughter-in-law got what she needed and we went for lunch and then home. 

Once home, I crashed. I was exhausted from the heat, humidity, and poor sleeping habits. I rested and dozed and finally moved my sorry self at 4:45 p.m. to heat up dinner. 

There were 10 new cases of the virus reported yesterday and we have 41 active cases in the province. We are being very diligent once again and I will be doing fast shopping when in the city. 

Sewing

None got done yesterday though I did a tiny bit of thinking while on the couch. I have some woodland fabric in the stash that I will make a puppy quilt out of. A bit more scrappy looking but still fun. I would like to make it from what I have in the stash but I have a feeling I may have to buy a bit of fabric for the backing. 

I also spent a bit of time thinking about the Christmas placemats I want to make. I have the main fabric but need to buy 2 pieces to go with it and I need to decide on a pattern. I have one that I may try but it was too much for a tired brain to think about so I put the thought to one side.  

Knitting

I did knit last night and got the final three pattern repeats done (12 rows). 

I am happy with how it looks and amazed it only took me 3 days to knit the leg of this sock. I now have to read the pattern and watch the video for the gusset and heel. 

Today

I am still tired but not exhausted. I am going to try and clean the bathroom this morning, work on the quilting projects this afternoon and start the heel flap tonight. 

Until the next time............................................

Cleaning and Quilting

Yesterday was warm and humid. The high got to 27.7C with the humidex giving us 37C. UGH! We have a tropical cyclone warning as Henri is coming pushing the warm moist air ahead of it. This morning it is raining and 20C. We are to see 23C with a humidex of 31C.

Lifestyle

Yesterday was a busy day for us. The Spousal Unit got the rest of the ditch tidied up to his liking and was really tired when done. He just has to do along the road now. He is thankful grandson did the worst part of the weed whacking for him. 

I spent my time cleaning the dryer and scrubbing the floor in the closet and the hall. It was dirty. When done, I did some flower arranging as these flowers have been in the house for 2 years now.

 I hung a picture to see what it would look like in the hall and then added the plate. 

It has me wanting to paint the walls a light grey. 

The plate is one we bought when in a shop somewhere in BC. We have always worked with Hereford cattle and it was the perfect plate for us.

The picture is one son gave us years ago. We love it.

When I was finished, I sat back and enjoyed what I had done. Two areas are fall cleaned and I can now start the next area; the bathroom. 

We were out to watch grandson play soccer last night. They lost as they played poorly overall. They did have moments of brilliance.

There were 8 new cases of the virus reported yesterday with a total of 32 active cases in the province. We wore our masks to and from the parking lot at the game last night as did other people. We are being more careful as the numbers rise.

Sewing

I spent quite a bit of time quilting the hot pads. The 2nd one is done and is going into the gift pile.

The third one has 6 rows left to quilt and it will be done. 

There are two rectangular hot pads left to quilt and it will be binding time. By the time I'm finished, I will have used almost a full spool of Glide thread. 

When this project is done, I am going to do some piping. I'm trying to get a whole bunch of it done to ship in October. 

Knitting

While dinner was cooking, I knit on the socks. I have 3 pattern rows left to do before I start the heel. I will be looking at the next video shortly. No pictures were taken as I was moving between knitting, dinner and getting ready to go out. I am enjoying this knit and I may be making more socks this winter following along with Purl Knitter's videos. I do have yarn to use up that will make nice socks.

Today

I am heading into the city with Daughter-in-law this morning and then will be quilting this afternoon. Tonight will be knitting and I will take pictures of the sock when the leg is done. I will be reading the pattern and watching the video on how to do the heel. 

Until the next time....................................................

No Strings Attached

Yesterday was warm at 25.3C with a humidex of 32C. We had a bit of rain last evening and we woke to it raining this morning. The temperature this morning was 18C and it is to get to 25C. 

Lifestyle

I had an in/out day yesterday. It made for an interesting time which I enjoyed. We ended up having coffee at the neighbor's which was delightful. 

I did dry mop the walls in the hall and then washed all the trim and baseboards. The doors got cleaned also. I started cleaning the washer and got it done just before lunch. The dryer waits for me and then I can clean the hall floor. It is nice to have more fall cleaning done. 

Grandson got the ditch weed whacked to where the Spousal Unit can do the finishing touches that he likes to do. He did well over half of it in the afternoon and was a happy man to be busy. 

There were 9 new cases of the virus reported yesterday. Eight are related to travel or close contact and one is under investigation. We have around 25 active cases in the province at this time. Not a lot but enough to keep us wearing a mask at outdoor events. 

Sewing

I spent quite a bit of time in the afternoon quilting the 2nd hot pad. I didn't get it finished but I did enjoy myself. It is satisfying knowing I am making gifts from the stash. 

I had a good thinking session yesterday as I have been having a lot of fun in the sewing room the past few days. I have no commitments to test patterns, no deadlines to meet and I feel free to think about things in the sewing room. 

The thinking started after reading a very short article Why I Got Rid of My Fabric Stash. I realize quite a while ago I am not a stash person as my stash leaves me feeling stressed in a lot of ways. I've learned to deal with it during the pandemic. There have been moments of real stress erupt in the past 17 month and I almost trashed the stash twice or three times. 

I continue to sew down the stash. It has become easier to grab fabric off the shelving unit once I gave myself full permission to use the it any way I want to. No strings attached. It all came about when I decided to make a quilt for a cat. I had one piece of the fabric. I was busy dreaming about the other piece I was going to buy. It was while dreaming that it dawned on me to use fabric from the stash. When I finished putting it all together, I needed to buy nothing for a classy quilt for the cat. I realized I was being paralyzed by my thinking inside the box rather than outside of it. I've grown mentally which will allow me to sew more from the stash and buy only what I need to finish a project. I'm ready to sew more with the mental barriers removed.

In all reality, I will buy some fabric that is needed for gifts or to finish a project. It won't be a lot as I am focusing on what I have and not what I want.

Knitting

The socks are coming along nicely. The pattern is easy to memorize and before I know it, I've knit several repeats. I've got 10 repeats done now. 

The texture of the pattern is starting to show. I have 8 more repeats to do before I watch the next video of the series on knitting these socks. I am really enjoying this knit.

Today

I am going to finish up the cleaning from yesterday as I'm happy with the results I got yesterday. I will quilt in the afternoon. We may be going to watch grandson play soccer tonight. If not, I will knit. 

Until the next time.....................................................

Quilting Has Begun Once Again

 Yesterday was warm with a high of 27.4C. The humidity made it feel like 31C. This morning it is 14C and cloudy. We are to see a high of 27C with a chance of showers. 

Lifestyle

I tackled our bedroom yesterday. I cleaned it from top to bottom getting rid of dust that accumulates everywhere when the ceiling fan runs 24/7. By the time I was finished, the room smelled fresh and I was tired. But so worth it. I guess fall cleaning has begun early. 

Grandson was here to weed whack the ditch. He got about half of it done. It will allow me to weed the hedge quickly when it is done without fighting with the weeds. 

There was one new case of the virus reported yesterday and the number of active cases is down to 22. 

Sewing

I did some quilting yesterday and am pleased with how it looks. 

I trimmed it and it wasn't square and I'm keeping this one for me. 

I have squared up the next one already. I didn't think about squaring up as I had been away from the project for 2 weeks. Live and learn. 

Knitting

I started the socks again on a size larger needle. I also cast on 12 extra stitches and am happy I did. The knitting does feel nicer and I've got the ribbing and 3 sets of patterns done. It is a fairly fast knit.

The pattern is hard to see but I'm sure it will be noticeable when I start to knit the lighter colored yarn. I am finding these socks are relaxing to knit. I am knitting on a circular needle where as I was knitting them on double pointed needles before.  

Today

We have grandson until after lunch. I plan on cleaning the laundry area. This afternoon, I will be quilting and knitting tonight. 

Until the next time.........................................................

Working On Projects

 Yesterday was cooler with a high of 25C. The wind made it nice to be outside. This morning it is 11C and we are to have sunshine and 28C today. 

Lifestyle

We are still tired but recovering from the heat. I also had an IBS attack from having an ice-cream. I'm not very happy about that. I ate according to my diet yesterday and need to follow it all the time.

Some laundry got done yesterday and there is more to do today. While it was doing, I was outside dealing with the Swiss Chard. It grew and some bolted during the heat. DH and I assessed the garden and we will have less tomatoes this year. The second crop of beans and peas are growing well and if we get vegetables off them it is a bonus. I also did some weed control as it needed to be done. I ended up the morning washing the kitchen floor. I did well considering I was tired. 

I am going to have to work outside once again as the weeds are taking over the hedge once again. It won't take me long to pull the weeds and I will do some weed control on the lawn at the same time. I need this week to clean the house. 

There were 9 cases reported for 3 days yesterday. All but one are travel related or close contact. One is under investigation. There were 10 recoveries. 

Sewing

I spent time working on the quilting and had some issues. I finished the 6th (last) potholder. This one is mine.

I have now started on the 12" hot pads and need to take out two rows of quilting. Not happy with it. But, I am pleased with the stitch in the ditch I did. No pictures until the hot pad is done. 

One thing I am going to find annoying is tying and burying the threads at each end of the row. But, I am going to do it as it is part of learning how to quilt. 

Knitting

I finished the test pattern and put the button on the front and gave it a light steaming with the iron. 

It is a cute pattern but not my first choice to knit again. Not my last either.

And one taken outdoors to get the colors of the yarn. 

I started to knit socks. I did the swatch and it was a perfect gauge. I started the socks and am now going to rip them out and do them on the next size larger needle. 

The tension is too tight and I realized that I always go up one size needle when knitting in the round when knitting doll clothes. My tension changes to be tighter in the round. I am a tight knitter and a looser purler. 

This is the Hermoine's Everyday Sock pattern and I am following the Sloth Series on knitting it. 

I'm not worrying about starting this again as this is a project I want to work on for 6 to 8 weeks. I am learning a new pattern and am using up some yarn I've had in the stash for a long time. I wondered if I'd ever get this yarn knit up as the color change is too long for doll clothes. Perfect for socks.

Today I have to go shop for a couple of things, do more laundry, and sew some. We are going to watch grandson play soccer tonight. 

Until the next time........................................................