A Christmas In July Bag Begun

 Yesterday was sunnier than expected with a high of 18.3C. This morning it is trying to rain and 10C. Today is to be wet and 19C. 

Lifestyle

I got up and at it in good time yesterday morning. The first job was to do the balance sheet. My big expense last week was buying plants. I expected that to happen. Otherwise, I am on track for this month. 

Once done the balance sheet, I put on laundry and started to clean house. I did a bit of tidying up as I went and swept and mopped the floors. I got all the rooms but one done. I will do it and the stairs/landing another day. As I went along, I changed laundry and have 2 loads to fold. 

As I cleaned, I took out items to the garage and would spend 5 minutes putting yard sale items into tubs. Then I would go back to cleaning the house. I probably did 20 minutes in the garage and have a lot left to go. I stopped all cleaning at 11:30 am as my hip was tired and getting sore. I had been on my feet for well over 2 hours. But, I was happy with what I could get done with only one small break. 

The yard maintenance company was here to do weed control. The person and I walked the yard so he knew what I wanted. He is new and very good. I will do a bit of weed control around the vegetable boxes when I have a bit of extra time. He admired my lawn and was happy how good it was looking. 

I had to go out after dinner to help a friend. She was in a very minor accident but was shook up quite a bit. It was a case of a car coming along too fast, the person in front of her hitting the brakes hard to avoid an accident and her hitting that car before hers came to a stop. I made sure all 4 way flashers were on, everyone could rattle on about nothing to ease their nerves, and after the RCMP arrived, I took our friend's son home. He rattled on about the accident all the way home. He's okay, he just needed to talk. 

Elliott chose to relax last night and gave me a good laugh. 

Sewing

I spent part of the afternoon in the sewing room. I made piping. First was navy/white for daughter. I had cut it out last week ready to sew. There is 4 meters in that bundle. 

I love how it looks against white fabric. 

Next I cut and made the piping for the bag. I love how nicely it went together with the fabric starched. I did it all on the Viking Diamond as I didn't want to change threads on the Juki. 

I have 4 meters from a fat quarter of the fabric I bought. What is left over will probably go to daughter. 

I did starch the grey dotted fabric and hung it to dry. It is time to start prep the fabrics. I still have the print and browns to starch today. I also sat down and did some calculations on the how to cut all the fabric. After the print is starched and dried, I want to cut out and make the 4 snow ball blocks and the embroidered blocks. The making of the bag has begun. I can see I will be hand basting a lot to make sure everything fits well and nothing slips. Starching the fabric gives me more control over the fabric. I will also be interfacing it with two different types of interfacing for structure. The goal is to have it done by mid June. 

Knitting

I knit as far as I can go on the Gros Moren sock. When I head out to buy more plants I will stop at a yarn shop to see if I can get another skein there. I will have to start a doll's sweater next as I have no more sock size needles. 

Thoughts

    I have gone back to eating more carefully to loose a bit of weight. I have been watching the scales and when I hit a certain weight, I cut back to loose what I have gained. It is working out okay for me. I still don't eat a lot of sweets as I don't really care for them. I still have to watch sugar lows in the afternoon. 

    Cleaning up the garage is a bit of a pain. I am doing it alone so I can get it done the way I want. I may spend one morning out there to finish it up so I can park the car inside once again. I am thankful that I have 3 big tubs plus some boxes to put the items into. A big help for me as I organize the space the way I need it to be. 

    I am hoping that once this storm is gone to start weeding under the hedge. I am ready to start it; all the equipment I need is in a bucket and I bought a holder for the large leaf bags. Once the we have several sunny days, I will be doing my weed control in the ditch. I may even get my weed eater out and tackle some long grass that needs taming. 

Today

I need to go grocery shopping this morning and may tackle more of the garage when I get home. I should fold laundry sometime today and do a load of blankets. This afternoon I want to starch the print fabric for the bag, cut out the snowball corner squares and the embroidery squares. If I have time, I will work on the doll's hat. Tonight I will set up the yarn to start a doll's sweater. 

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