Finally!

 Finally, I've been able to spend time in the studio, and not with "donkey work".  I finished the last charity quilt on Thursday, with enough time left to turn it into a "wet" studio, and set up for fabric printing on Friday.  While, monitoring the wash, I managed to get out 14 prints, of various sizes and shapes.  I left as much of the set up as possible for further work today.  What a great feeling to finally get into some more creative work.  As usual, I have only vague ideas of what I might do with the finished prints, but today, hope to add another layer of mark making.  It was great to use techniques learned in my various workshops taken during lockdown, and be able to move far beyond the style of printing I did when I first started using the technique, more than 20 years ago.

I mentioned that the last charity quilt has been finished, and have been promising a picture for awhile.  Here it is.  I'm quite taken with this design, and will probably use it again in future.  Like the others, it is about 36" square.  Even after making 7 quilts, I still have a big pile of 4" squares to make use of --some how.

Later today, I'll be joining Gail and another friend for coffee, and tonight my regular Saturday night tv shows are on.  Unfortunately, I seem to be having some trouble hand stitching, so will have to take a break from that, but there is a lot of cutting to be done for my big project, so I'll keep busy.

I'm even feeling good enough to take an interest in housework--not a very active interest, but an interest none the less.  I have a master list of chores that need doing, and aim at doing at least one a week, but the list never seems to get any shorter.  Funny about that.

And on with the day!

Where did the week go?

 My problem with the sun lasted until Monday evening.  I have little memory of Sunday and Monday, except that I sat a read, and sat and ate--a lot.  But about supper time Monday, my brain fog suddenly disappeared, and I was alert and ready to boogie.  Yesterday I managed some studio time, and got the most recent quilt machine quilted ready to bind.  Even more exciting, I got the walking foot onto the machine with the first attempt-just slipped on in under a minute.  Up until now this job has taken 15-20 minutes and lots of bad words.  Made a trip to the library and for coffee, but no sitting in the garden--the smoke is just too much.

During the night, we had rain and are having it again this morning.  I hope that it takes some of the smoke out of the air.  It's hard on David's lungs, and I'm finding out not good for my own.  But the rain is wonderful for so many reasons, and only bad in terms of the mosquitoes that will result.

Beth, we have one small tomato sitting on the counter, and have eaten another small one.  No more showing colour outside. Just sayin".

Up early today for a 9:00 Zoom meeting, that occurs once a month.  Now I've finished my tea, and will be heading to the studio again, but for the first time in the morning, after a month or more.  So things are looking up.  Fingers crossed.

A mid week note...

 It always feels as if we are in groundhog day mode - every day seems to be the same. Garden work, rain, or hot and humid. We have had several bad rain storms in last week - again yesterday with so much rain and really heavy at times. And the forest fires have created a hazy mood with the sun being obliterated to a huge red ball in the sky. Although, today is clear and we took the dogs again to the park for an early morning walk. Surprised how clear the sky is today so maybe that storm yesterday did that to clear the smoke away? But the situation across Canada ( indeed around the world) feels dire. And yet some still deny and they say that climate change is a hoax?

The tomatoes are starting to pile up in the bowl here in the kitchen so I will soon have to do something with them instead of just eating them by the handfull haha! What i do like though are the cucumbers that are growing well. This year we planted them differently and staked them up so they could climb and it made a real difference. I am still loving my little round tortillas with mixed veg and cheese and fried nicely in the pan and I thank you Pati for that suggestion. Are you still making yours? 

I was excited to check my ticket for Lotto Max on Saturday and see that of my own chosen numbers (not quick pick) I had 4 right and thought,  boy out of 6 numbers I must have won at least a million $$$ but surprise, it turned out to be only $20.00 haha! But it was a win so I was happy with that. Last night apparently someone in Ontario took the pot, Funny to think that my life of dreams and adventure focuses only on the weekly lottery draws. Poor me !

So off to another day. I have been enjoying using my new vacuum ( as I said, I have little to excite me haha!) and since it actually works well, I do not mind vacuuming now. I would put it off before because it did not make any difference. There are red currants to pick and although I would leave them for the birds Harry thinks we should make juice, so perhaps i will tackle them today? The raspberries are also beckoning me to pick and eat. Can't go wrong with that either. Take care folks, and hope your days are exciting....Take time to sit and make a cup of tea today and we will pretend we are together OK....💓😂  

Be careful what you wish for!

 We have been crying for rain and this morning we had a thunderstorm. Howling wind, torrential rain and hail☹️  We lost some plants in the garden but I think most of it will recover. We are just letting the tomatoes be until they recover a bit and we can assess the damage more thoroughly. And to add insult to injury, our fire ban will remain in place since most of our R.M. had no precipitation at all. It stopped about a mile and a half south of us.  It was a weird storm  the thunder and lightning started around 3:30 but no rain until about 6:30.  Just lots of light and sound. Today has been a “breath off fresh air”. It was cool and overcast all day, much cooler than forecast, and we could just feel the heat exhaustion leaving us. Tomorrow is supposed to be a bit cooler again before the heat comes back. So tonight we are having a real meal. Roast chicken, new potatoes and garden beans. With leftovers for the rest of the week.  Some days just make me remember the “lazy days of summer”. 

I agree. Too hot!

 Today we got up early to do the outside work. Picked and froze Saskatoons and beans, and packaged up the bacon we got this week. I also picked peas just to eat. We have no intention of freezing any. Jim took his new lawn mower around the trail. (Mostly just to mow something with it!).  And then this post disappeared, so now it is Sunday and I figured out how to find it again on my phone. (Very very simple).  And I just finished the nice long blog and when I tried to post it my phone told me the update was unsuccessful and all I had was yesterday’s and my first sentence from today. Maybe later when I finish my to do list☹️

Too hot!

 Today was very different.  We were up before 8:00, and off to the Farmers' Market, arriving before 9:00.  We wanted to be early, as the day was predicted to be hot, and we want to avoid the latter part of the day.  We also wanted to buy some nice veggies.  Gail had a booth there, but the layout demanded one way traffic, with lots of physical distancing.  Just before getting to Gail's booth, there was a booth offering cold brew coffee--for a price. I knew that, if made properly, it was labour intensive, so didn't get too excited at the price, as it was a good sized paper cup.  I was very thirsty, so bought one, but then they only filled it half way!  Anyway, I sat with Gail for a bit, while I drank my coffee, and David went off to buy more veggies.  Then he sat with Gail, while I bought some cookies.  We were there for a little more than an hour, and then headed to Tim's for a quick breakfast.  By the time we got home I was feeling poorly, and the coffee was upsetting my stomach.  

Soon after we got home, The fellow who had done our patio showed up to fix the cinder block edging around the Cherry bushes.  I managed to stay up until he had been paid, and then went to bed for over 2 hours.  All the time in the house, I just couldn't cool down, even with the A/C, and electric fans in strategic places.  By about 4:00, I was feeling cooler, but still feeling a little "rocky", so have spent the rest of the afternoon sitting quietly, with David, while he watched the Calgary Stampede.  I blame that darn coffee.  I can still taste it!

So now a supper of freshly cooked baby beets and canned salmon, and then my usual Saturday night tv shows.  Another excuse to sit quietly.  Maybe tomorrow will be better, but I'll try a little harder to keep out of the sun.

Coincidence

OMG!  Just reading your post, Beth, when a vicious storm blew in.  Heavy rain, heavy wind.  Started to easy off after about 20 minutes, but we had a good chance to ascertain the flow pattern on the new patio, and everything was working as it was meant to.   Here's hoping the driving rain was strong enough to wash the Aphid excrement off the patio.  😁  I have no extra knowledge of emojis.  I just have to take them at face value, but I'm glad that the emoji symbol area above will give a simple explanation before you use it. Both of us have been watching the news from Barrie, where things look pretty grim.

Things are starting to open up here. Maybe too fast for me to feel safe, but I will continue to wear my mask, when I feel it's necessary.  We both have a printed form to show that we're double vaccinated, but people here are complaining about how much personal medical information might be available through that mark ( I don't know what is the right term for the funny square symbol that is being used.) I'm not so worried about it. A special reader is necessary to get into the info and most stores and restaurants probably won't go to the expense of getting one, so I'm hoping just showing it will be enough.

Not much exciting around here.  We sit outside and read, go to buy coffee, and haunt the library, hoping for books we've ordered come in.  But I did get into the studio today and was able to work solidly for about 3 hours.  No nasty side effects ( such as the ones I experienced in the past), so I'm hoping this may indicate a light at the end of the tunnel.  I'm hoping to have some pictures on the other blog tomorrow.