Saturday was warm and melty at a sunny +7 C! I did a treadmill run, then we did a nice long hike with the pups through the river valley. It was the first time Asiago has seen bare ground - he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it, so went back to launching himself up the snowbanks and romping through the sticky deep snow.
Sunday was colder, so treadmill run and quilting class with Bethane Nemesh, then some long arm practice/free styling. My amaryllis bulbs were a bit behind this year, and decided to bloom in February - but are putting up two flower stalks each, the second colour opened this morning, so lovely! Now we are napping/being bums because time change gives a great excuse to be sleepy! Likely setting up the seedling grow op and getting things going for the garden this evening, or early next week. During the weekday evenings, I have been spending my time:
We had a weekend that was quiet so I spent my time doing some finishing!
1st up - finished a quilt that had been on my long arm for a long time because it was annoying thread and Covid turned the quilting room into an office. Finished the quilting over last week, this weekend was putting the binding on and giving it a wash! It was a block of the month from a few years back. 2nd up - I had planned out a top made of some earlier woven fabric, using a Deer and Doe pattern, so I set it up, cut it out and stayed up quite late to finish it up! 3rd effort - I have signed up for Bethanne Nemesh’s Breaking Boundaries with Blended Quilts, and Sunday was the first quilting instruction day (there were improve curve sessions a few weeks back). Following class, I’ve been doodling on my loaded practice blank. It is nice to be back at balanced workload and some mental space to plan out crafty projects! So, since the 2017 update I’ve changed work positions twice, a parent passed away, a sister was diagnosed with a relatively manageable cancer but then had a stroke (she’s ok), we had to put down our old pup Muffin, Covid entertained us by having 5 pandemic waves across 2 years leading to perpetual society and work rule changes, isolated workers, work from home, return to office, sent back home, return to office, we got a new puppy (Asiago), and now Russia is deciding it is time to rewrite country borders again leading to heartache and economic stress for all. There has been hobbies throughout it all, but not much time or focus to write about them!
In 2018, I took up weaving after helping mom find some hobbies that would strengthen her hand dexterity after a stroke. She didn’t stick around much longer, so I inherited a weaving passion with a rigid heddle, which expanded to a multi shaft table loom a year later. in 2018, the husband and I took a vacation to Hawaii, where I picked up a Hawaiian appliqué pattern book and, despite my hatred of hand stitching, I’ve been working my way through the 20 patterns (on #14 of 20). Somewhere in there we went to Seattle and I bought some aboriginal fused appliqué patterns that I blended with a block of the month. I now suspect they are a bit on the side of cultural appropriation - not sure the artist/seller of the appliqué sets is aboriginal :s. I’m finishing the quilt this year, but I’m not sure what to do with it post finish. I’ve signed up for a free motion quilting seminar/class set this spring with Bethanne Nemesh. I had tried to take a class of hers in person May 2020, but Covid first wave and lock down quashed that. She has shifted to online classes, so I signed back up! Now I am just unpatiently waiting for spring to show up, but so far still a lot of snow on the ground and a forecast below freezing for the next week at least. Earlier this year, my and another renters plots were volunteered up to grow Barley to try to make our own beer!
The barley grew amazingly well, and one of the beds was ripened and needed harvest this weekend. We need to wait on the other bed, the grains are still filling out and drying into their final grain. |
AuthorWorking full time leads to a need to have pet projects for stress relief. This site is to track learnings and progress to share with others! Archives
March 2022
Categories
All
|