To-Do Tuesday - Week of Dec 29, 2020 to January 4, 2020

 Merry Christmas and very Happy (better) New Year! Let's all hope that we can put the dumpster fire of 2020 behind us, and that 2021 is the best it can be.

Depression raised its ugly head again, and although I was able to function somewhat normally for work and family relationships, my personal well-being took a hit. I was looking forward at the beginning of the year to have a dedicated crafting/sewing space again, but as much as I am happy with it, I was not motivated at all. I've had a quilt beside me to bind for months now, and have only managed to stitch 1 1/2 sides. 

Blogging has always helped me get motivated and accountable to myself, so here I go once again.

Here is this week's to-do list:

1. Box up, sort, purge and organize back room, in preparation for the installation of a mini-kitchen area. This has become a dumping area over the last nine months, and I can't use the excuse of no time anymore! (Keeping it real here!)

Fridge alcove and sink/counter area to the left.

Sink/counter area is now on the right - it won't be big but the sink will be big enough to clean paint brushes and the counter to make a coffee! The front area is only about 7 ft wide, enough for a small table perhaps.

This wall is opposite the counter area. It will mainly be overflow storage for projects and supplies. The garage door can be seen in the background.

2, Finish binding this damn quilt! It guilts me every day!

3. Use a past project UFO  to use as a Leader/Ender project for the week. I've picked On Ringo Lake, a mystery quilt from Bonnie Hunter. I am still on Step 2, and I'd like to complete it this week! 

It has been sitting like this for about a month now. It's not the best pic, it's a bit gloomy today, but you can see some finished units in the upper left hand corner of the board.

Bonus project: I bought a little footstool on Facebook Marketplace sometime ago (maybe a year?), and want to recover the top, make a new lining for the inside and the underside of the top and paint it for my sitting room. I love hand-sewing and embroidery, and it would be nice to keep my supplies handy. I would love to finish this project this week, but only if I get the decluttering done.

It is definitely home-made, but with some interesting details. I'll take of the old cover and pad the new top a little better, I suspect it only has layers of fabric as it isn't very soft as a footstool. I have a piece of fabric I created from selvedges that I think would make a great cover.

As much as that under-top pocket looks in good shape, it is a pretty loose weave and some of the stitching has let go. It's also grimy on the edges and a little musty, so I would like to replace it.

I'm joining the Tuesday To Do Linky Party over at Home Sewn by Us for the first time. I hope to keep it up this coming year as a motivation to move some of my UFOS along! 

The last few years, I have chosen a word to represent what I'd like to achieve for the year. Some past words have been Joy, Nurture, Focus. I'm considering what to use this year, using what I've learned this year. The impact of COVID-19 has changed so much this year, and I'm going to use my blog as a journal this coming year, with some reflections and changes I'm going to make moving forward.

As far as my family and I go, we have been fortunate not to suffer the effects of the disease itself, nor any of the economic suffering of others. We have been incredibly grateful for these blessings, and are doing our part following our government guidelines and wearing masks to protect others, so that maybe our community can reopen sooner rather than later. I hope you and yours remain safe. 

Until next time, 

Terri in BC

15 minutes a day...

 I need to get my mojo back, so yesterday I committed to myself to do something sewing related for 15 minutes every day.  After work and dinner, I settled down with this quilt and worked on the binding.

I managed to get the same brown fabric (albeit in a flannel) to make a 2" binding. It has been attached for months now, and been a object of guilt for a while now. I don't now why, because I'm the recipient for a change!

It started out as a Thangles block-of-the-month for the centre of the star blocks. There wasn't enough contrast between the two fabrics, so the centres look more like mush. 

I love the overall colours though, and the mint flannel backing so this one is destined to go on my bed in the spring. One day I hope to have a quilt for each season!

Of course, 15 minutes turned into 1 1/2 hours so I was able to get one side sewn down. Of course today, I remembered about flanged bindings - realizing if I had made one, I could have sewn the binding down by machine long ago!  Oh well - next time.

PS: It turns out I don't using Thangles so they are going into a giveaway box, to be dealt with at a later date.

15 minutes goal: 1 day out of 1    Total time: 1.5 hours

Ciao,

Terri

To Do Tuesday for 6/23/2020

Now that I have a functional sewing/craft room, I'm able to get back to having fun! I found that when I blogged regularly, it pushed me to get things done. One of my favourite bloggers, Kate from Life in Pieces, posted a weekly list on Tuesdays, so I'm going to do the same! Thanks for the idea, Kate!

Weekly To Do List (06/23/2020

1. Quarantine (pattern from Gundren Erla of GEDesigns) - purchase backing and sandwich for quilting (My version made from the leftovers of Alex's chemistry quilt)

2. Lanterns (my own design - although I have found similar ones since!) - purchase backing and sandwich for quilting (Here it is hanging at the back of the room as I was adding strips, I forgot to take a picture of the finished top).

3. Harmony (a Thangles block of the month pattern purchased from Hamels Fabrics, my local and favourite quilt shop - hand-sew the binding for a finish! Daisy is checking out the quilting when I got it back from Maple Leaf Quilting Company.

I'll create more posts this week to share each of these quilts individually, hopefully as I finish them. That should keep me busy, as I am still working full-time from home, although I have to go to the office on Thursday for a director's meeting (and I'll be wearing my mask, as some of the directors aren't as cautious as I am).

Progress?

It's been a while since I posted - I've been working from home since March 20th, and the days have blended together. I'm finding it hard to make a firm separation between work and personal life, so the craft room redo has been very slow going.

It is painted now!

You can see my little "office" in the corner.

These pictures were taken when the room first got loaded - can you believe most of this stuff was pack in an 11' x 12' room! I'm not sure how I did it. I have made progress since then, but not enough to take new pictures yet.

Besides work, painting and sorting/purging, I did a bunch of other things! 

I carved out a corner to make masks for family and friends. I was asked to make some to sell, but I didn't want to go into production for profit, so kept it small.

I made about 30 masks and continue to make a few at a time as I hear from someone who needs one.

 

I learned how to use the binding foot on my Featherweight! Awesome tool - made the job so much faster!

I've managed to learn how to do Zoom calls and meetings! I also did some scrapbooking and held virtual workshops with Zoom. Here I'm toasting my brother and sister - showing off my new mask!

I also managed to finish a quilt!! 

My 11-year-old grandson helped design and piece it, and now we are waiting (im)patiently for it to come back from the long-armer.  I'll share more about this quilt in another post this weekend.

I also started another one with the leftovers (well, technically, made a lap quilt) but I want it bigger so I'm hoping to finish that one this weekend.

So that is what I have been up to the last almost-90 days - besides braving the Costco lines a couple of times and getting cheap gas!

Trust me - I've only gone twice and wore my mask, unlike so many others! I choose to wear it to protect not only myself, but others like my grandson who has Type 1 diabetes, and my elderly neighbours.

Almost half of what it was at the beginning of the year.

Scrap Room Progress

It's been a few months and the scrap room is coming along nicely! I'm now able to prime the walls (in progress) and this coming weekend, I'll be painting!  Here's a little tour, starting from the entry (most of these were taken before the drywall was taped and mudded):

Look, my grandson is helping me wash down the walls after sanding!

This is the main room about 19' x 12 - 225 sq. ft. of future fun! It is the old recreation room in my home, located in a daylight basement with a big window. We have also put in LED pot lights (on a dimmer!)

The second room comes off the main room forming an "L". We reconfigured the location of the hot water tank, and enclosed it in a room with the furnace, to create more usable space. This is what you see when you enter this room:

This room is about 12' x 8' at its widest point, with the alcove by the window about 4'x6' with the niche for a refrigerator by the window. Eventually, we'll put a corner sink and counters in for a coffee station. The floors are a nice thick vinyl planking, which adds warmth, ease of cleaning and are waterproof! I'm very fortunate to have a handy son-in-law, with the bonus of sharing the house with him, my daughter and grandson, so he doesn't mind doing the work.

And just for a bonus, this isn't the only area being worked on. My son-in-law has torn apart the main bath and is giving it an update as well. Good timing, as he is a teacher's aide and school has been closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

How are you coping with the news? Here in our corner of BC, Canada, we are being told to self-isolate as much as possible, as we are just north of the outbreak in Washington state, and east of Vancouver and area which is the second hot-spot in Canada. Since my son-in-law is off work, he is in charge of the grandkids (his son and my other two granddaughters, who live just down the street). His wife, my oldest daughter, is still working for the moment, but will her office will probably be closing by week's end. 

In stressful times, I need to sew and so my grandson and I are working on a science-related quilt for his new double bed. I have a couple of rows of beakers, flasks and test-tubes to add to the for the top of the quilt, then its ready to be sent off for quilting! I'll share more about it in another post.

My office is closed to the public, and we only have 5 staff in the building at its highest capacity, so I am still going in every day, and so far, my workload hasn't changed. I manage an office that administers private mortgage companies, sells investments and I'm a mortgage broker as well, so there are a lot of calls these days! I've told my boss that I plan on working from the office, even if everyone stays home, just because it will be quieter there than at home with the grandkids and my son-in-law working on the renos. My other daughter and her husband are also still working, one is in a small office like mine, and her husband is an aircraft mechanic, so he is pretty busy for the time being as the company he works for has some good contracts that shouldn't be affected by the outbreak (he works on planes that provide fire-fighting services in the summer). Whatever happens, we will take care of each other and our elderly neighbours, and we will get through this. I hope you and yours do as well.

Spring is coming - my garden has many early bloomers already, and the mountains sparkle with the fresh snows of spring, and brighten my day. I hope they brighten yours as well.

Take care and listen to the professionals to stay safe!

Terri in BC

20 in 2020

It's that time of year again - to take stock of where I am and what I want to do in the coming year.  Last year was a bit of a writeoff, my old friend Depression took hold as I mourned the 20th anniversary of my mother's cancer diagnosis (at the same age I am today) while still suffering the PTSD trigger of the #MeToo movement. After a joyous, soul-filling and restful Christmas break, I am feeling stronger and happier as each day passes.

I've picked my word for the year. After revisiting some previous options, such as Focus, Complete or Joy, I have settled on "Thrive". The first two words seem to be more action-based, and this year, I want my word to reflect how I want to live as I start to enter the "Golden Years". Yes, this year I turn 60 and god only knows how I got here. I'm still single, and probably always will be, but I have a very close relationship with my daughters and three lovely grandchildren who fill my heart with all the warmth and caring I could ever need.

It's not been the easiest journey, but it could have been a whole lot worse. After my divorce 34 years ago, I was left with 2 babies to raise on my own, and had to go back to school to get a decent career in order to give them a good life. My parents, especially my mother, were my support and I was fortunate enough to be able to buy a house that backed onto their backyard, so that the girls had positive adult influences and supervision even through the challenging teen years. Mom passed when the girls were 18 and 15, and my father left his old life behind, but we had a strong base by then, and I am happy to say that my siblings and I have remained close and our kids and grandkids have a strong sense of family. What more could a girl ask for?

Now, my list of 20 (note: not all are crafty goals) in no particular order:

• Spend more time with my family
• Build and organize my new sewing/craft room in a way that makes me want to spend every day in it
• Lose 25 lbs
• Finish 20 sewing projects that have been languishing
• Journal everyday 
• Rebuild some friendships
• Pay off 1/3 of my mortgage balance
• Walk 1/2 hour at least 3 days a week 
•  Practice photography
• Complete at least 3 scrapbooking albums that have already been started
• Keep current with my photos 
• Finish my last course for work (no later than February 20th)
• Declutter garage and create a proper storage area (and only store seasonal stuff)
• Create a sanctuary of my new bedroom
• Once moved downstairs, create a new housekeeping routine
• Write in this blog at least 3 times a week.
• Process all my scrap fabrics a la Bonnie Hunter's way
• Watch less TV
• Read more books
• Live my best life!

Now these aren't SMART goals...yet. What are SMART goals? It is a technique I've used in my business life, and I have found success in all aspects of life, both in business and personal. It is time to revist that technique and expand my 20 in 2020 into:

Smart

Measureable

Attainable

Relevant

Time-based goals

I'm going to spend the next week sorting, refining and making a road plan for the next phase of my life!

Now for some pretty inspiration:

Til next time, Terri