Retirement!

 

Nope - I'm not retiring. Besides, what would I do when I retire - sew more? I'd probably sew less! Nope - I'm not quite ready, but the day will come, but not yet. 

Katheleen retired this week. There's been a countdown for the last couple of months, and now she can do whatever she wants every day!!! A couple of us went and had a mini celebration. It was great to visit in person. 

A while back, Katheleen had mentioned that I still owed her a postcard from an exchange that took place YEARS ago. Yikes - that item has been on my list of things to do for a LONG TIME. Not on The Task Master, but just a regular to-do list. 

I'm happy to report that I finished the postcard yesterday and it's now in her hands. I gleefully put a checkmark beside that item. 

The postcard is finished!

The darn thing was ALMOST completed and had sat for years - many years. It took all of 15 minutes to finish it. Can you tell me why? It doesn't matter - it's now done!

After several conversations before the retirement, it was concluded that Katheleen would spend countless hours lounging by the pool drinking margaritas!!! So I made her this small wall hanging to commemorate that event!

Margaritas by the pool

We did have margaritas on the deck, and I was supposed to get a picture of it, but my brain was not functioning properly. I was positively giddy visiting in person. 

I was so excited to get them done that I completely forgot to take pictures and had to ask Katheleen to send these to me! 

Part of that was because of the label. I wanted to put a label on the quilt, and I got everything ready to print. I use muslin taped to a piece of paper so I can run it through the printer. I knew that the initial piece wasn't taped as flat as possible, but I thought it would be OK. 

Well, the printer had different thoughts about that. It jammed, and despite trying several times, I could not get this label to be printed. 

Jammed label

Then the printer had to be restarted, and I couldn't find the on/off switch (which was right on the FRONT of the printer). I was reminded by the printer that I shouldn't unplug the printer to turn it off. Seriously??? These devices are very clever! I had to reboot my computer TWICE to clear the jammed message from the printer application. 

And at last, minutes before I was to leave, I was able to print the label. I pinned it to the back of the piece. I had no patience for hand stitching at that time. 

And this is all I had left of the binding strip when I was done! That was a good calculation. 

The remainder of the binding

I think Katheleen is not going to have any trouble filling her days with stuff to do. She's got a fabulous set-up for sewing/quilting and journaling. And she's darn good at all of them!!! Enjoy your retirement!

I'm very out of practice for leaving the house. I stalled the car at the first stop sign and then realized that I had my slippers on, so I had to come back and get some proper shoes! 

It was very late in the afternoon when I finally arrived home. I made it home on fumes in the gas tank, but that's OK. It was a good test of the fuel pump that was recently installed. No issues, although I did have issues with the GSP. It worked just fine for one part of the trip, and on another part - it refused to recognize the phone. Sigh...............

Lots of people in my neighborhood had Canada flags out yesterday, which was wonderful to see. I did have a flag and my maple leaf on the gate. That's my neighbor's flag. Mine is to the left of that one. It's a bit faded - I should get a new one for next year!

Canada Day decorations

But the fireworks??? Seriously?? The city needs to put some by-laws in place for fireworks. It started at 8:30 or thereabouts, and it didn't stop until 11:30. Really people? 11:30 at night? I was annoyed as I'm sure many other people were - some people are trying to sleep here. 

At least, both the girls seem to be handling thunder and fireworks like grownups. They are a bit apprehensive, but not the drooling messes they used to be, so that's good. 

Here are a couple of shots from my walk with Lexi. She did NOT want to walk in the forest, but rather on the sidewalk, so we did our winter tour when the forest path is too slippery with ice. 

These flowers remind me of my mom, who loves all flowers but in particular the tiger lilies. 

Tiger lilies

And look at this cheeky little guy. It looks like he posed for me! 

Cheeky chipmunk

I didn't get the quilt loaded yesterday, but the backing is made and now loaded on the machine. I also have to put the binding on for this customer, and the binding is made. I'll be working on that later today. 

Binding for a customer quilt

OK -- I MUST stop looking at the news. There are so many crazy things going on, and I seem to have this morbid fascination with disasters. I'm spending way too much time, and it's time to STOP. 

We started our cross Canada walk yesterday, and three of us logged close to 30 KM. Yeah!!! We'll be eating up those miles and be across the country before we know it!!! Go, team, GO!!!!

Besides quilting, I have a couple of phone calls to make, some writing, and maybe get some sewing done. We'll see how the day goes, and I have an errand at the other end of the city. I HATE errands like that as they consume a ton of time!

That's it for today. Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!