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Monday 14 March 2022

After Day One

This morning, I woke up early and went for a walk around Ashland. In Lithia Park, I saw two doe with a fawn, some bushy tailed squirrels, and a bird with beautiful colouring. There were daffodils and crocuses and I simply walked and enjoyed leaving my camera in the room so I have no pictures for you yet.

After the park I wandered around town and, as expected, things have changed due to the pandemic however, while it's more than I hoped, it's less than I feared. There is still magic in the air and it is wonderful to be here again. 

At the hotel, I had booked a petite queen thinking that's what I had last time only it was even more petite than that and I now know for sure that tiny living is not for me. Today, when I got back to my room after day one, everything was fine and I went for a short walk, came back, and there was a huge puddle on the floor in the bathroom. The maintenance man was just leaving for the day so they moved me to the room next door and it is like the one I had last time with bigger windows, a view of the mountains, a curl up chair, a larger bathroom, and a small fridge - a blessing disguised as a leak. 





In an earlier post, I talked about resolving the too big neckline on the sweater above right. That morning was very cold and I darn near froze at Starbucks while journal writing. I decided what I really needed was a new and bigger shawl to put in my book bag so I pulled the sweater apart and started knitting the shawl. I finished a couple days before I left so I have it here at the hotel to wrap up in and it was a good choice. The yarn works better as a shawl. 






I changed out a couple of the outfits pairing the colourful skirt with the dark denim top, keeping the floral t-shirt and changing the skirt to a lighter denim, and eliminating the polka dot dress and wearing this jumper instead. You might recognize it from an earlier post. I wasn't too sure about it then but I've since softened the points and I like it better. 





The striped pants didn't have side seams so I took a big dart from the waist to just above the cuff details and removed six inches of ease. They will work for this trip but I don't think they'll last into summer as I'd hoped. Before I left, I weighed myself and I'd dropped down into another number group with a total loss of twenty-six pounds so far. This is the first time I've felt like I could lose the weight and keep it off, that calorie counting is my method. It's helping me to ignore the ice cream store directly across the street from my hotel room which I know from experience sells the most amazing flavours. My deal with myself is to ignore it all week and then celebrate on my free day just before leaving town. 

This first day of class was introductions, some demonstrations and exercises with Paula - the textile artist - and then a wine and cheese with the ladies. We are all so thrilled to be here. I'm intrigued with what I'll learn from Paula. It's been a long time since I've done free motion work and she recognized right away that my lines were tired and that I was capable of more. YES - that's something I appreciate in an instructor. I didn't come here to learn what I already know. I came to learn more. 

I did some pencil drawings afterward to explore her feedback and it could be very interesting to see where this goes. I've discovered that while I'm not afraid of the blank canvas, I do like something to respond to and the mono-printing with stitching that I showed in the last post could be that starting point. I like the idea that all the parts could originate with me. 

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful
- a good first day

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