Wednesday, March 14, 2012

My usual routine on an appliqué day is to do my prep work in the morning and tackle some hand stitching in the afternoon. I got Block 10 placed and all the pieces for Block 11 turned before lunch. That was all for today though because I wanted to spend the afternoon working on my Easter project.

A week ago at the bee some of the ladies were talking about using small travel irons for appliqué work. And it just happened that Wal-Mart had them on sale. I was worried that it wouldn’t get hot enough but the sales person said that if I kept my packaging and receipt I could bring it back if it didn’t work for me.

I used it on some fusible web appliqué on the weekend and it definitely was hot enough. I gave it a try today when I was turning my hand appliqué pieces. Although it was hot enough to turn the edges, I quit using it after about ten minutes. The cord kept falling out and I’d have to stop, pick it up from the floor and plug it in again. The cord is detachable, and maybe after I use it a few more times all the kinks will be out of the cord and it will stay in place. I hope so anyway.

After lunch I started cleaning. Pat has his piano lesson on Wednesday and, for whatever reason, I like to clean while he is away. I had the bathrooms and most of the vacuuming done before he came home – much earlier than expected. It is Spring Break this week so there were no lessons. Next time I’m sure he will find some excuse to keep him out longer because while I washed the kitchen and hallway floors I put him to work finishing the vacuuming.

I worked on my Easter project for the rest of the afternoon. It was movie night tonight but none of the ferries ran all day so I wasn’t sure that the film would arrive. I guess it either came by plane or they had it early. Once we go digital (if they raise the money) I guess the movies will just be downloaded and we won’t have to worry.

I know Meryl Streep won the Oscar for her performance in The Iron Lady. In my opinion she’s going to have to be spectacular to top Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs. I hadn’t heard of the movie until the Academy Awards came on and I feel so fortunate that it was one of the picks in our Art Film series. We get The Iron Lady in a couple of weeks so I’ll have a chance to compare their performances.