Tuesday, February 6, 2023

I was off to the Guild this morning and didn’t come upstairs to my desk. But when I got to it this afternoon the first thing I did was turn over my Quilters’ Block-a-Day calendar. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Do you recall the Alias Grace block I had so much trouble with when I was putting it together from only a picture? Today’s block of the day was Solomon’s Temple, the very block I struggled so hard to get right that I had to redo it a couple of times.

It never occurred to me to look at the blocks on the calendar. Very few of them are traditional blocks but if I’m ever stumped again I’ll look there first.

Monday, February 5, 2024

I have some things on the go that need to be done by a certain time. They aren’t necessarily a hard and fast deadline but there is some urgency to getting them done.

I just started my next book from the library and it is due back on the 16th. That means I need to read about 100 pages a day. I spent an hour reading after lunch and made it through 50 pages. If my calculations are right it will take me about 19 more hours to finish. It’s a good thing I’m enjoying the story so far and that we’ll be going to Texada next week.

I started a blackwork project that I’ll be using as a graduation gift. The pattern is from last year’s weekly stitch-along so I knew there were 52 sections. Before I started I calculated that if I did one pattern a week I could be done by the end of March. That would give plenty of time to allow for framing. What I didn’t add into my calculations was the time it will take for the borders. The particular setting I chose has two borders and they aren’t small or uncomplicated. Again, good thing we’re heading across to the studio.

If my calculations don’t work out I can always hope that I can renew my library book. And it wouldn’t be the first time a graduation gift was late – right Kathryn?

Friday, February 2, 2024

I like that every day when I get up I have choices about what I’ll do with the day ahead. I know that many don’t have this opportunity. Some days there are things I tell myself I “have” to do but only occasionally is it something that I really have to take care of.

I decided I wasn’t going to do cards this year; last year I sent quite a few e-cards and I thought I’d do more of them this year. My Splendid Sampler blocks are done and I was having trouble finding easily accessible six-inch patterns to use. Stacia suggested that I could find a pattern and use it for all the cards for the year; that seemed like a reasonable suggestion. When I was looking for mug rug patterns at Christmas I downloaded several patterns to keep in case I needed them again. So I’ve decided that I will use these mug rug patterns – the same pattern for each birthday in the month. That has inspired me and I have already picked out the patterns for every month this year.

Although the patterns will be the same I will still be able to choose fabrics that I can associate in some way (perhaps only in my mind) to the receiver. I had a productive morning and I have my February mug rugs almost complete. This idea may work out even better than I anticipated because number two in the process went a lot faster than number one.

Pat was at the library this morning and returned my 600+-page book but he brought home an almost 1000-page one in return. I’ve managed to renew two of the library books I have on the shelf and I’m almost half-done the remaining one. I only have two weeks for this newer book and I’m not sure I’ll be able to renew it because it is from the newer collection at the library. I’ll choose to do as Deloise has been doing – read for a half-hour after lunch each day.

We hope to go across to Texada sometime this month so I’ve been thinking of projects to take. I already have the Alias Grace blocks and my Stash Buster top in my bins but I want to get a start on Emma’s grad gift. I have the colours in mind now so I’ll dig out the fabric and threads when I finish here. I also have the second in the series I’m doing for Ray’s birthday so while I’m sorting threads I may as well pull the ones out that I need for his.

I’ll be sewing with Stacia and Deloise next week. I’ve looked at my pattern; I need 48 half-square triangles. I’ve just finished a stack of leader and enders (that I got from a fellow quilter) that will trim down to the right size but I’ll have to count and see if I have enough of those. From the look of the pattern they don’t need to match but these are quite unique so unless I have enough I won’t be able to use them.

Enough of my rambling. Time to get busy doing something!