Thursday, January 31, 2019

The show last night was great and I almost managed not to do any work. The doors for the show were to open at seven but when we got there about 6:45 (as a Board member Pat thought we could get in early) there were already folks in the main hall. The woman running concession was overwhelmed as no one was taking tickets and she was trying to get her goodies ready. I took over the door until the person who is supposed to be in charge arrived about seven. I’m not sure where the confusion came from – any posters I saw said a 7:30 show but some were saying they saw it advertised for seven. I didn’t stay to clean up and I received an e-mail today for this morning’s renter saying the place wasn’t left in the best condition. Who do you blame when it is your own event that caused the problem?

I finished the quilting on a card this morning and cut out the fabric for my Guild challenge bag. I made good progress on stitching it this afternoon. I did some of the quilting required on the front and the back of the bag, but I brought both pieces home to do some free-motion work with Ruby. I also miscalculated on the fabric I need for the straps (I’m not following the pattern exactly for that piece) so I brought that home to find something that will go with it. I have lots of time to make the bag at my Thursday sessions so I’m not worried about getting it done in time.

I was settled in to knit and watch some TV tonight but when Pat called from Texada the phone died so I had to come upstairs to charge it and call him back. Since I’m up now I’ll put the binding on my card and maybe do some of the quilting I need to do for my bag. I’m going to sandwich my Farmer’s Wife quilt tomorrow and it would be lovely to be able to start quilting right away.

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

I started to work on my Cranberry Hall minutes and associated duties yesterday afternoon and continued with that throughout the morning. To be fair, some of the work I did had been put off for a couple of months and I’m slowly, very slowly, getting organized. I’m not sure why it is though that when I’m organizing I’m often just shifting things from one pile to another or separating a pile into one or two sub-piles. I guess it is all progress.

Pat has mentioned the last couple of days that it looked like I needed air in one of my tires. He checked it today and one was definitely low. He said it would be a good idea to have the tires rotated and they could check the tire when they did that. I took my car up to the tire shop and they took care of it for me.

This afternoon I’ve been preparing the backing for my Farmer’s Wife quilt. I’m using a couple of tops that Mum put together, as well as a few spare blocks that she had done. I sewed the two tops together, trimmed them, added a couple of blocks to the piece I cut off and then stitched that part to the piece I stitched together in the first place. It has been more work than a “regular” backing but I like the idea of Mum’s sewing being part of the quilt, since most of the fabric on the top of the quilt is from her.

Pat and I are off to a concert at the Hall tonight. The tickets were part of Pat’s Christmas present and I’ve told him I am going to try very hard not to do any Hall work while we are there. I expect it will be difficult to sit when I know there are things that need to be done but I’ll try. We’ve had the performer here before so I know I’ll enjoy the show.

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

For the first time in quite awhile I actually had to find some projects to take to the bee. I’ve been hand stitching on my Farmer’s Daughter quilt for so long that even the other ladies noticed I was working on something new – and wondered if I had finished the flower project.

I wasn’t working on anything too exciting today, but I got a new sleeve attached to a wall hanging. When I finished my Canada 150 project I added a sleeve, but only a small one that would fit my curtain rod. I wasn’t thinking ahead to the quilt show so I added a larger sleeve to the back today.

I also worked on another card. I was pleased to find the pattern but it didn’t work out very well. It was a freebie so I guess I should have anticipated there might be problems but this particular site is usually pretty good. It was a paper-piecing block and one of the pieces I sewed three times before I got it right. That was my own fault but when I went to put the pieces together some were wider than others. I can still use the block but it won’t be the size it was originally intended to be. I also pieced a backing and some batting for the card so it is ready to quilt.

I took along my Guild challenge bag project but I hadn’t cut any of the fabric at home and I decided to call it quits early – the bag can be my Thursday project this week. I had a few stops to make on my way home (surprise!).

I thought that this Thursday was our Guild meeting and I knew that in January I had signed up for treats for the next meeting. I was quite happy when someone mentioned the meeting wasn’t until next week. I had visions of trying to get cookies baked in the morning before heading out for my sewing afternoon; I’m hopeful that by next week my mind will be more settled and I’ll be looking for a break from my quilting and my Cranberry Hall duties from the meeting last night will have been handled.