Saturday, February 2, 2019

I did a bit of tidying up in my sewing room this morning – I needed to clear off a table so when I started quilting I had a place for the quilt to rest. I cleaned and oiled my machine, I changed the needle and I filled three bobbins. I did a test run of the pattern I was using and I was all set. I was to be selling quilt show raffle tickets at Canadian Tire from noon to two and I promised that I would arrive early to help set up. But I still had half an hour to wait until it was time to go. I wondered what I should do to fill the time.

I don’t know what I was thinking (obviously not much thought was involved) but I decided to change my sewing room around. I wanted to swap a couple of cabinets but when I got that done I realized that the drawers in one of the cabinets wouldn’t have room to open with the other one positioned where it was. So I took everything down off a couple of shelves, removed the shelves, moved a bin of yarn and moved the second cabinet over.

That’s as far as I got before it was time to leave. I started selling tickets early (since I was there) and it wasn’t long until someone showed up to sit with me. It wasn’t the person who was expected though and when that person showed up I came home and started quilting. I felt just a tad guilty not going back later to see if they needed anyone for the second shift but by then I was involved in quilting and I didn’t want to stop. So far it is going well, and perhaps a bit faster than I expected.

I’m going to need more than thirty minutes to get everything back in order, but at least my mess doesn’t interfere with my quilting space!

Friday, February 1, 2019

I spent all morning on my hands and knees sandwiching my Farmer’s Wife quilt. Because I was using two of Mum’s quilt tops as backing to my quilt I felt it was important to get it as tightly sandwiched as possible. I did my best, but in the end I don’t think it will be without a few puckers when it is quilted. I checked with a couple of quilters with the Guild and they thought that if I used a straight stitch for quilting I should be okay. Time will tell, and I hope to get started on it tomorrow.

I felt I was due a bit of fun this afternoon so I went up to the library to pick up a Valentine gift. Every year they wrap books in red paper, put a cryptic poem or explanation on the cover and you get to pick one that you think will appeal to you. I didn’t find the choice difficult, and I wasn’t disappointed when I got it home and opened it.

I stopped at the fabric shop on my way home. I needed thread for my quilt. I bought two spools as I’ll use the same colour in the bobbin as I use for the top. The quilting will show but with so many colours both top and bottom there was no way I could pick just one. I suppose I could have gone with an invisible thread but that is a bit like working with hair and I want this to be a quick and relatively easy job.

I have enough time this afternoon to do the bit of quilting required on my Challenge bag. If time allows I’ll get my machine cleaned and oiled ready for its next big job.

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.