Sunday, August 19, 2018

The smoke rolled in again last night and even with the doors and windows shut it smells like smoke in the house. I had a very slow start to the day because I couldn’t get my nose to stop running; I don’t know if the smoke was making my allergies worse or if it is the start of a cold. I’m hoping it was just allergies.

I’ve decided that Sundays will be my Splendid Sampler day and, if there is time, I’ll work on my cards. It has proven to be useful to have a Tuesday and a Thursday project so by having a day devoted to weekly blocks and cards I may be able to keep up. I was only one block behind in the Splendid Sampler 2 series so I planned to get a lot done today – maybe a block from Splendid Sampler (the original) and a couple of cards.

It took longer than I thought it would to do my one Splendid Sampler block; I couldn’t understand how the pattern was going to work out until the final piece was put in place. I was piecing together squares and rectangles, but they were somehow to end up as circles. There was hand stitching involved as well so that takes a bit of extra time. Mission accomplished though.

I had a book in at the Library so I walked up to pick it up. I was hoping to stop and have a London Fog tea when I was there but the little concession was closed. So while I cooled down from the first half of my walk I picked up a second book. When I got home I decided I should finish the book I was currently reading since I had two more in the line-up. It didn’t take long as my Kindle announced it would only be about half an hour of reading – just enough time to cool down from my walk home.

I’m back upstairs now and I’ll work on an original Splendid Sampler block and see if I can get a card started as well. If I’m successful it will mean I’ve done no tidying up!

Saturday, August 18, 2018

We were disappointed in the Street Party last night – a lot fewer vendors and musicians, no square dancers and fewer friends than we normally run into. We stopped for a “real” meal at one of the restaurants on Marine before heading out to the street. We got our blackberry shortcake (as good as ever) and I bought a couple of jars of jam from the booth run by the Church group where the quilters meet. One time up and then back down the street and we were ready to come home.

While I waited for the fireworks to start I put together the winter version of my 4-Seasons Tree; it went together very nicely.

I got sucked into shopping online this morning. I was looking particularly for the two fabrics I wanted to use for the sashing in my Farmer’s Wife Sampler. I didn’t find any but I did manage to put together the fabric I wanted for a pattern I bought at Quilt Canada. I had to get it from three different shops; I was having trouble finding a replacement fabric line that I liked so decided to place my orders. While I shopped I ran my mouse battery dry so while it charged I made the Spring version of my 4-Seasons Tree.

As it turns out I’m glad I couldn’t find the sashing fabric I was looking for. Now that I have all the blocks laid out I don’t think the colours I originally picked were right; I’m not sure yet what the right colours might be but at least I know what I don’t want!

When I turned my desk calendar over to the right day this morning the pattern was perfect to use as a card for one of my September recipients. I didn’t feel like making another tree this afternoon so I stitched up the block. It’s nice to be ahead, but there are still several birthdays coming up that I need to get busy on. I’ve got patterns chosen for the first three of them so I guess that’s a start.

For the rest of the afternoon I should get another block in my Farmer’s Daughter quilt at least started, but I’m enjoying my book so I might just sit and read.

Friday, August 17, 2018

Although I didn’t get to my 4-Seasons Tree (yet) I got one more block done on my Splendid Sampler. The block was released last week and, since I don’t usually do the Splendid Sampler block until Sunday, I’m considering myself up-to-date. Hopefully I will have time on Sunday to get this week’s block done and I can say I’m caught up with a clear conscience.

But today I finished the final two blocks for my Farmer’s Wife Sampler quilt. There is still a lot to do – figuring out what setting I’ll use, adding sashing and borders – but for now I’m going to enjoy the moment. I have it laid out on the floor upstairs and since I haven’t been using that room much since our company left I think I’ll leave it there for a few days. The blocks were placed more or less as they came out of the box so this certainly isn’t my final layout.

Tonight is the Blackberry Street Festival. There are a lot of activities planned with the Blackberry Festival but the only thing we never miss is the street festival. Lots of good desserts – the Townsite Heritage Society makes the best blackberry shortcake – and we’ll browse for our main course – usually from Little Hut Curry – and we have fireworks after dark (that we can see from the deck).