It’s been a busy day

Journal

Thursday, June 21, 2018

I’ve had a busy day. I spent the morning picking weeds; there was a nice breeze so it felt quite cool all the time I was out. In fact I had to put a rock in the bottom of my weed pail to keep it weighted to the ground (before it was full of weeds of course). Pat sprayed the patio, sidewalks and driveway with the vinegar treatment a few days ago and I was pulling out the dead (or dying) weeds. I managed to finish the bottom patio but there is still a lot to do. By the time I’m done pulling it will probably be time to do another spray; the beds aren’t getting done but everything looks better-kept with the obvious weeds out of the bricks.

After a quick shower and lunch I was off to my afternoon sewing group. We’re still working on the bag; let me rephrase that – I’m still working on the bag. Jessie is still away (and will be for another two weeks), and Gail was puttering, looking through catalogues and checking shops online. I’m still at least a couple of weeks away from being done. I’ve spent two weeks quilting all the bits and pieces and I have at least another week of that left. Gail says once the quilting is done it will go together quite quickly.

I barely had time to switch my potato salad from the Safeway container into a bowl before I was off to the Guild’s potluck supper – our year-end party. They are always a lot of fun and this was the “Show and Tell” for the placemat challenge. There were 23 placemats tonight and everyone said that was the best participation they had seen for a long time. I didn’t win any prizes but I got a small folding box for participating in the UFO Challenge – I finished four of my six projects but all I got was a participation prize! Not complaining as I could have come home with nothing.

I’m off again tomorrow morning on the first ferry. I was invited to join three other ladies on a road trip to the Parksville Quilt Show. I’m looking forward to seeing a show but I don’t plan to make any purchases – unless of course I see something really special!

Happy Birthday Jenny

Cards

June 21, 2018

Full Circle (from The Splendid Sampler series)

Although the postings for Splendid Sampler II begin tomorrow I went back to a block from the first series for this card for Jenny.

I was able to use some fabric from a Guild Challenge that I didn’t participate in as the background. The lettering on the background is intentionally opposite so that no matter which way you are looking at the square you get a positive message.

Since I was working with a circle I used circles as my quilting motif.

 

Guild Challenge 2018

Quilting

I usually take part in the Guild challenge; a challenge put out by the member who won the challenge from the previous year. Winners are chosen in a draw and I was always very careful not to put my name in the hat. At last year’s year-end party when the challenges were on display someone remembered mine and added my name. I wasn’t worried though because I seldom win a draw. I think my streak continued because when my name was pulled I certainly didn’t consider myself a winner.

Here is the challenge I put to our members:

My challenge to you is to use the enclosed fabric as the background for a standard-sized placemat (~12” x 18”). But not just any placemat – one that totally belongs to you.

Using your three initials (first, middle, and last names) one of those initials should represent the block pattern you will use on the front of your placemat; one of the initials should represent the main colour in your block,; finally, the last initial should represent the quilting motif you pick to quilt your finished masterpiece. The block you put on the front of the placemat can be a minimum of 6” to a maximum of 10”.

Your three initials can be used in any order to represent any of the required elements. For example, Annette Delores Baker could be a Drunkard’s Path block in Aqua and quilted with a Baptist Fan motif.

Since I came up with the Challenge I had to take part. The block on my placemat is called “Summer Solstice” (Sherrida),  I picked Emerald Green as my main colour (Eldine), and the quilting motif is “Morning Glory” (McKnight).

 Here is a closer view of the Morning Glory motif.

Great day for a cruise

Journal

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

There were a few drops of rain this morning and we briefly wondered if jackets were something we should think about before boarding the ferry. Pat checked the forecast and they hadn’t even predicted the small shower we did get so we left the house ready for the sun. And sun we got! We sat outside most of the way over to Comox. A humpback whale kept us company for a portion of the trip.

Peggy and Bill were waiting for us when we got off the ferry; they interrupted their camping so they could have lunch with us. We spent a couple of hours in their back yard – coffee, muffins and fresh strawberries from the garden – before heading for lunch. We had a spot on the deck of the restaurant that overlooked the ocean – a sighting of a seal and several boats. With an hour before ferry time we headed back to their yard – you couldn’t ask for a nicer place to sit with beautiful flowers, lots of shade, and a few water buffalo to keep us company.

We sat outside on the ferry part of the way back; we started out on the top deck but there wasn’t as much breeze as we wanted so we moved one deck lower. At one point, with the breeze, we were actually cool; I said that I wished I could somehow store the cool feeling and take it out again once we got to the house. I don’t know if it was the same whale or another one but we had another sighting on the way back.

The house has been closed up all day so it probably isn’t as warm as it would have been had we been here, but it doesn’t feel all the good. There is a breeze coming in though so hopefully it will cool down enough that we can get a good sleep. I hope the nap I had on the ferry doesn’t spoil my bedtime sleep.

I spent last evening sorting through my Farmer’s Daughter pieces and I think I’ll do the same tonight. I realized that this would be better use of my deck time than the cross stitching I have been doing. My goal is to have packages made up of each of the blocks so I can work on them one by one; I have a few bags where I need to do some extra English paper piecing before they can be attached.