All posts by Sherry

I’m taking a day

Friday, July 31, 2020

Town House (Block 113)

While I waiting on a phone call this morning I finished a daily block – another six-inch quickie.

I brought back the sewing table for my quilting machine from Texada. The plan for the day was to move it into place. I wasn’t sure how it would fit in my set-up so I shifted around a couple of other things until I had it in place. I’m quite pleased that I was able to keep both my thread cabinet (although I moved the thread) and my pressing table (now my thread cabinet). I don’t know how the arrangement will work when I start quilting but I’ll give it a try.

I moved Pearl (my travel machine) to the other side of the desk I was using to sew on. I needed to find a plug in and I knew approximately where it was located – buried behind a number of bins. While I had everything pulled out I decided it would be a good idea to fill in the spreadsheet that Deloise developed for keeping track of her sewing projects. The day is gone now and I don’t even have them all recorded and the rest of the room is still a nightmare.

I guess I’ll be taking another day!

I’m set

Thursday, July 30, 2020

Thrifty (Block 112)

I probably wouldn’t have done a daily block today but it was a small one and I had some time between other projects. My selection of fabrics certainly fits into the name of the block; all of the pieces came from my scraps and the four-patches were already put together.

Now, my day. I slept in a bit so I got a slow start but the jobs I set for myself were pretty simple. I was a block behind on one of my on-line quilt alongs so that was the first thing I did. I was a week behind on purpose because I wanted to wait until the final block was released to decide whether or not to add an additional colour of fabric into the mix. I also needed to see the final layout to see if the added colour would be okay. It all worked out very well and I have just one block to finish and then, of course, all the blocks need to be stitched together.

When I got home yesterday my car wouldn’t start – not a surprise that the battery was dead. Pat tried to boost the car to get it going but we didn’t have any luck; I bought my own booster cables awhile ago and I’ve used them successfully a couple of times. At that point I called BCAA to tow the car to my mechanic’s shop. Of course he attached his booster cables and the car turned over first try!

Just as I finished laying out the quilt-along blocks the shop called and said the car was ready. They couldn’t find anything that was draining the battery but they have given me another gizmo that will allow me to plug the car in when I’m away and it will maintain the battery charge. I’m hoping that will solve the problem. I asked Ken if he thought the car was worth keeping and he said that given the amount of driving I do it is just fine.

When I got home I moved on to the daily block and next I started working on the first step of a curved hexie quilt-along. I have a couple of shapes basted and I hope to finish them off this evening in the coolness of the basement. Anne (with an ‘e’) has a new season so I’ll watch that as I stitch.

Little Girl Lost

Author: Carol Wyer

This is book one in a new series; I will often get a book that is further into a series (and it doesn’t usually matter) but it was nice to be in on the first one.

It took some time to introduce all the characters and I was confused at first. If you read it pay attention to the names of everyone and their connections. It doesn’t help that one of the characters is posing as another of the characters and a second character has changed her name from the beginning of the story. I thought I knew who the unidentified narrator was but more than half-way through I realized I was wrong. Even after learning who the villain was it didn’t spoil the ending.

I’d be tempted to read another one in the series but the library doesn’t have any of them.

The Stolen Marriage

Author: Diane Chamberlain

I’m a fan of Diane Chamberlain and this book didn’t change my opinion.

Tess is training to be a nurse while her fiancé is a doctor working away from home during the polio epidemic. On a trip away with her best friend she takes part in a one-night stand. While Tess is tormented by how to tell her fiancé about her unfaithfulness she realizes that she is pregnant. Determined to keep her child she contacts the father to ask for financial support and he immediately proposes. But the marriage is odd to say the least.

The story was very good but what I found most interesting was that it was set during the polio epidemic in the early forties. Families of the infected were put into quarantine, no visitors were allowed in the hospitals and the methods of treatment were changing all the time. Sound familiar? The scary part is that there was no vaccine until 1955. Yikes – even if they cut that time in half for the Covid virus we are still in for a long haul.

Goodreads Rating: * * * *