All posts by Sherry

It was just silly

Journal

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

I planned to get the Cranberry Hall minutes out this morning, do a couple of quick Guild updates and then move on to something more fun.

I was barely started on the minutes when Pat arrived home; I wasn’t expecting him until the noon ferry. I was almost done the minutes when friends dropped by so I took a break for a visit. I was done the minutes before lunch but while I was eating Pat needed some figures from our Cranberry Day celebration and it took all my afternoon time to get them together (and balanced).

I had an appointment at the medical clinic and as I headed into the pharmacy a young woman was looking for jumper cables. I know that sick feeling when your car doesn’t start and I told her I had cables but had only watched them being used once. No problem as another young woman in the pharmacy knew how to use them but didn’t have any in her car.

The two women got everything connected but when they tried to start the cars, neither one would turn over. Just then a woman came out of the pharmacy and said she would bring her car over and we could start both cars. This woman knew what she was doing and without any hesitation she had Car #2 hooked up. It started fine and then she did the same with Car #1.

My job – possibly the most difficult of all – was getting the cables back into the carrying case!

It’s nice to know that my cables are being put to good use. I really must learn how to use them.

40 Shades of Spring

Quilting

We have two months between miniature quilt meetings so why am I always working on my project in the few days before each meeting?

Finished Size: 21.5″ x 25″

The rail-fence blocks were done a long time ago – leftover scraps from a table runner, a chair cover and a bunch of neutrals I had in my bin. I always intended to make something with them and when I looked for a project for our meeting the idea of getting a bin of blocks off my table really appealed.

I made the pattern up myself. I was hoping for more of a shadow box look to the blocks; perhaps I need to have the border colours the same width. I think my Second Time Around (Splendid Sampler) will be done with shadow boxes so I’ll find a different tutorial when I start putting those together. I have to admit though that when I see the photo it does give a bit of the effect I was going for.

The “feathers” (and I use the term loosely) were my first attempt at them. Some are better than others but since I was keeping this for myself I decided they were good enough.

The name of the quilt comes from the 40 pieces of fabric that make up the centre squares in each of the blocks.

 

In 2016 our Guild hosted an event involving the Guilds on the Island and along the Sunshine Coast. I used some of these same blocks in a miniature quilt that was part of a raffle basket.

UPDATE: Sold at the 2025 Guild Quilt Show – $25

The Best Kind of People

Books

Author: Zoe Whittall

George, a respected teacher and much-loved family man, has been arrested on charges of sexual misconduct with several minors, and attempted rape of another minor. The incidents in question took place on a school trip.

The remainder of the book focuses on what the arrest, subsequent jail term and, finally, the trial have on the members of his family – his wife, their 16-year old daughter and their adult son.

The author leaves it up to the reader to decide whether or not they agree with the verdict.

 

Goodreads Rating * * *

Why

Journal

Monday, January 8, 2018

Why is it that a miniature quilt takes so long?

I worked on this project almost all day yesterday. I had the top all ready for the final border when I realized that two of the blocks were upside down. Fortunately they were both in one row so only one row had to come out. It was almost 8:30 before I finished the blocks and the border.

My goal today was, of course, to finish the project. I told myself that if I finished the straight-line quilting before lunch I would attempt some feathers in the border. Neither the straight-line quilting nor the feathers took very long and I was finished it all before lunch. I can’t say what type of bird these feathers came from but I can assure you that the bird couldn’t have been flying very straight. It was my first attempt at feathers on a wall hanging for myself so I’m going to say it was okay.

I was just putting in the finishing stitches to attach my binding when I realized that I stitched the binding on backwards. So now I’ll reverse stitch that and start over again. Hopefully I will still have time today to do the hand stitching – and I don’t want a late night.

No wonder these small projects take so long!