All posts by Sherry

Happy Birthday Audrey

May 17, 2017

Inchy Hexagon Club (from The Splendid Sampler series)

 

With the exception of the quilting and one side of the binding this card is completely hand stitched. I did a very similar card last year for Laurie, but I cheated and used some larger hexagons that I had from another project. When I realized this was a completely different pattern I decided to make the card as instructed by the designer. I took my colour inspiration from the Colour Wheel I made in France.

I’m not sure why the block is called The Inchy Hexagon Club as each side of those small pieces is just half-an-inch.

I accomplished a lot today

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

I accomplished a lot today; it’s been quite awhile since I’ve finished everything on my “to-do” list plus a little bit more.

I have a meeting at the Guild tomorrow to sort through and downsize our library. Our new location won’t have room for us to keep all the books we currently have so we (mostly my partner) will  pick which ones stay and which ones get offered for sale to the members. I computerized the library listing two years ago when I joined the committee so I’ll also be compiling a final listing for the group that will take it over. Whether they decide to keep the computerized listing is up to them. I printed out 22 pages of book titles so it should be easy to check off the books that will be discarded. Since I was already working on Guild items I took some time and updated a few of the pages on the blog.

When that was done I finished quilting the card I worked on at the bee yesterday. Not only is that one ready to have the binding hand-stitched but I also finished a second card this afternoon. Granted the second one was pretty simple, but it feels good to get two done in a day. Of course my reminders for June cards popped up yesterday so it isn’t as if I get a free week!

I have a good chance to get the border finished on my cross stitching this afternoon. If my luck holds I might even get further along.

 

It was almost like a retreat

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

The class on Sunday and Monday was fabulous. There were so many useful tips and, although not perfect, the block I made is certainly more precise. The first morning of the class was lecture and checking our machines. The instructors were a couple – Shelley took care of the precision piecing part and her husband took care of our machines. The end result was that almost everyone ended up with a full “servicing” on their machines.

By the end of the first day we managed to get the pieces cut for our first block. Once I had my block cut out I knew the orange fabric just wasn’t going to work for my pinwheels. Fortunately Deb, from Crazy Quilt Cottage, opened her shop for me at the end of the day so I could pick out something more suitable. We found the perfect fabric and once I saw the finished block I decided rather than making three blocks for a table topper I’d make 30 blocks for a quilt (or as many blocks as I could until the fabric ran out). That being said I have only one block finished and it took me until the bee today to finish it.

Last night when the 5 PM ferry was leaving Pat and I both commented that it was the last day for the Queen of Burnaby. There was a bit of a storm outside and we both laughed and said it would be funny if the final sailing was cancelled due to weather. Before the ferry had even made it past Texada we could see it making a run in the direction of its “storm” crossing. Sure enough, the final ferry of the night was cancelled.

This morning we watched the new Salish Orca dock at the terminal. It was about ten minutes late arriving but we figured there were probably some ceremonies that took place on the other side. When the ferry was still docked at almost 9 o’clock I thought maybe there were more ceremonies taking place over here. The Texada ferry in the meantime was waiting to dock – all our Texada ladies at sewing were a little ticked off that they had to wait! While they waited they were saying that the crew probably couldn’t find the Start button on the new boat.

Yes, I was off to the bee first thing this morning. I got the last few stitches sewn on my block and then I moved on to a card and some mindless Leader and Ender stitching.

This was my third day in a row of stitching but many of the Guild members took a class on Saturday as well so that made it four days for them.

 

Happy Mother’s Day

May 14, 2017

Today is the official day that we celebrate our mothers – whether or not they are still with us. I remember my first Mother’s Day after Mum passed away; I was in Safeway and as I passed down the card aisle I realized I wouldn’t ever be buying another Mother’s Day card for Mum and I immediately burst into tears and left the store.. Diane always said that I would eventually be able to think of Mum without tears, and I reached that point a few years ago; the tears still come but not as often. Now, on Mother’s Day, I remember Mum and celebrate my daughters for the wonderful mothers they have become.

You read about these projects in several of my previous blogs. Working with zippers is always a danger zone but after three attempts (at least) on each zipper they were set. One of the bags was a real experiment (I won’t tell you which one), and I put it together at least twice. Once I had help from my friends at the bee I got it clear in my head how it should be done and was able to finish them up very quickly. Each pouch contains a fold-out bag, with handles, for shopping.

I made copious notes, with photos, should insanity prevail and I decide to make more!