This really couldn’t be considered holiday reading, but I spent most of my holidays with it. Surprisingly I could hardly put it down.
The details outlined in the book were not unfamiliar but taken in one sitting they were very disturbing. I started the book angry with the VPD because of their arrogance and inability to put aside political differences to act quickly; had they performed better there is a good chance they could have saved some of the women from the Downtown Eastside.
Because the murders took place in Port Coquitlam I was very familiar with all the places mentioned. I used to be so proud to live in Terry Fox’s hometown and then this gave us more notoriety than we ever wanted. I often saw the news vehicles and camera crews outside the courthouse as I went in to work at City Hall and knew that something was happening on the Pickton case.
I ended the book angry as well. I had forgotten that Willie Pickton had been found guilty of second-degree murder and not murder in the first degree. I also felt badly for the families of the missing women who never had a chance to have their cases go to court.
It was so good to be back at my machine at the bee today. I’ve missed a few, and last week was a bit of a sewing disaster! Our friends still had my car because they were stuck on the Island when the ferry didn’t run on Boxing Day. Pat was going to drive me but at the last minute a friend called to say she would pick me up. Since I was going in an unfamiliar vehicle I decided to take only some hand stitching.
I packed up my Farmer’s Daughter bins (yes, there are at least three of them holding blocks in various stages) and headed out. I opened up my bin to begin stitching a block together and realized I hadn’t brought along my thread. The thread I use to stitch the pieces together is very fine and no one at the Guild had any. I was annoyed, but no problem because I had some basting I could do. Then I realized that I had set up my new Yazzii bag (from Houston) as my hand sewing kit and I left it on my cutting table when I carried things downstairs. I called Pat and tried to explain where the things I needed were located; he found the Yazzii bag but brought the wrong bin of threads. That was probably my fault as I may have told him to look on the left side of my thread holder rather than on the right side. In my own defence it had been a complete change in sewing plans when I decided not to take my machine, and I was still in the middle of redesigning my room.
Today was much better, but I very carefully packed up what I needed and even woke up in the night and remembered there were a couple of things I needed to add. I’ve got all the outer blocks done on my Celtic Crystal quilt; I’ve been managing one block a day at the bee but the block I worked on today already had been a work-in-progress for one whole day. I couldn’t figure out why it was taking me so long but I felt better when I realized I was making four blocks rather than just one. I pressed all the fabric I washed yesterday so I’m set to go on to the next steps – the centre medallion and the borders.
I finished up another set of mitts last night so I’ll get a package off to Elizabeth in the next day or so. I’m slowly (very slowly) using up yarn; it is often a challenge to find something to make with the small amounts I have left. I’ve started a new toque (for the Salvation Army basket) and I’m going to look for a triangular scarf pattern for the yarn I have left from this last effort.
After almost two weeks of doing next to nothing it was a shock to the system to actually wake up and plan to do a bit of work. I’ve accomplished a lot too; I’m on my third cup of coffee for the day so that may be part of the reason for my success.
I’ve been taking down a few Christmas decorations every day; the tree came down on New Year’s Eve but I set aside today to get everything down and put away for next year. Except of course for the one or two decorations that get missed and are usually found about March or April. A few gifts that we received for Christmas have been added to the collection. I’ve set a reminder for myself to check out the second trunk of Christmas stuff that is still in the shed; I’d really like to combine everything into one spot that will sit under the Christmas tree box.
Over the holidays I was anxious to get started with my new ruler templates for free-motion quilting. I did a bit of playing on a practice sandwich but I hate wasting my time and wanted to get at “the real thing”. The Guild ladies all say we should practice new techniques on our Community Quilts and I had one in mind that I could start with. The last few projects have been small and I was able to sandwich them using the island in the kitchen. I tried the same method for sandwiching this quilt but I had very little success. At the end of the session the quilt back was completely rumpled and puckered and there was no way it could be quilted in that state.
Ready for some fun!
I had some other options at this point – I could wait until the next bee and pin baste it on the tables there (although I’ve never had very good luck doing that) or I could wait until the next bee and try to spray baste it. We don’t use the spray basting method inside though so I’d have to wait until we had a dry bee day to proceed with that method. The last option was one I tried to avoid but it ended up being the right thing to do – I got down on my hands and knees on the floor and pin basted! I may not have time to start any quilting today, but it is ready to go when I get some time.
I’ve also done several loads of laundry today. My last load is in right now and it is the fabric I need for the last two steps in my Celtic Cross quilt, which I hope to have ready for the quilt show in April. I don’t usually pre-wash my fabric but this is done with batiks and it is recommended that they be pre-washed. This quilt will continue to be my bee project but I may also work on it at home (after the quilting is done) because I’m sure the photos of our show quilts will be due in February. Fortunately it is only a photo of the completed quilt top they need, not the completed project.
There isn’t much time left in the afternoon and I have a lot of mess to clean up so I’d better get at it.
This really couldn’t be considered holiday reading, but I spent most of my holidays with it. Surprisingly I could hardly put it down.
