Sunday, May 9, 2021

I am a very proud mother of three daughters who have all grown up to be confident young women. As they all live in different provinces they aren’t together very often but I’m happy that they send me photos of themselves when they are all in one spot. They are wonderful mothers; my grandchildren are very lucky.

When I saw the pattern for this block I was a little intimidated – it has appliqué, circles, and some bias strips. I used the glue method again for the circles and I had the bias strips left over from another project. The centre fabric (the bow tie) comes from a 100% cotton shirt I bought at the thrift store when we were allowed to visit random shops just to look.

This card was a random pick from my tin of pattern numbers but there was no doubt about its destination when I saw the pattern name. I used the glue technique on this but I’m finding that gluing alone isn’t enough to get the points to match. I need to do the pin through each of the points and then glue; hopefully that would be enough to align them properly.

When Elizabeth and Kathryn were much younger we spent one evening a week doing crafts with the girl next door. I know that Elizabeth did some cross stitching because either before or after Madison was born she worked on a Winnie the Pooh project. The glue method certainly worked for this one and I was pleased with myself for coming up with a quilting pattern that didn’t involve any burying of threads.

May 8, 2021

There is lot of appliqué in this card but I used the glue method rather than my usual product to attach the pieces to the background. I was pleased with the results – there was no slippage as I stitched. I also had a tip from another quilter about using tissue paper as a backing when doing the appliqué stitches and they came out quite even. For the embroidery I did a quick YouTube video and realized I’ve been doing my stem stitch wrong. I’m not sure it gave me the confidence to do a lot more embroidery work but at least I got through the card.

Ken is celebrating a milestone birthday this year and I would like to be there to celebrate with him but in this Covid-19 era that just isn’t possible. When all of this is behind us I hope we can enjoy several cups of coffee and catch up. Maybe there will even be cake!

May 1, 2021

I used the glue basting method on this card and what a difference it makes. There are 44 pieces in this card and, for the most part, they all align properly. The method takes longer but certainly for small pieces it is the way I need to go.

Our parents were friends as we were growing up but when the kids in both families scattered about the country we lost touch with one another. Thanks to Facebook I have managed to reconnect with Barb and her sister Peggy.

I learned just last week that Barb has a new Great Granddaughter – that makes two for her. I’m sure she is waiting patiently for the restrictions to end so she can see that baby.

April 21, 2021

This paper-pieced card should have been simple enough but as I was getting close to the end I realized I was running short of the background fabric. I thought about starting over but decided to carry on and see what would happen. I went with the saying, “If a blind man on a galloping horse can’t see it you’re okay”!

I hope that in the coming year Rick will be able to reconnect with all of his friends and family.