Monday, July 5, 2021

The first clue for one of my mystery projects came out last week and I was quite pleased with myself for getting everything cut before the first sewing clue came out. I did worry that I didn’t have enough variety in my fabrics; my colour was yellow and to make up the right number of pieces I added a bit of gold. I purposely stayed away from anything that was too orange. The thought occurred to me that if we had to make 4-patches I was in trouble but I moved on.

Wouldn’t you know it? Today, when the first sewing clue was released we are to make 4-patches. I tried to match up what I already had cut so I had at least a bit on contrast between the fabrics but I had to give up and delve into my oranges.

I’m not convinced this is all going to work out but it’s too early to throw my hands up and quit.

Sunday, July 4, 2021

I finished my last load of laundry this morning. It has been a slow process as I’ve only been doing one load a day and hanging it on the line to dry. I didn’t want to heat the house up by running the drier, but for those things I did need to dry (like the load I forgot to bring in until the night dampness moistened it again) I ran the drier on a low-heat setting.

I didn’t really have a plan for the day but I had a clue cut for my Laundry Basket mystery so I spent the morning finishing that. I’ve got seven out of ten blocks finished so I’m getting there. When the blocks are finished I’ll take them to Texada to put on the design wall before sewing on the borders. Each clue shows you where on the whole quilt those particular blocks will go so it will be complicated to get them right unless I have a system.

The first five clues are on the floor of the room opposite my sewing space but there is no way I can pick them up, transport them, and get them in the right order again. So I came up with a system; I’ll keep the blocks from each clue in a bag along with the layout and I won’t even attempt to put the blocks in order until I have the design wall. That method has worked for the last two clues I’ve finished. Getting to the first five clues will be difficult because they are buried under a pile of quilt tops waiting to be sandwiched.

I realized today that all those quilt tops need pieced backings and some of them need to have a border added. So my afternoon project was to see how many layers I could get through.

As it turns out, not so many. The first layer I picked up (the last one I laid down) was my July UFO – a mystery quilt I started in October, 2018. I bought some backing fabric for it yesterday and I managed to get the backing pieced so it is ready to be sandwiched.

The second layer is my June UFO – a quilt top and two table runners. I’ve managed to get a border on two sides of the quilt top but it is too warm upstairs now so I’m going to quit for the day. At least I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow.

Saturday, July 3, 2021

My treat today was a trip to the fabric store but I thought before I got my treat I should do a bit of work to earn it. So I loaded up the recycling for the depot. I was lucky that there was no line up when I went in (they only allow one person in each of the two aisles) but they were lined up out the parking lot when I finished. I timed my trip so I could go directly from the depot to the quilt shop, which opens at ten.

As I pulled into the parking lot I had a bad feeling because all was dark and the open sign wasn’t on. I could see a sign on the door saying they had closed early on Friday but there was nothing to indicate a change in hours for today. As I was about to give up Barb (from Texada) was pulling into the lot, honking her horn and waving. The ferry from Texada was late so she was a touch late in opening.

There was no one else in the shop so we had a good chat while I shopped. I had no trouble at all finding the fabric I wanted for my second mystery, although I swapped my idea of a gold to the raspberry colour. Three shades of teal (although I wish the dark wasn’t quite as dark), two shades of grey for the background and the raspberry for some contrast.

Before I left this morning I cleaned up some scraps; when I got home I did a bit more reorganizing. I have separate containers now for my leaders and enders – one for triangles (how did I get so many?) and one for my inch-and-a-half squares (for my postage stamp quilt). I took my Alias Grace blocks off the design door because the breeze going through kept knocking them off. I sorted two That Fairy Tale Quilt project bins into one larger bin so I had somewhere to store this new fabric.

I finished my last July card this afternoon. I have time to tackle something else but I don’t really feel like it. I’ll get my laundry off the line and then maybe do some reading.

Friday, July 2, 2021

I finally got to do some sewing today. I hadn’t sewn a stitch since before we left for Texada and I haven’t done anything since we got back. I took lots of sewing with me to the studio but it was too hot to have the iron on and adding in any way to the heat.

I had some catch up to do on my cards but I’m back in control now; thank goodness as yesterday I got the reminder for my August cards. I have one card ready to stitch the binding down on (tonight’s project), one card sandwiched and ready for quilting (tomorrow), and one card wrapped and ready for the mail in a few days time.

I don’t always wrap my cards but lately I’ve been doing that because I never know with the postal service how early the cards might arrive. I did the same today with the card I was getting ready to send. I had it wrapped and ready for the outside wrapping before realizing I hadn’t taken a photo. So the wrapping paper came off, I took the photo, and then had to start re-wrapping.

At our Guild party I won a gift certificate to our quilt shop and I’ve got quite a list of purchases I need (yes, need) to make. I got the fabric requirements for the second mystery quilt I’ll be working on this summer and I’m starting it with all new fabrics. I have three quilts waiting to be sandwiched and quilted; I need backing for one and I’ll need more basting spray. My gift won’t come anywhere near covering the cost but I’m looking forward to a shopping trip tomorrow.

I heard from the Hall’s accountant late this afternoon and I’m going to have some follow-up work to do. Most of it is based on issues when I made the switch from one accounting package to another. A problem for another day.