Tuesday, March 2, 2021

I went to the fabric shop as soon as it opened this morning but I wasn’t able to find the fabric I wanted. I had pretty much given up on getting anything when I spied a display on the top of one of the cabinets. It was a decent match but there was just short of a metre on the roll. I bought it all.

When I got home I rejigged my pattern so that I could incorporate different backgrounds into the quilt but not waste the three blocks I had done. Sadly that meant I had to reverse stitch most of them in order to put them back together with the new blocks (not yet made) so they fit into the pattern. It also means that all the half-square triangles need to stay together as the focus fabrics in each block need to be the same. I’ve got three of the blocks back together so I’m caught up to where I was yesterday!

As I was putting together the first block I realized I didn’t have a leader and ender project. So I took some time out to draw out the pattern I’m hoping to have for my postage stamp quilt. On paper I like it but there are a lot of tiny pieces to put together to make a 12-inch block. I thought I might have time to get a sample block done today but no such luck.

A day or two ago when I told Pat I was doing a second day of clean up he asked me what I was avoiding (he knows me well). As a matter of fact I am not avoiding anything; now that I have the threads pulled out for my quilting project I’m anxious to get at it.

Monday, March 1, 2021

The first of the month is a fun day in my sewing room. The UFO Challenge for the month is released, and all the cards I need to make also come up on my task list. Today I’ve worked hard but all I’ve done is get things ready.

I have three Easter cards to make and five birthday cards. I picked out patterns for all of them but haven’t started assembling fabrics.

My UFO Challenge quilt was to be my “Paris Through the Window” but it was too big to sandwich inside. I checked the weather and the wind isn’t going to cooperate to do a spray baste sandwich outside so I packed it all up and put it in my bag for Texada. Since I don’t know when we might go over to the studio I fudged the numbers and got a quilt that was already sandwiched in the right spot. Bonus – I have two of them that are related themes and fabrics.

The Seminole sampler was presented by one of our Guild members once a month at our Tuesday sessions. Big surprise – I never stayed caught up and when I went to put everything together there were some patterns I just couldn’t figure out. Rather than spend too much time on it I put together a small quilt with the rows I was able to do.

The Seminole Mini was put together from scraps from the Seminole sampler. The mini was to be used for the Hands Across the Water Challenge but that event didn’t happen last year; when it does happen again our Guild is the host and I’m hoping that the decisions we made so long ago will be the same as what we’ll move forward with.

Stacia, Deloise and I will be sewing together (virtually) this weekend. First up will be our March miniature so I cut out the pieces I’ll need for that. The theme for the rest of our weekend is “Donation Quilts”. I dug out the one I want to work on and did a bit of cutting. I originally planned to use different backgrounds in each block but I’ve rearranged the pattern and I think it will be best to use the same background for all the blocks. The three blocks I have done have a grunge background; I don’t have enough to finish all the blocks so I’ll head up to the quilt shop tomorrow to see if I can get more. If I can’t I’ll have to make another decision.

My evening knitting is going well but I’m a long way from having a finish.

Sunday, February 28, 2021

You saw the pile of scraps on my cutting table yesterday. When I finished for the day I went downstairs and glanced out the back door. There was a little package on the deck; it looked like someone had just thrown something over the gate. When I picked it up there was a bag of fabric strips and a little box of triangles. I was confused but narrowed the list of suspects down to three. This morning I got a message from Jessie (one of the Thursday stitchers) and she confessed.

As I sorted through the bits my mind was imagining all the things I could do with the fabric. There were bits for strings, some larger pieces (but nothing larger than 2″ wide) and all of those triangles. The nice thing is that they are all fabrics that are new to my stash. So what did my mind come up with? I think I’ll incorporate the triangles into my postage stamp quilt. I’ll make up some HST’s and put a pinwheel in the centre of each of the blocks. I already have some blocks started (I was using them as leaders and enders) but nothing is so far along that I can’t incorporate this idea into it.

Speaking of leaders and enders, my basket for them is empty. I finished the last of the 100 blocks needed for my May quilt. I’m a little tired of that project so I’ve moved it to the bottom of my list; next time it comes up I’ll piece the top.

I’m going to finish the afternoon with some reading. I have a Cranberry Hall Coffee House to attend (virtually) tonight but while my camera and mic are off I hope to catch up on some paperwork.

Saturday, February 27, 2021

Since yesterday’s cleaning up went so well I decided to tackle another corner today.

This fabric storage corner is always a mess. Even with a cabinet and bins to store fabric in everything is always a jumble. Behind that bulletin board is a small wicker trunk that held scraps that I used for cards and calendar blocks. The open bin was for my novelty fabrics; I’m not in that bin very often but I pulled out fabric for Alex’s masks from it. What you don’t see is a cabinet on the left and one drawer in it was for larger pieces of fabric sorted by colour. The bottom drawer of that 2-drawer bin held all the bags of scraps I found; obviously I hid them away so I didn’t have to deal with them.

All tidy now – or at least hidden away. I moved all the scraps from the bottom drawer of the bin and filled it up with novelty fabric. The bin that had contained my novelty fabric now has larger bags of fabric sorted by colour. The drawer now holds my card making fabric and the wicker trunk holds the batting that I use for cards. All the extra fabric has been put away and I even managed to close the doors on the glass cabinet.

What doesn’t look so good is my cutting table. I’ll take a day to deal with all of those scraps – but not today! Most of them will sort into the bags and/or bins I already have designated but some will probably be cut small and go into the cabinet I keep my various-sized squares in.