Thursday, February 18, 2021

Blocks can be tricky. Some are easily pieced and the colour selection for them is obvious. Some are harder to make but once they are done I’m glad I made them. Some teach me a new method and for some I have a tried and true method I use for a particular technique. Some in the Splendid Sampler series seem to have been created to use as many pieces as possible in a six inch block.

I’m working on cards today. My usual method is to pull a number from the Splendid Sampler tin and, without thinking about it too much, make that particular block for the person on my list. Late yesterday afternoon I pulled a ticket and although I didn’t like the picture I gave it a try. I changed up the colours a bit but when I finished it today there was no way I could use it for a card. And how is that name supposed to translate into anything in the pattern? I’ll save it to practice some of my quilting moves on.

The next number I pulled was a very complicated pattern; I didn’t even put it back in the tin. The second one I pulled involved some hand stitching so I set it aside to use for a card that is due later next month. On the third try I pulled a card that I thought was suitable and it is finished; the second card I worked on today was also one that worked on the first pull.

Pat is entrusting me with supper tonight – Stuffed Peppers. He’s been telling me all day how to do it, even though I told him I was using my own recipe. He keeps making suggestions and I keep telling him I’m using my own recipe. His excuse was “I know how much you like cooking” and my response was “And I hate it even more when you tell me how to do it”. I hope they turn out!

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

I spent the morning catching up on two-week’s worth of cross stitching. Of the three on-line projects I’m taking part in, I’m up-to-date on two of them. I’m far behind on the third one and it crossed my mind that I probably should add my Thunderbird to my task list. I’m working to finish things on my task list but some of the items will take a long time so when I come to them on my list I spend a day at them and move on.

As promised, to myself rather than anyone else, I got busy with the cleaning this afternoon. Recycle cleared out, bathrooms scrubbed down, baseboards wiped, floors vacuumed and scrubbed. There’s no need to do it all in one day but I hate having to take time out for it. Between the big cleanings I do spot cleaning so I keep more or less on track.

My back hurts (from vacuuming), my wrists hurt (from wringing out rags) so I’m going to find something to relax with for the rest of the afternoon.

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

We had Chinese food last night (left-over from Valentine’s Day) and my fortune cookie mentioned a job I’d been putting off needed to be done. I didn’t have to think about what it meant – time to do some deep cleaning. I thought I would finish my sewing early today and have time to get started but that didn’t happen so I’ll move that task to tomorrow.

I logged on with the Guild a couple of times. I was working on Guild-related blocks today – a block of the month for January and two filler blocks for my log cabin quilt. When I got the pattern for the first log cabin filler (the dogwood) I thought it was a block of the month; at the time I thought it was an odd one to pick. It wasn’t until I started making it today that I realized it was for a completely different Guild project.

We are supposed to pick one log cabin filler block of our own choice and I’m hoping to make a card trick block. I’ll have to scour the web and my pattern books to see if I can find it in the right size. The dogwood block I made today may not make it into the quilt – I’ll have to see when the sashing gets attached. If I decide it isn’t right for the quilt I’ll pick another block on my own.

My knitting is going well and I hope to be adding a second colour to it tonight. I’ve had to slow down a bit as we started watching a new show last night and it is sub-titled with no way to switch the audio to English. Resurrection:Ertugrul (think modern Vikings) is set in the 1200’s in Turkey and, from the few episodes we’ve seen, it will be as bloody as the Vikings. Those scenes make it easier to concentrate on the knitting stitches though!

Monday, February 15, 2021

I have finally finished the quilt I’ve been working on. It took much longer than I thought it would but then I haven’t quilted a big quilt for so long I’m sure I’ve forgotten how long the last one took. I don’t have time to get a photo today and write up the post; that will get done later this week. In the meantime it will give me great pleasure to not only mark DONE beside my February UFO Challenge, but also take the quilt out of my general UFO listing.

I spent a lot of time at my computer today catching up on some of my own work as well as taking care of some Hall business. A friend is having an online Epicure party so I put in an order for that. It seemed like every five minutes after I settled in to stitch I thought of something else that needed to be done, a message that needed to be sent, or something that popped into my head that I was curious about and had to look up. I know it was all just a delay on the binding but it is done now and I can move on tomorrow.

I’ll be joining the Guild for a sewing session tomorrow and I’m happy that I will have something for Show and Tell. Actually I’ll have two things as I have my miniature from last week; it is already hanging and “out of sight out of mind”.

I started a new knitting project a couple of nights ago and I’m really enjoying it. I’m making an afghan, using a scarf pattern, with a variety of textured yarns – most of it is fluffy in some way so I’m hoping it will be soft. No idea how big it will be – I’ll knit until the yarn runs out. I’ve also found a new hat pattern and I have a ball of yarn that I think will be enough.