Wednesday, January 13, 2021

I did my ruler quilting this morning and it went quite well; I felt comfortable with the tool and it was nice to be doing more than just practising. I stayed focused and didn’t stray from the ruler edge as I sometimes did when I practised. My stitch length varied quite a bit but that happens whenever I free-motion – I keep reminding myself it just takes time and practise. I need to quilt the borders but I’ll save that for another day. Stacia and Deloise both have their projects quilted and probably hung but I’m okay with that. I’ll be a few days behind but I’ll get it done very soon.

I was back to making the scrappy blocks today. I’m a few blocks short of being a quarter done. Each block takes a long time but I’m happy with the results. I’ll finish my way to the quarter-done mark tomorrow and move on to something else. You can see the “something else” under the scrappy blocks.

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

It has been so much fun today working online with Stacia and Deloise – and we have a couple more days set aside for this.

At Christmas I gave both Stacia and Deloise a set of postcards (I had a set for myself) that had patterns for miniature quilts; there was one postcard for each month. Today we all worked on the January quilt. Not surprisingly Stacia’s is done and quilted. I have the top finished and Deloise is just a couple of borders away from a finished top (she made hers twice the size so it took longer). I want to quilt the piece with my new quilting ruler skills; I thought I’d leave it until next week to do it but I may change my mind and do it tomorrow.

I moved on to another scrappy project that I marked a long time ago – it is from a 2011 calendar. All the coloured bits are scrappy and there are four different background fabrics. These are quick to make but a little boring after a few (hence my decision to quilt my miniature).

The two projects combined made quite a dent in my scrap drawers.

Monday, January 11, 2021

In spite of the fact that Deloise said I was cheating by sewing the lines of my half-square triangles before we start our session tomorrow, I finished the lines on mine. They haven’t been cut, pressed or trimmed so there will still be plenty of work to do after we officially start.

I did a bit more work with my quilting rulers today. My first attempt didn’t go well and I thought I had either been very lucky last week or I had lost the knack for it. I was able to sort out the issue by raising the foot; I think the sandwich I was using today was thicker than last week and the foot was too tight against the fabric and it didn’t move well. My hope is that next week I’ll be able to quilt the small project I am working on this week with Stacia and Deloise.

I also put a couple of rows of another quilt top together. For every row I stitched I had to do some reverse work so decided it was probably time to quit.

I have a Zoom meeting tonight. I think I’m prepared for it but there are always a few things I think of at the last minute.

Sunday, January 10, 2021

A little of this … the first instructions for the Ornament of the Month stitch along I’m following. It is more difficult to stitch on red than I thought it would be but I have a package of this red fabric and another of green fabric (purchased I might add from the craft shop I owned in Yellowknife) and a Christmas-themed pattern seemed appropriate for it.

A little of that … I’m working my way through the stitching on these half-square triangles. I won’t cut, press or trim them until Stacia, Deloise and I actually start sewing together but I wanted to have them prepped. I stitch rather slowly (in comparison) and I’d like to say I was able to get at least few blocks done during our three-day session. Having these stitched even this far will help.