Wednesday, April 8, 2020

With the exception of my block for the day and a video chat not much has gone according to my plan for the day. The block took forever – it will finish at 16″ and is the largest block so far. It used a lot of fabric and I’m pleased to see my bits & bobs of fabric pieces get used up. But the larger blocks require a larger piece of fabric so it eats into my stash quite quickly. No need for any online orders yet though.

After our video chat this morning I got everything loaded into the bread maker for cinnamon buns; Pat had been wanting them for awhile. I set my timer and continued to work upstairs until it was time to take the dough out of the pan. I’m not sure what went wrong but the ingredients didn’t mix and the whole thing had to be pitched. On first glance it seemed like maybe I had missed some liquid but I reviewed the recipe and I had everything it called for. I’m thinking now that whatever does the mixing in the bread maker may be broken. I’m going to try again tomorrow using my Kitchen Aid mixer; my wrists just won’t allow me to do the kneading that is required for dough.

Wednesday is meant to be a quilting day (in my mind at least) but since there is very little time left in the day I’ll work on my Thursday project (my April UFO Challenge) and get back to the quilting tomorrow.

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

I was like a kid waiting for Christmas this morning – or to be seasonal like a kid waiting for the Easter Bunny. Clue 2 for our Guild’s Mystery Quilt was due today. I thought it would come by e-mail by nine because that is the usual time for our classes to start. That didn’t happen so I thought it would be there by ten. I was disappointed again.

So I got busy doing my daily block and by the time that was finished the clue had arrived. I’ve been working on it all afternoon and I’m still not finished; there is no way I could have completed this mystery in two days had it gone ahead as planned.

I took the car out for another drive today; again, the battery seemed low. I didn’t stop anywhere except the mail box to drop off some letters and I had my disinfecting wipes with me. There were very few vehicles parked along Marine but I was caught in ferry traffic coming from the peninsula. I was surprised at how many vehicles were in the parking lot at the grocery store, the strip mall (with Canadian Tire and the Dollar Store) and at the mall. I guess not everyone is staying at home. The few people I saw on the street weren’t wearing masks although a lot of my sewing friends have started to make them.

Now, back to my mystery.

Monday, April 6, 2020

I actually took care of some business this morning. For several mornings I’ve brought a cup of coffee upstairs planning to start pulling the paperwork for our income taxes. For several mornings I’ve got dragged (very willingly) into the internet rabbit hole. But today I was determined to get started. I have a lot of scanning to do but if I do a little every day I can get it to the accountant before the middle of the month.

My block for today has a few bugs in it. Yes, there are mistakes but I couldn’t resist throwing in a bit of bug-related fabric. Sadly the Covid-19 bug isn’t nearly as cute as these ones!

I’ve started quilting another donation quilt. It is one I made but from fabric the Guild gave me on our recent Community Quilt weekend. I ran into a bit of a problem first thing but I was able to determine that it was an operator error. The quilt wasn’t feeding properly; I rethreaded, I lowered and raised the feed dogs and finally I went online for some help. The first suggestion I read that made any sense was to unscrew the bobbin plate as perhaps it wasn’t set properly; I had removed it when I cleaned the machine so I assumed that was likely what was wrong.

I only got one screw removed when I realized I had the walking foot attached but I hadn’t lowered (and put in motion) the walking foot lever. Things went smoothly after that.

I’m not sure how I did it but after lunch a piece of my tooth broke off. I didn’t eat anything hard or crunchy (cottage cheese and a tomato) so I think perhaps over time the edge of the tooth has worn thin. That’s what I think happened but I expect it will be awhile before I have it confirmed (or rejected) by a dentist.

Sunday, April 5, 2020

I seem to be having a rather unproductive day. But that’s okay because we aren’t supposed to be putting pressure on ourselves to feel productive.

Laundry, a dishwasher load, my block and finishing my book while sitting in the sun – all in my day’s work.