Thursday, August 16, 2018

I think I made up for my low-energy day yesterday. I had lots of energy today and I got a lot done.

But let me go back to last night. I dug out the bin of fabric I had set aside for my four-seasons tree; they are all batiks and, although I don’t particularly like sewing with them, you can’t beat them for beautiful colours. Sadly though the pattern for the tree wasn’t in the bin. I thought I could find it online but since I couldn’t remember the year of the block or even which Guild hosted Hands Across the Water when the block was chosen I wasn’t able to find it. I looked through a magazine folder of patterns and I looked through a basket of patterns; I found some interesting stuff but no tree pattern. I thought my next step would be to put out a call on Facebook or through the Guild membership but, since I manage the Guild’s blog site I thought I might be able to find it somewhere in those files.

I’ve been trying to archive and clean up some of the old pages and posts from the site over the last couple of years but, fortunately, the Hands Across the Water block still had an active link. I was wrong about the season chosen by your birth month, it was actually chosen by the first initial of your last name. Doesn’t matter to me as I’m going to make all four seasons. In spite of often complaining about having to keep the blog site updated I guess there are some benefits.

I spent all morning at the computer (again) mainly getting Pat’s accounting ready for his year-end later this month. In the breaks I had while he located documents I needed I was able to match the fabric colours for the trees with the right seasons. While I was getting things out and ready I also put together the fabric for last week’s Splendid Sampler block. All of those pieces are paper-pieced and I figure once I get started I may as well do the last two of my Farmer’s Wife blocks (paper-pieced) before I clean my machine and change my needle.

Today was a group sewing day. Since I was finished my Betsy Bag I was able to work on something else while Gail and Jessie finished their bags. I took along a bin of Bloom blocks – these are the ones I’m making with the strips I won at the Texada Retreat last November. If memory serves me I’m supposed to have at least a top finished for this year’s retreat. I have enough blocks done that I could finish up a top but I’ll make it a big bigger – I’ll make up all the blocks I already have cut and then see where I’m at. I’ll have lots of pieces of strips left (and more) for the border. I got two blocks done today; I thought I would be faster but I guess we’re still talking too much!

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

We were up and out early as Pat had his second eye surgery today. I had to have some routine lab work done so decided last night to skip my bedtime snack (which I don’t usually have) and breakfast and get that done while he was in the OR. I was finished before he was but of course I had to wait to drive him home. So breakfast (and coffee) was late today.

The smoke cleared a bit overnight (although it is closing in again) but it still seemed reasonably cool earlier in the day. I had some posters for an upcoming Hall event to get out so walked down Marine from one end to the other to put them up. It took over an hour and by the time I got home it was hot. Pat spent the day recuperating in the dark of the basement. I took care of a few chores and did a bit of sewing this afternoon.

I have a card almost ready for binding; I hope to get it on before supper so I can hand stitch it tonight. I’ve been doing the meals today; it was grilled cheese for lunch and hamburgers for supper!

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

I finished three more blocks today for my Farmer’s Wife Sampler. There are still two blocks left but I looked ahead in my book and I’ll soon have to decide about layout, sashing and backing. Most of the layouts shown have the blocks set on point and, as I learned with the last sampler I did, I don’t find that easy. I know I’ve saved a few photos of other quilts and layouts I’ve seen so I’ll dig through a few of them before making my final decision.

Just when I thought I was moving ahead though it was announced today that our first miniature meeting will be in September. I have a Christmas table runner that I should quilt and use as my project but the latest Splendid Sampler block has me thinking in another direction. Someone posted a photo of the block (basically the branches of a tree) and said she thought it would look nice done in the colours of the four seasons. That reminded me that a few years ago the block for Hands Across the Water was a tree and the colours you were to use were based on your birthday. January to March were certain colours, April to June were other colours, you get the drift. I thought at the time I’d like to make a piece for each of the seasons so now might be the perfect time to dig out the pattern; I think I might even have put aside some fabric for the piece.

But before I start anything (else) new I have to finish up a card and clean up my sewing space. Too many trips and quick ins-and-outs and even the floor space feels limited.

Monday, August 13, 2018

We had another good weekend on Texada. I caught the last ferry over on Thursday night; I enjoyed travelling as it got dark, but it wasn’t so dark that I couldn’t see the two humpbacks beside us. The last two trips over I’ve seen whales but today it is so smoky I don’t think I’d even be able to see from one end of the boat to the other.

It was Sandcastle weekend on Texada but the weather wasn’t great on Saturday so we stayed indoors. We had a few rain showers in Van Anda but apparently there was nothing in Gilles Bay at the site. We spent most of the day Sunday at the event, starting with a Pancake Breakfast put on by the fire department. Pat did his beer slinging for a couple of hours and that gave me time to head to the beach to see some of the works-in-progress. As soon as Pat finished his shift with the Legion he was on stage for his set. We stayed until all the music was over, but didn’t wait to see who won the sand castle events. I haven’t been able to see online who won but I enjoyed seeing the creations in the youth events; the adults were doing major building and you really couldn’t tell what they final sculpture would look like.

We were aiming to take the 9:20 ferry home this morning, which would put us back home by ten. We packed everything up at the studio and were on our way in plenty of time to get some coffee and breakfast while we waited for the ferry. As I was heading to the coffee shop I noticed that the earlier ferry hadn’t left yet so I ran back to the truck so we could move forward in the line-up. As it turned out Pat had misread the ferry times and we were able to take the early ferry. It was delayed leaving as they waited for an ambulance to arrive; we had seen the ambulance just a few doors down from the studio when we left. We had breakfast when we got to Powell River, got some groceries and were home before the ferry we planned to catch left Texada.

So what did I do with my day? For the most part I worked on Cranberry Hall stuff. I had minutes to get out, some reports I needed to get done and I sent out a few e-mails to take care of some planning.

Before supper I had time to package up the final five Farmer’s Wife Sampler blocks. I will probably only manage to get a couple done at the bee tomorrow but it is a good feeling to be this close to done. I wanted to have the blocks finished by October so Stacia and Deloise could help me place them in the quilt. I have another project that I’d also like to have the blocks finished for but that one is a long way from done. Both projects are for the quilt show in March.