Saturday, March 17, 2018

It’s a special day for two reasons – St. Patrick’s Day (of course) and also National Quilting Day. And what better photo to commemorate the day than this Singer sewing machine transformed into a table in the pub. We actually saw a these in a number of places in Ireland.

Although I haven’t done much in the way of quilting today I managed to finish off a couple of squares – my weekly 1880 Sampler block and one Splendid Sampler block.

I spent some time looking through my photos of our Ireland trip. Here are a couple!

Friday, March 16, 2018

Pat and I did a foolish thing last night – we stayed up until 2 AM watching a full season of Broadchurch. We watched a couple of episodes before I headed out to my Boro class and after I got home we started watching again. The episodes were such that we couldn’t wait to see what would happen next and before we knew it there were only two episodes left. Since we knew we couldn’t watch it again until Sunday night we decided to stay up and finish it.

To say we were a little slow this morning would be an understatement. But we both had things to do so we got at it. I sewed a card top before I went out for groceries for our House Concert tomorrow; Pat headed out to take care of things for the show tonight at Cranberry Hall. When the groceries were put away I started cleaning and setting up for the House Concert; I’ve got all my dishes set out, as well as the chairs, so there won’t be much to do tomorrow morning.

The performers for the show at Cranberry Hall aren’t staying with us, which is a bonus for me. I hadn’t actually intended to go to the show but since one of our Board members was going to be on his own for the Concession I said I’d go; Grant was doing all the buying and prep work, I was just going to help serve. As it turned out we had an email this morning from the Board member who usually handles membership and merchandise; Annabelle really didn’t want to go so I said I’d work her table for her.

It’s good that I’m retired so I have time (and a bit of energy) for all the things I find myself involved with – even if I don’t enjoy all of them.

Thursday, March 15, 2018

Yesterday didn’t go the way I planned. I wanted to get some cards done but I realized Pat’s GST report was due at the accountant’s so I thought I should get busy at that before I started having fun. I didn’t expect to get far as I usually need paperwork and explanations from Pat and he was away. But things went very smoothly and it was late morning before I hit a snag and had to stop.

I picked out fabric for a card, as well as fabric for the same block for myself. I did the cutting and I was having trouble seeing how it would all fit together properly. When I looked closer at the pattern (always a good idea) I realized I was supposed to be paper piecing the block.

For paper piecing I use an old needle because it has to go through paper and dulls the needle. Since my machine was set up for quilting I didn’t want to change feet and the needle so I set the project aside.

I had a birthday party to go to in the afternoon and until it was time to leave for that I did a bit more hand stitching on my March challenge. There was a good turn out for the birthday; Al thanked everyone for coming to “the second anniversary of his 40th birthday”!

I barely had time for supper before heading off to the movie and by the time I got home I was tired and sat in my chair and finished off the hand stitching I started in the afternoon.

Today is busy as well, hence the early post. I did some of my own paperwork this morning and then quilted another block on my never-ending quilting project. By the time I finished that one block I had to head to the airport to pick Pat up. I’m off now to my Thursday stitching group and then a Boro embroidery class (with the Guild) tonight.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

It was a cloudy but nice morning but by noon the rain had started and we’re socked in. While I waited for Carola to come up the hill for a ride to the bee I cleaned up some pots on the back deck. I thought I might be able to do a bit of yard work tomorrow but that won’t happen unless the rain stops. I moved a couple of pots onto the deck; they have daffodils that are almost ready to open.

I had a good day at the bee today and I’m ready for the last border on my Circa 2016 quilt. It will be next up when (should I say if?) I ever finish quilting the one I’m working on now. Someone brought in a community quilt; it was beautifully quilted but I may be able to copy one of her blocks for what I’m doing now. It was a miniature meeting today and I won a set of pins and a case in the draw. I had to draw out my own name mind you but it was a total coincidence. The second prize was also won by a person who drew her own name – what are the odds!

I had a few errands to run after sewing – a trip to Walmart and gas in the car – but I saved my trip to the library for another time. Parking isn’t good at the library and I’d been in and out of the rain often enough already. The book isn’t due for a couple of weeks so there will be plenty of time to go when I can sit and have a cup of London Fog tea.

I’m always out of energy when I come home from sewing. I have my bags unpacked and my blog post written so I’ll spend a bit of time picking out a couple of card patterns for tomorrow’s project.