Wednesday, January 31, 2018

It didn’t happen without more reverse stitching but I finished the top border before I quit for supper last night. Although this is meant to be a Tuesday project I wanted to get the bottom border together before I completely forgot what I was doing. I had better luck this morning but I still had to do some seams over. Those mistakes had nothing to do with the set-in triangles and more to do with me not paying attention to where I was attaching the rows.

Before I got started for the day though I took one of my machines in to be “looked at”. The SUV is very noisy when I’m stitching and even though I clean and oil it there doesn’t seem to be much difference. I thought perhaps I had something caught in it somewhere. I expected to leave it for a few days but Cam was able to look at it right away. He says it is a low-end machine and they run noisy. He squirted some oil in places I know aren’t mentioned in my manual and says it is fine and he didn’t even charge me.

With the two borders attached I moved on to some cards. I waivered about whether or not to do Valentine cards but since I’m not doing as many birthday cards it felt wrong to ignore Valentine’s for my family. I have one ready to bind and another ready for quilting. I would like to get them all ready for hand stitching before I go to Texada. Since I’m not taking my sewing machine across it would give me something to work on if I join the Texada quilters on Monday night.

I’ll go back to stitching for a little while; I hope to finish another Messy Bun Hat tonight.

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

I was off to the bee this morning with great hopes of getting two of my borders ready to attach. Sadly I managed to get one border half done, and that was a struggle.

The pattern I’m working from isn’t very detailed and I was pretty much working from a picture. I expected trouble because the blocks in the border were to be set on point and I always struggle with that. In fact I had so much trouble understanding what I was doing that I had to ask for help; I thought the pattern was wrong but when it was explained to me I was using the wrong piece as the setting triangle.

There was still lots of time to make up for my problems and the top half of the top border went fine. After the lunch break though everything went to sh*t! Another quilter stopped by to help and, once we saw where my mistake lay, she helped me to take out a few seams. I really thought I had it right but then I realized I was missing a row; another friend helped sort me out.

I have notes pinned to almost all of the seven rows in this top border, as well as pieces pinned where the seams should be. If it isn’t already too late I’m going to go back to my stitching to see if I can get it right. This top border is to be my guide for the bottom border so it better be right.

Monday, January 29, 2018

I cleaned the Hall this morning and, hopefully, that will be the last time in this particular stretch. I’m being paid for the work but I’d rather not be doing it. I come home with my wrists and back aching – all that sweeping and mopping – and a load of laundry to do.

I’ve had a cross stitch kit on my Amazon Wish List for quite awhile now so I ordered it today; spending those earnings makes me feel just a little bit better. The scene puts me right back at Peggy’s Cove; in fact on that trip to the East Coast we often saw quilts on clothes lines. And thinking about that East Coast trip I remember that I purchased a few kits depicting various places we visited. I need more hours in my days (and more trips to the studio on Texada).

I added the binding to my Member Appreciation project this afternoon and then got started on some Valentine cards. I wasn’t going to do Valentines but Deloise inspired me with a beautiful one that she created so I changed my mind. Mine will not be in the same league as Deloise’s but it was fun to go through my patterns and pick out a few that are suitable. I have an appliqué one that is ready for some hand stitching so I’ll get to that tonight, as well as finish my Hall project.

I got another order for a Messy Bun hat and I hope to get that started tonight as well.

Sunday, January 28, 2018

As expected, it was a small crowd at the concert last night (Chris Ronald). I did quite well on the concession though, considering the number of people. It was a bonus that I really enjoyed the show; I even came home with two CDs.

I was clearing off my cutting table in the studio this morning and decided I’d empty my scrap bin while I was at it. It wasn’t very full because I did it a short time ago but I was thinking it was a good way to start (or finish) a week of sewing. In reality I was probably just avoiding cleaning and oiling my machine but whatever works! When I had the scraps cut up I decided that the place I store all these bits and pieces was wrong. My little chest would be much handier if it were next to the cutting table – both for putting scraps away and for pulling scraps out when I need them. I got things re-arranged without making too much of a mess of everything else. Someday I’ll get everything in exactly the right spot!

With my delaying tactics done I cleaned and oiled my machine. I also changed the needle. I should do all of those tasks more often but I keep thinking “I’ll just do this one more thing”. While I sewed yesterday my machine was making an odd noise that I could only stop by turning it off and rethreading both the top and the bobbin so I knew the cleaning couldn’t wait another day.

While I let the oil sink through a bit I finished up a knitting project – the Messy Bun hat for Taylor. I don’t often sit and knit in the afternoon but it was very enjoyable, particularly while it is pouring rain outside. I have her package ready for the mail tomorrow.

My next task will be to start quilting on one of the give-aways for the Cranberry Hall Member Appreciation event. I’ve toyed with a couple of ways to do the quilting but I think I’ll use a simple (and hopefully small) meander.