Tuesday, November 14, 2017

I have a lot of days to catch up on so here we go.

The Texada retreat started on Friday but since hand stitching was canceled for Thursday I decided to take the mid-morning ferry across to the studio. My main project for the retreat was a Christmas one and I wanted to have a photo-type done before setting out on the multiples I had planned. I spent all day Thursday sewing; my new sewing/craft table works really well and I loved stitching on Pearl – the machine that I had taken to leave in the studio. In fact I loved it so much that I used it all weekend at the retreat and brought it back with me to be (again) my travel machine. The SUV will go back to the studio eventually but I want to take it in for servicing first; it works well but it is so noisy when I sew that perhaps something can be done about that.

The weekend goes by so fast at retreat. We started before nine every day and I wasn’t back to the studio until almost ten every night. I accomplished a lot on my Christmas projects but I have to admit that I was a little bored with them by Sunday night. I got a lesson in bias binding while I was there; I replaced the binding on my prototype after the lesson but I think I’m good to go for the rest of them. The retreat ended Sunday afternoon; I was so tired that I was in bed by 9:30 Sunday night.

There is always a weekend mystery project – we used to call it the Friday night project but it doesn’t always happen on Friday night anymore. This year’s was simple enough that I was able to complete it on Saturday afternoon in the allotted time frame. In planning for the project we had to bring two fat quarters; I breathed a sigh of relief knowing there were no zippers involved!

When we’re at the retreat we always play a game of strip poker – everyone brings five strips of a specific colour and we roll dice to see how fast we lose them. I’m usually out by the second round but this year I hung in the game. So many of the ladies were anxious to be out; I couldn’t stand their grumbling so I told them I was “in it to win”!. It came down to myself and one of our associate members from Ladysmith. Not surprisingly I lost in the final roll but Gail, bless her heart, ran to my sewing table and dumped all the strips on it; she said I could have them. So I now have 100 turquoise and burgundy strips that I need to do something with before the next retreat. I’ve been looking at two-colour quilts online; I’ll keep looking until I find one I like that is done with strips.

Our challenge for next year will also be fun. We each took a one-meter cut of fabric and ripped it in half. We kept half and pass the other half to the person beside up. We ripped the half-meter we received and kept half and passed half along. At the end of the game we were to end up with five different fabrics that we have to use to make something for next year; we can’t add any fabric of our own and we have to use at least some of each fabric we received. I say we were to end up with five different fabrics but I only have four different ones because two people had the same fabric and I ended up with two of those pieces. I already have an idea of what I might make, but I haven’t really checked it out to see if it will work with what I have.

I stayed on Texada for an extra day. I have joined the Texada Guild and they were sewing all day on Monday so it seemed like a good time to get my feet wet with them. And get my feet wet I did as we had (and are still having) a tremendous storm. Several ferries off Texada were canceled on Monday but the five o’clock ran; that was the one I intended to take. Had it not run there was another at seven but I’m not sure I would have sat in the line-up that long. Having the studio is a nice option on weather days!

I was out the door early this morning headed to the regular Tuesday bee; I had all the Guild’s power bars and irons in the trunk of my car so I had to get there early. I am scrambling to get a quilt top ready for my long-arm quilting session tomorrow. With the exception of two borders and cutting batting and backing I’m almost ready.

I hate to go out in the storm again but tonight is QiGong so I guess I’ll have to brave the weather.

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

I’ve had a couple of busy days but I’m far from ready to leave tomorrow.

Tuesday’s bee was productive – I got a couple of prototypes for Christmas started. It was enough that I changed up the plan a bit! When I got home I had more Cranberry Hall stuff to get ready and then I headed off to QiGong. It wasn’t until I checked my mail before going to bed that I realized I hadn’t written either the Guild’s blog or my own journal.

We went out for breakfast this morning and then stopped at Canadian Tire on the way home. Both those stops were actually timesavers – a Magpie’s breakfast meant I didn’t need any lunch, and we were able to pick up some mats for the Hall that we had agreed to get at the last meeting. It doesn’t look good if the President and Secretary/Treasurer don’t fulfill their obligations.

For the rest of the morning I gathered together stuff I need for the retreat. Along with that I added things we need at the studio to the pile. I’m really only working on one project at the retreat but I threw in a couple of hand stitching bins just in case. I cut batting for my project but I still need to piece a few bits together. I have all my tools ready to go but nothing is in the car yet (except for Guild equipment that I loaded into my trunk after the bee yesterday).

I had a lot of errands to run this afternoon – post office, library, groceries, $ Store, bank and a second grocery store. My best stop (and most expensive) of the afternoon was at the fabric shop. My new project method required more fabric and I was glad to have lots to choose from. I almost always run into someone I know so there is visiting as well.

I have a bit of time before we have to leave for the Board meeting so I’m off to get a few more things sorted and packed.

Monday, November 6, 2017

I didn’t get much further on my quilting yesterday. After I wrote my post I went back to the machine and within a dozen stitches I ran out of bobbin thread. I just couldn’t bring myself to wind another at that point in the day so stopped. I finished my first Prayer Shawl last night while I watched Netflix; I have one with a different pattern on the needles now.

I had a bit of a shock when Pat came in the door from Texada. I was working on border three (of four) and thinking my morning was going very well. But Pat comes home on the noon ferry – could it be noon already? Fortunately not – he was packed and ready to go this morning and caught an earlier ferry. I still had enough time to finish my quilting before lunch. I intend to do a scrapping binding on the quilt (since it is made up of scraps) so I pulled a few strips from my stash. I need almost 400 inches of binding so it will be an ongoing project (probably a new leader and ender).

I have a couple of projects packed for the bee tomorrow and I even made a start on pulling projects for the Texada retreat. I had a plan in mind for what I’d do at the retreat and then I started thinking about Christmas and that has thrown everything off just a bit. There is always a Friday night project and I’ve pulled some fat quarters from my stash for it. We also need to take strips of turquoise and burgundy fabric for “something”, as well as a meter of fabric for a new game; I see a trip to the fabric store in my future!

I’ve almost finished my reports for the Cranberry Hall meeting on Wednesday – I feel like I’m gaining that extra hour today rather than yesterday. With what is left of the afternoon I’ll try to find some instructions for lining a couple of Christmas stockings that I’ve embroidered.

Sunday, November 5, 2017

If you changed timed this weekend, how did you spend your extra hour? I think mine was spent changing all the clocks. We normally do the time change Saturday evening but I totally forgot about it. Fortunately when I woke up at seven (on my clock) I immediately remembered the time change. I’m sure every clock in the house is set a few seconds off one another but they are all in the right ball park!

I don’t think I’ll ever finish this quilt. I’ve worked at it all day and just now I thought I had only the borders left to quilt but I found three squares that I missed. I’ve put so much work into it I sort of hate to give it away; on the other hand I’m rather tired of it!

I was out earlier in the day and picked up a few more Christmas gifts; it is all coming together really well this year. Of course there are still a few things to decide on, a few things to purchase and quite a few things I plan to make. I’ll pack up a few of the “making” things to take to the retreat next weekend.