Monday, October 23, 2017

I should have had a quick finish this morning. I was quilting my miniature (a table topper) but somehow I messed up and had to unpick six lines of quilting. Fortunately it was all straight lines and by after lunch I was ready to start another round of quilting. The binding is attached now and I’ll hand stitch tonight. If nothing goes wrong I’ll have a finish in plenty of time for the Mini Meez meeting in November.

I’ve packed a new project for tomorrow. At the last Texada retreat we were given a fat quarter of fabric; our challenge was to make something with it for the next retreat. As that weekend is fast approaching I thought I’d better get started. I’ve wavered about what to make but when I saw a photo on Facebook this morning, and realized I had the pattern, I decided it was a “sign” and so that’s what I’m going with. I have it all cut out and, hopefully, I have everything I need to get it stitched tomorrow. I’ll also take along my bin of Rail Fence blocks in case I run out of things to do.

I started on a Prayer Shawl last night and it is knitting up quite quickly. Maybe I’m supposed to be saying prayers or at least thinking heavenly thoughts as I knit  but I opted to knit while watching a few episodes of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. I hope that isn’t bad karma!

Sunday, October 22, 2017

I’m having a lazy day today. I did some cleaning this morning before heading out for a few groceries and a bit of other shopping. I was annoyed with myself when I got home and realized I had neglected to shop for a couple of things; I didn’t have them on my list but I was certain I would remember them. Oh well, I guess I can go back out tomorrow, or the next day, or another day.

I finished stitching the binding on my Twinkling Stars quilt last night. A mini meeting is coming up soon so I decided, while it was nice out, I should spray baste and sandwich. By the time I got a backing pieced, the batting cut, the outside table wiped down, and everything set up the wind had picked up. I went ahead and did the spray basting but I’ll start quilting it fairly soon in case the wind took more of the spray away than I thought.

I’ve done a bit of tidying up in my craft rooms but the floor still isn’t clean enough to do the vacuuming – maybe tomorrow.

While I was out today I bought yarn for a new project and pulled some yard quantities from my bins for some prayer shawls. I might do more tidying before heading downstairs to start some of that knitting.

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Our Community Quilt weekends are usually on a Saturday/Sunday but, because we sew in a Church, our “weekends” are Friday and Saturday. No wonder I am completely confused on the day of the week.

I worked hard and managed to get a lot done. Project #1 was an easy finish – I just had to cut and machine stitch the binding to this quilt (started in 2015 according to some photos I found). I’ll probably hand stitch the binding this evening and it will be handed over at the next Guild meeting; I expect it will go as a donation to the Oncology ward at the hospital.

I had to add the borders to Project #2. I was trying a new method of squaring the sides by measuring the two sides, dividing by two and then cutting the border piece to that length. It worked well on the sides but because I wanted to add the cornerstones my math skills had to come into play. It took some figuring (a napkin and a piece of paper) but I finally got the numbers to work out right. This was my leader and ender project from last year. I didn’t like any of the backing fabric we had in the community quilt bin (although nicer stuff was added later in the weekend) so I had them cut some batting and I brought it home last night. I found some fabric so I had the quilt sandwiched today. It is ready to quilt next week.

Project #3, another leader and ender project, is a lot further along than I expected. I have the three rows (of six) finished and enough blocks (partially sewn) to finish the centre portion. I found some nice soft peach-coloured fabric that I will use for borders. This won’t be done for awhile as the way I planned it there will be a centre, middle and outer portion each with borders attached. But technically this is my leader and ender project for this year so I’m already (sort of) ahead of the game.

I finished my knitting project last night. I don’t know if I’ll have time for knitting tonight but I have two new projects picked out just in case.

Thursday, October 19, 2017

I spent most of the morning on my computer – paying some bills and booking my flight to Saskatoon in November. Before my lunch break though I had time to trim my Twinkling Stars quilt and cut out strips for the binding. I’ll attach the binding at the bee on Friday but I wanted to have the cutting done ahead of time (often there are too many distractions at a bee for me to concentrate on my measurements). That particular project won’t take long but I have another community quilt that needs borders attached. I dug out the top and found the border material; once the border is attached I’ll have the other bee workers sandwich it for me. We have several stations at these Community Quilt bees so people who don’t want to sew do the pressing and the sandwiching. I think this one will be mostly straight-line quilting but I think I will bring it home to quilt. My project for the second day of the bee will be to continue with my Leader and Ender project. I have enough blocks ready that I think I can sew them together and at least get the centre part of the top done; if not done it will at least be better than the hundred blocks I currently have sitting in a bin.

But before all that happens we have a demo night at the Guild tonight. I packed up the fabric and bits that I need for the project and they are ready to go.

Since I’m doing a lot of sewing this weekend I decided I should clean and oil my machine. That was almost a disaster as when I got it apart I had a hard time getting it back together. And the part that really should have been oiled was missed but I didn’t dare take it apart a second time! It is very noisy when I’m stitching but there will probably be enough chatter in the room that I won’t offend anyone.

Pat went across to the studio this afternoon so I’m on my own for a few days. I know I need lunches for the next two days so I’d better get some eggs boiled and find something for my dinner.