Wednesday, May 17, 2017

I accomplished a lot today; it’s been quite awhile since I’ve finished everything on my “to-do” list plus a little bit more.

I have a meeting at the Guild tomorrow to sort through and downsize our library. Our new location won’t have room for us to keep all the books we currently have so we (mostly my partner) will  pick which ones stay and which ones get offered for sale to the members. I computerized the library listing two years ago when I joined the committee so I’ll also be compiling a final listing for the group that will take it over. Whether they decide to keep the computerized listing is up to them. I printed out 22 pages of book titles so it should be easy to check off the books that will be discarded. Since I was already working on Guild items I took some time and updated a few of the pages on the blog.

When that was done I finished quilting the card I worked on at the bee yesterday. Not only is that one ready to have the binding hand-stitched but I also finished a second card this afternoon. Granted the second one was pretty simple, but it feels good to get two done in a day. Of course my reminders for June cards popped up yesterday so it isn’t as if I get a free week!

I have a good chance to get the border finished on my cross stitching this afternoon. If my luck holds I might even get further along.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

The class on Sunday and Monday was fabulous. There were so many useful tips and, although not perfect, the block I made is certainly more precise. The first morning of the class was lecture and checking our machines. The instructors were a couple – Shelley took care of the precision piecing part and her husband took care of our machines. The end result was that almost everyone ended up with a full “servicing” on their machines.

By the end of the first day we managed to get the pieces cut for our first block. Once I had my block cut out I knew the orange fabric just wasn’t going to work for my pinwheels. Fortunately Deb, from Crazy Quilt Cottage, opened her shop for me at the end of the day so I could pick out something more suitable. We found the perfect fabric and once I saw the finished block I decided rather than making three blocks for a table topper I’d make 30 blocks for a quilt (or as many blocks as I could until the fabric ran out). That being said I have only one block finished and it took me until the bee today to finish it.

Last night when the 5 PM ferry was leaving Pat and I both commented that it was the last day for the Queen of Burnaby. There was a bit of a storm outside and we both laughed and said it would be funny if the final sailing was cancelled due to weather. Before the ferry had even made it past Texada we could see it making a run in the direction of its “storm” crossing. Sure enough, the final ferry of the night was cancelled.

This morning we watched the new Salish Orca dock at the terminal. It was about ten minutes late arriving but we figured there were probably some ceremonies that took place on the other side. When the ferry was still docked at almost 9 o’clock I thought maybe there were more ceremonies taking place over here. The Texada ferry in the meantime was waiting to dock – all our Texada ladies at sewing were a little ticked off that they had to wait! While they waited they were saying that the crew probably couldn’t find the Start button on the new boat.

Yes, I was off to the bee first thing this morning. I got the last few stitches sewn on my block and then I moved on to a card and some mindless Leader and Ender stitching.

This was my third day in a row of stitching but many of the Guild members took a class on Saturday as well so that made it four days for them.

Saturday, May 13, 2017

I had a couple of loads of laundry to take care of and it looked like a nice enough day to hang the clothes outside. I went out to the clothesline and had a couple of items hung when I saw some pretty dark clouds overhead. The forecast said a chance of showers in the morning so I decided to bring the clothes back inside.

We went out to our first Farmer’s Market of the season this morning. Pat stood in line for some fresh bread and I picked a line for some rhubarb. She had eggs for sale (which we needed) and I also picked up a package of lettuce and some radishes. We stopped for a cinnamon bun and ended up visiting with several different folks we saw along the way. We could have had a Cranberry Hall board meeting if we wanted; one of our members sells her pottery at the market and the rest of us were shopping.

When I got home I decided to hang the clothes out. It hasn’t brightened a lot this afternoon, but I don’t think there has been any rain. This is the first time I’ve had clothes out on the line this year. It has been a crazy spring!

We’re going out for dinner tonight – an early Mother’s Day. We talked about going out for dinner tomorrow but there aren’t a lot of choices open on a Sunday evening. I’ll be in a sewing class for the next two days and will be happy to stay home tomorrow night.

I have another card ready for binding tonight and, just maybe, I’ll make our first rhubarb crisp of the year.

Friday, May 12, 2017

I washed and pressed my fabric for the class on Sunday and Monday. Here’s what I’ll be working with.

I only plan to make one block but when I was at the fabric shop yesterday Deb said that she tells all her students that they should purchase enough for the entire quilt because she knows from experience you can have a lot of trouble trying to get more of the fabric later down the line. She had figured out the requirements for the quilt so when I was pulling fabric from my stash this morning I kept that in mind and I think I have enough for the quilt should I be crazy enough to add it to my list. I know a lot of the people in the class are making the 9″ option and putting three together for a table topper; the instructor is also offering a 6″ option. I’ll make the 9″ block and see where I go from there.

I had fun picking these fabrics and called on Pat for a bit of help. The orange fabric came from my Portland trip; the four other coloured fabrics were recent purchases at Deb’s shop. The light background fabric was purchased in 2013 when Stacia, Deloise and I took a trip to a quilt shop a little ways from Saskatoon. It was purchased for an entirely different project but, since that project never got started, I was glad to be able to use it.