Saturday, April 15, 2017

It feels like Sunday today; that’s good because I want to get back into my Sunday cross-stitching and I haven’t got there yet today. We went to Magpie’s Diner for breakfast and were early enough to avoid the rush; by the time our order came there was a line up at the door. We drove home in a few spits of rain but it has turned out to be a lovely afternoon.

Pat had a guitar workshop in the early part of the afternoon and, while he was away, I went out to find a birthday cake. It wasn’t what I planned but I came home with a Black Forest Cake; not my favourite but it came to mind because Madison had one to celebrate her birthday. We each had a piece when Pat got home; we’re going out for dinner and a concert tonight so it seemed like a good idea to have cake in the afternoon.

I’ve been further testing my studio arrangement by working on a card. I went from cutting, to sewing, to pressing and back to quilting so I’ve tried almost every combination and I’m still happy with my set-up.

I have one more test to do – I haven’t had a real chance to do paperwork but I have so much more room around my desk that I can’t see how it won’t be improved.

Friday, April 14, 2017

While my quilt show thoughts were posting each day without my help I’ve been busy behind the scenes. My entire upstairs needed a good sorting out and cleaning and, for the most part, I have accomplished that. I’ve rearranged everything in my sewing studio and put away items that had been in the middle of the room since my last sorting out at Christmas. I still have a few piles on surfaces that need to be dealt with but, for the most part, the surface they are sitting on is in the approximate area of where they need to be; I had to get things up off the floor so I could run the vacuum over the carpets.

There hasn’t been any sewing going on, except for the bee on Tuesday. I spent my mornings sorting and cleaning and I spent a part of each afternoon with my cross stitch; I’ve made good progress on one of my projects. A little cleaning and sorting, a bit of cross stitching, a bit of reading, and a little napping seemed to take care of my days.

I got back to my sewing machine today. Not only did I have a card that needed to be finished, but I also wanted to see how things worked in their new configuration. Everything is fine but I don’t have a logical spot to keep my ironing board set up; for many of my smaller items my mini iron and pressing board will work fine. The ironing board is handy should I have a need to use it for larger things.

We had some mashed potatoes left from a dinner earlier in the week and I set them aside to make hot cross buns. I thought I had everything I needed except for some eggs so they didn’t get done right away. Pat shopped this morning and got more eggs as well as the yeast that I missed when I was looking at ingredients. The buns are just out of the oven and, I must admit, I had a taste and I’m pleased. I’ll put some icing on them when they have cooled a bit.

In the meantime I’ll get back to that card.

Thursday, April 13, 2017

I managed to sell a few items at the show but certainly not enough to cover the cost of the items I purchased.

I had a few sets of these placemats and they were popular.

I sold a set of coasters that I have been carrying around from show to show for a few years. The fabric basket was snatched up by a member before the show even opened; clearly I was tired long before the show because I neglected to take a photo (or I have filed it somewhere that I can’t find it).

On the purchasing side, I went prepared with a list. Sadly a lot of things on my list weren’t at any of the shops in the Merchant’s Mall so I had to substitute with other lovely things!

Some of my purchases came from the White Elephant table (by donation).

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

There were a number of great quilts in the show but my overall impression was that they weren’t as great as they have been in the past. I thought my impression might have something to do with the fact that I recognized several quilts from our bees, several were from the same class, and several were patterns that I either own or have seen before. You’ll notice I’m fond of a number of quilts by the same quilter!

I want to try Sashiko someday and this was a beautiful example of it.