Thursday, January 26, 2017

Today should have been paperwork day but I really wanted to get my quilt top done. There were a few things I had to get done though before getting at the quilt; I paid some personal bills, I paid some bills for Cranberry Hall, I got a Cranberry Hall deposit ready for tomorrow, and I got a couple of packages wrapped and ready for the mail.

Pat was out for awhile this morning but he was expecting a delivery at the front door. I can hear someone knock at the back door if I’m in my studio but there is no chance I’d hear someone at the front door. I went to the basement and made a start on a new knitting project. While I was down there I cleared off the table beside my chair; it had patterns and bits of yarn strewn all over it, as well as a few pairs of needles. I doubt it will make the knitting any faster but it isn’t quite so cluttered.

While I was waiting for the knock on the door the postman dropped off the mail and I got a very unexpected package. One of the members of one of the cross stitch groups I belong to had a little give-away before Christmas. All you had to do was make a comment on her post and … surprise … my name was drawn. I had no idea what I would be getting as there were various prizes and mine was the fifth and last name picked. My package arrived today and I couldn’t be happier or more surprised. This is a full kit with fabric and floss included; there are a couple of stitches in the pattern that I’ve never used so it will be a learning project for me. Most of my family know how much I love snowmen so I couldn’t have had a better gift. I’m going to pick up a Starbuck’s card for the sender.

But back to my sewing. I had six borders to attach when I started the day. By the time I had a very late lunch (about 2:30) there were still two more to go. They are all finished now and I’ve taken the photograph that will accompany my show entry form. I’m going to put this one away for a bit (but not too long) as I’m a bit sick of it. I have two other show entries that need to be quilted so I’ll start on them.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

I came up to my studio this morning and my design wall made me very happy. Lovely to see a bunch of items nearing completion and enjoying their colours as they sit and wait.

That was about the only bit of joy I had today. My border is going very, very slowly. I’ll admit there was some reverse stitching going on but even so it seems to be taking so long to get this done. I’ll keep at it though as I want to be able to get its photo taken and printed on Friday when I’m out doing my errands.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

I got the four corners for the next border on my Celtic Crystals quilt finished. I’m hoping to get the top finished tomorrow.

I finished eight flying geese that were required for week 1 of my Wild Goose Wednesday project. The next clue will be out tomorrow.

I took four cards with me and finished two of them. Once my quilt top is done and photographed for the show entry form I will get them, and my Valentines, quilted and ready for the mail. It is interesting that after last week’s demo on flying geese three of my four cards used flying geese in the pattern.

I feel like I’m in the groove and am back on track!

Monday, January 23, 2017

It was a late night last night (after midnight) so I’m dragging myself through the day today. We made just over $100 for the concession; I haven’t checked the records but I think this is very close to the amount that we brought in when we asked for donations rather than pricing everything. It wasn’t as much work as I expected; Dee and I work well together. I took the coffee and tea urns that we use for our house concerts and that turned out to be much more efficient than using the 12-cup coffee pot and boiling the kettle all night. I really enjoyed the show too; as I was baking and getting ready for the concession it often slipped my mind that there would be some entertainment to the evening.

I’ve tried to stick to my regular Monday routine today. I started by cutting up and putting away a basket of scraps. I have a better way in mind for storing scraps but it means I need to clear out a few bins and so far that hasn’t happened. I cut the fabric for several cards, I cut the fabric for the first step in the next border for my Celtic Crystals, and I cut a few more squares for my Bingo quilt. That should be more than enough to fill my day at the bee tomorrow.

One of my Valentine cards requires some appliqué so I got the pieces traced – I was able to sit at the desk with my light box while I did that. I was surprised that I had time to stick the shapes to my fabrics so, at the end of the day, I’m further ahead on that project than I thought I would be.

I’ll either knit something easy tonight (because I won’t be alert enough to concentrate on a difficult pattern) or I may just sit and do nothing!