Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Last night I finished cutting the fabric for my next block in the Celtic Crystals series and I had everything packed up for the bee before I went to bed. During the night it struck me that I should take along my power bar as there are limited plugs at the clubhouse; since I don’t usually do anything but hand stitch the power bar isn’t always packed with my gear. While I was picking up the power bar I also threw in the small iron I purchased in Portland this fall, along with the table-top ironing board I purchased at a yard sale this summer; there is only one iron and ironing board at the clubhouse.

I purchased the iron with the intent to use it at home for my paper piecing but it worked very well for the today’s project. I was working with small pieces (most were only one and a half inches wide) and therefore the small seams were easy to press on the board. The iron doesn’t have a steam function but I took my spray bottle with me just in case I felt I needed it; the iron got sufficiently hot that the spray wasn’t necessary. Now that I’ve used the tools I can see that I’ll use them more often in the future.

Today was a miniature day and I had nothing to show. I had hoped to have made a start on my new project but that didn’t happen – maybe next month. Even though I didn’t show anything I was the lucky winner of the draw. I picked a kit to make a Heart Keeper – the package says you can you it to store jewelry, sewing supplies or you can use it as an evening bag. Personally I think they have oversold it but it should be a quick finish and perhaps something for the boutique at the quilt show.

I finished up the triangular scarf last night and tonight I’ll go back to the toque I was making; actually I have two toques on the go. I was looking in my stash for a contrast colour for one of them and I found a whole bag of odds and ends yarn. I think these skeins are multiplying when I’m not looking!

Monday, January 9, 2017

I spent most of the morning getting packages ready for the mail, deposits ready for the bank, and patterns ready for a fabric swap.

Tomorrow’s bee is at the clubhouse and I usually take hand stitching to work on. I had hoped to have my Community Quilt ready to bind but that isn’t going to happen. I’m getting a bit more adventurous with the ruler and Stacia’s suggestion of backstitching the ends and snipping them will save a lot of time. I have one of five panels finished and the ends are tied in. Things should go faster now that I’m backstitching and snipping, and I’m even faster because I’m using my seldom-used automatic scissors that my sewing machine offers. With this in mind I decided I wouldn’t go to the bee tomorrow but would stay home and quilt.

I needed some yellow batik for a project and there wasn’t any at the fabric store last week. Carola told me she had some so, after running my errands, I stopped at her place for coffee. She had a couple of pieces that just might work. I decided I would go to the bee after all and work on tracing the pieces I need for my project. As I read the instructions on the pattern I was a bit confused – this is a fusible piece and not appliqué. I went online and looked at a couple of tutorials by the designer; I think I’ll be able to make sense of it but I’ll need to take my time and concentrate – not something to be done in a crowd.

So I was back to deciding not to go to the bee. The only project that isn’t ready to be photographed for the quilt show is my Celtic Crystals. Although I usually take hand stitching to the clubhouse there is usually lots of space for machines because we have a much smaller crowd. So I was back on again about going. My next step in the project though will require some cutting – again not something done easily at the clubhouse – so that’s what I’ll be doing for the rest of the afternoon.

Sunday, January 8, 2017

The plan was to get back to my quilting today but, as often happens, that didn’t work out. I didn’t bake the cookies yesterday so that was first on my list this morning. I made a double batch so I’d have some for the concession later this month; I also volunteered treats for a Guild function in a couple of weeks. It took all morning to get the cookies mixed, baked, cooled and put away; half went for Pat’s Song Circle and the rest are in the freezer.

I didn’t go along with Pat to the Song Circle; I decided to take the rest of the day off so I relaxed in front of the TV with a bit of cross stitching and my knitting. I just had a few stitches left to do on a card, and I’m almost finished a knitted triangular scarf. I seldom get time at home alone and I’m way behind on a couple of Netflix series that Pat has already finished. I’m on the last season of Line of Duty, and I’m way behind on The Bridge. Line of Duty is an Irish show so I can do something while I watch; The Bridge is Scandinavian and sub-titled so I have to just sit and watch.

The card is finished, I’m made some progress on my knitting, and I’ve watched a couple of episodes of Line of Duty. I’ll be back to my scarf tonight and, with any luck, I’ll finish that scarf.

Saturday, January 7, 2017

It took all of last evening and most of the morning to tie in and bury all my threads from yesterday’s quilting. I was anxious to get at the next step but, since there is a Song Circle tomorrow, I had some baking to get done; I wanted to make a batch of cookies and a loaf. I made the Coconut Loaf in two smaller pans – one for the Song Circle and one for the freezer for the concession I’m running later this month. Since I had a start on the concession baking I thought I should make a double batch of cookies so one batch could be put away. I didn’t have enough unsweetened chocolate squares and my flour was running low so I decided to put off making the cookies until I’d at least had a try at my free-motion quilting with the ruler template.

When I purchased the templates the woman in the shop tried to up-sell me on a few items. One of them was the quilting slider which I already had but didn’t use often because I have, on many occasions, stitched the slider directly into the quilt! When we were in Houston, Stacia told me to tape the edges of the slider down and that is what I did. No more slippery slider!

The bit of work I did on the quilt didn’t go as quickly as I hoped. I had trouble with my thread breaking until I changed my needle. I always use the Start/Stop button on my machine but trying to hold the ruler, guide the fabric, and reach for the button proved that I needed an extra hand. So I dug out my presser foot and, once I was used to it, things moved along. I perhaps should have done more practicing on a sample sandwich before launching into the quilt but I didn’t and everyone is just going to have to live with what I’ve done. I admit it has become easier and looks a bit better with each block that I’ve done. The good news is that from a distance you can’t really see the quilting.

There is still a lot of work to do, and there will be a lot more ends to tie and bury. I need to plan better when picking out (or settling on) a quilting design.

I’m off now to the store to pick up what I need for those cookies.