March 31, 2022

Time to see how I made out on my March challenges – sadly no finishes but I did something on each one of them.

I only got as far as sandwiching this one. In my own defence I got Kathryn’s Spring/Summer tablecloth done.

I made good progress on this piecing project. I still have more to go but I can see the end in sight. How many fairy tales can you identify?

These scrappy blocks are perfect for those days when I’m just to tired to think and want some mindless sewing. When it’s done this will be a donation quilt.

Tomorrow brings three new UFO Challenges.

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

It’s been so long since I posted I’m hoping I still remember how to do it. At this point in my life though I think blogging and posting are muscle memories.

We had a great week on Texada. The weather wasn’t as good as we’d have liked but at least we had a couple of days that were rain-free. I spent most of my days in the workshop; I’d light a fire in the morning when I went down and kept it going all day long. It didn’t warm the space entirely but I was up and down and moving around all day so I was quite comfortable. In the evenings I did some hand work – a bit of my Neglected Floss project and a pre-stamped tablecloth that I picked from Mum’s projects. I also started another cross stitch but gave up after a couple of evenings; I don’t know if my eyesight is that much worse than it was a few years ago or if the worn photocopy I was using was to blame. Whatever, I ripped out my few stitches and saved the fabric.

Sunday night was the first live music we’ve had at the Hall in two years. We started things off with our regular Sunday Coffee House. Most of the regulars were in attendance and performing although there were a couple of new-to-me faces. I haven’t been a regular at the coffee houses but I may start going more to support the Board members who run it.

I’ve had three long days of sewing with Stacia and Deloise. I finished the top of my Shaker Baskets; this was the third session I’ve worked on them and they still need to be quilted. I’m happy with the outcome.

On day two I wanted to get a birthday project finished. It involved a zipper so I thought it might take me most of the day. As it turned out it was finished in a couple of hours – not perfect but if I make it again (and I might) I know a few things I’ll change. For the rest of that day and this morning I worked on That Fairy Tale Quilt. It was my UFO Piecing Challenge for March and I needed to make some good progress on it. I have two sections left but they are big ones – the sky and the grass. I’ve put it aside for another time.

This afternoon I worked on my String Quilt, another of my March Challenges. Still a long way from being done but it is nice to have something to work on that doesn’t require any thought. That Fairy Tale Quilt almost did me in because there are several errors in the pattern. I was able to see that there was a 2nd edition of the pattern “with corrections from the 1st edition” but I wasn’t able to find just the corrections and I certainly wasn’t going to purchase another pattern.

Pat has an online event tonight and, as soon as the dishes are done, I’m going to sit and play on my iPad.

Sunday, March 20, 2022

I was so good about staying on track with my task list until after lunch. I got all my computer work done relatively quickly; I even had time to clean out a file and do some shredding. I reconciled my bank accounts and, as I was getting rid of a bunch of receipts, I remembered a sewing project done with cash register receipts. So I saved them from the recycle and set them aside.

I finished the birthday project I was working on. It turned out well enough but I won’t hurry to make another one. It was an easy pattern to follow and except for one place where I had to do some reverse sewing it went together well. And, in truth, the portion I ripped out was actually right in the first place.

I got the top of my cutting table cleared off right after lunch while I waited for Pat’s Sunday Song Circle to start. My next task was supposed to be packing things up for Texada but did I do that? No, I tried out the idea of sewing with those receipts. It is messy but easy to do; another scrap project for the list. I’ll need to do a lot of shopping before I have a quilt done though.

Now, I’ll clean up the mess I’ve made (again) and get started on that packing.

Saturday, March 19, 2022

My paper-pieced card is finished; I’ll take it to Texada to hand stitch the binding. It wasn’t easy but the freezer paper method is so slick. There were six sections to the card and I ended up doing three of them twice – a misplaced colour in two of them and one piece that didn’t give me enough coverage. I was prepared this morning to start taking out my stitching when I realized, with the freezer paper, all I had to do was separate the pattern from my fabric and I was good to start over.

I cleared out one of the lower cupboards in the kitchen and moved the juicer and the mixer into it. That clears up a lot of counter space; I may never bend down to pull the mixer out again but that might be a good thing as we don’t need the baking products. I freed up some good plastic containers; once they were washed we stored a few items from another cupboard in them. I think we needed to contain those things because when Pat took a package out of the cupboard to see if it would fit in the container we had a bit of an avalanche.

I procrastinated as long as I could but I made a start on one of my birthday projects. It involves a zipper and zippers and I don’t get along. I had to check my machine manual to be sure I had the correct foot for sewing in zippers. So far it is going well and I’m on the last page of instructions. Dare I hope I’m over the worst part of it?