Monday, April 18, 2022

The earrings I put on this morning leave a lovely tinkling in my ears when I move my head. That is one of the reasons I like them. The other is that they were a gift from the Thomases and, I was told, that Alex picked them out.

I’m on my second day of quilting and I’m almost done. It went a bit faster once I determined that eyeballing the quilting lines was just about as good as drawing them on the fabric. I have two borders left to quilt; even if I don’t finish them today I’ll take some measurements and piece my binding at the bee tomorrow.

I have another calendar block ready to piece. I’d like to get a couple more cards ready to go but I’m pretty sure there won’t be time to work on them so I’ll wait. I have a card to get ready for the mail tomorrow; it’s fortunate that there is a letter box on the way to the Legion so I don’t have to make a special post office trip.

Pat gave his regular Monday guitar lesson yesterday and he is giving his regular Tuesday guitar lesson today. He has Open Mics in the afternoon or evening (and sometimes both) for the rest of the week but tonight I should be able to get in a good stretch of knitting.

Sunday, April 17, 2022

We had our dinner last night so tonight it is split pea and ham soup.

I have been quilting all day and it is going well. Still lots more to do and I’m not thrilled with my quilting pattern but it is too late to take it out. Not only that, I don’t have any other ideas as to what I could do.

I’m just waiting to check in and watch Pat’s performance on an open mic. While I listen, I’ll get the binding stitched down on a card and tie and bury some knots in the quilt.

Author: Claire Allan

After the death of her father Annabelle and her mother, Stella, make a spontaneous trip to Ireland. Stella hasn’t been back home since she moved to American almost 50 years previous and Stella has never met her family. But Stella hasn’t been entirely truthful about her reasons for returning or, in fact, for her reason for leaving in the first place.

The story takes place in Derry (Londonderry). When Pat and I were in Ireland we walked from the bus station to the train station but that is about all we saw of the City.

Goodreads Rating: * * * *

Saturday, April 16, 2022

I really wanted to get a quilt sandwiched yesterday but it didn’t happen so I was determined to get it done today. It was chilly out this morning so while I waited for the temperature to warm up I finished off my last April card; I still need to finish hand stitching the binding but that doesn’t take long.

I took care of my cleaning tasks and while I was taking a break (i.e. playing Candy Crush) a friend stopped in to help us with a task that needed a special tool. I bought a new shower head for Pat for his birthday but we couldn’t get the old one off. Geoff came by with a pipe wrench and had it off in no time and then he stopped for tea and a visit. It was almost two before we finished lunch and I got out on the deck.

I was using a new technique for sandwiching but I’m not sure I like it. I rolled each of my layers onto a board, laid them out on the table and then unrolled a bit of each one so it could be pinned. The backing isn’t maybe as tight as it would have been had I taped it but I think it will be okay for quilting. I mainly had small pins so there was a lot of pinning involved and my back and fingers are feeling the pain. I think it would be a good method if I were spay basting and the whole quilt didn’t fit on the table. In this case it was a small quilt and taping the backing probably would have given me better results. At any rate I’ll be ready to start quilting tomorrow. Next time I’ll remember to “borrow” the leg extensions from the Guild and save myself some back pain. And hopefully some spray baste will have made its way to Powell River from wherever it comes from.

We are having our Easter dinner tonight. Pat bought a nice big ham and I have scalloped potatoes ready to go into the microwave. Pat is performing at an on-line event tomorrow night so it would have been harder to fit in a big dinner. We still have birthday cake for dessert so it will be an easy meal and clean up.