Happy Valentine’s Day

Cards, Quilting

February 14, 2021

There were two heart-themed bonus blocks remaining in my Splendid Sampler series and this was the year to get them done.

These small hearts were meant to be pin cushions but I didn’t think my girls had much use for one. I enlarged the hearts slightly and made them into cards. The heart outline is made of French knots – a lot of French knots. Once the cards were put together I decided they would be too hard to machine quilt so I hand quilted them. I don’t hand quilt very often but on a small project I rather enjoyed it.

This was a larger pattern but there was something about the pattern I didn’t like so I changed it up and added a border. I had no problem making all those little blocks and it hardly made a dent in my string bucket. I struggled with the quilting but after ripping the stitches out three times I wasn’t changing it again. When I took a short break I thought maybe when I got back to it I’d be luckier – and then this thought came through my head – it isn’t luck, it’s skill.

Firefly Lane (#1 and #2)

Books

Author: Kristin Hannah

Firefly Lane

This book was on my To Read list and we binge-watched Season 1 on Netflix. The story was interesting but I didn’t like the way it switched between three different time periods. So I bought the book for my Kindle, along with the second in the series.

The book is so much better than the show; so much of the original story was changed for the series. Best friends Kate and Tully grow up on Firefly Lane. The story takes us from their early teens to their mid-forties. Even as their careers move forward and they move to different sides of the country they remain best friends.

Goodreads Rating: * * * *

Fly Away

Maybe all second books in a series repeat from the first book but I didn’t think there was enough new material in this one. The story focuses on Tully and Kate’s daughter, Marah.

Goodreads Rating: * *

Quite a weekend

Journal

Friday, February 12, 2021

Today is the Lunar New Year. I always remember Gung Hey Fat Choy from Elizabeth when she is in elementary school and they were celebrating. At one point we even made fortune cookies. Sunday is Valentine’s Day and then Monday is Family Day so the Covid-19 briefing today was full of warnings about what not do. In the past there have been increases with every holiday and to have three special days so close together has most people a bit worried.

It was a noisy day in the neighbourhood. I heard a chain saw and first thought it was coming from the house behind us. But I got up to change positions at one point and realized it was coming from the Duncan side of the house. When I looked out the window there was some major trimming being done on the big evergreen tree on the grounds of City Hall. They continued to cut down limbs and chop the branches while we had lunch and we thought they were probably going to take the whole tree down. Shortly after we had our lunch all was quiet and I thought perhaps they were on a lunch break but they have moved all their equipment away and left some sizeable logs on the ground. If they take the tree down I will certainly miss it but right now it just looks a bit sad.

My quilting didn’t go as planned today but I’m happy to say an alternate plan worked and I’m ready to start on the border tomorrow – I’m too tired to go any further today. I managed only a few stitches with my quilting rulers before I broke a needle (going over a seam); I switched to some free-motion and made even fewer stitches before breaking another needle. So I switched to some straight lines and things went well from that point on.

I’m hoping I have enough energy to pick up my knitting tonight. The last couple of nights I have been too tired to even knit – I think it was all the tension I felt about the quilting.

Vacation Time

Journal

Thursday, February 11, 2021

Vacation Time is the name of this pattern and by the time it is finished I will definitely want a vacation. It was a Guild Mystery Block of the Month from several years ago. Had I known what the pattern was called I would have picked different colours – more seashore-like.

I’m going to end my day as I started it – tying knots and burying ends in the quilt. Yesterday I did the straight line quilting on the orange sections and today I’ve done the straight line quilting on the blue sections. You can hardly see the quilting and I guess that is the way I like it but after two days it feels like I should see something.

I’m dreading tomorrow as I’m going to try some ruler work and then some free motion quilting. I still need to pick out a design for my borders but I know it will be something with a straight line.

We chatted with Kathryn today and she was saying how cold it is when she goes home at night. Her remote starter only heats up the engine and it doesn’t take her long enough to drive home to get much heat in the car. Both Pat and I ran our vehicles today – not because it is cold but we were afraid the batteries would be drained since we haven’t been out for so long. I made a short trip this afternoon to the Post Office and the library.

Now, back to that quilt.