Thursday, February 13, 2014

I had a few cheques to write this morning so I brought my coffee up to the studio and got to work. While I was doing that I realized that I had another report that was due for the Canadian Quilters Magazine. Reports are due so far in advance of the magazines publishing date that I nearly missed the deadline for the summer issue. In November I wrote an article and a report for the Spring issue, and I’ve yet to see whether or not they were accepted. I’ve set up a reminder for myself for the Fall issue – May 15th!

I still had a bit of morning before my Red Cross shift so I started work on a new project – just a small one! It is English Paper Pieced and I think I can do the basting between movies this weekend. I might have to pre-thread a few needles. There might be enough light for basting, but I’m doubtful about enough light to thread needles.

I could hardly believe my eyes when I was ready to leave the Red Cross today and it was only 2:15. I double checked, but I had renumbered all the equipment that I was able to, I had sent in all the new equipment that needed numbers, I had finished all the data entry, and I did all the washing! It felt like the “old” days when all I had to do was my two-hour shift.

You may notice that I’m sending out a movie review today. I’m going to be redoing some of my website and I’m looking at a different method to record movie and book reviews. The posting today was an experiment to see if what I wanted to do would work. I think to really test it out though I’m going to have to make a few more posts, and with the film festival all weekend starting with the movie part made sense.

I headed up to my studio this morning with the intention of cleaning both my rooms. I’ve finished my 10″ Square quilt and I wanted to clear out its storage box. When I opened it up I found several blocks that hadn’t gone into the quilt. What to do with them? I thought about using them to make a topper for both my washer and drier. But that would still leave me with a few orphan blocks. I decided that if I added a few more blocks and some borders I could make a small quilt. The blocks are very scrappy but, if I don’t ask too much for it, I may be able to sell it at the quilt show next year. I cut out 21 more ten-inch squares, put them back in the storage box and moved on.

By this time I had lost my appetite for cleaning, although I was nowhere near finished. I was just puttering about and decided maybe what I needed to do was to start something new. When I added the quilting idea (the second 10-inch square quilt) into my notebook I noticed that I have a pizza box block to do – the theme for this box is pumpkins. I looked around for some patterns to see what I wanted to do for it. I didn’t like anything that was particularly pumpkin-ish so I decided to use the fabric to make a disappearing 4 patch block. After it was finished I wished that I had used a better contrast than the black, but I didn’t care enough to take it apart and change it.

The Film Festival starts tonight so, for the next few evenings and all weekend, we’ll be at the theatre.

There was some equipment at the hospital that was in need of inventory numbers so that was my first stop this morning. Once that was finished I stopped at the Credit Union to make my Guild deposit. Usually I make my deposit on the Friday after the meeting, but last Friday I was involved in getting ready for the concert and waiting for couriers. I stopped at the Credit Union on Saturday when I was out getting groceries, but they were closed for the Family Day weekend. It was 9:30 when I drove into the parking lot and I was very surprised that I couldn’t get in the door. They don’t open until ten. I had one other stop to make but I decided to skip it for the morning.

Every year the Guild has what they call a Brown Bag Challenge (because whatever you get is placed in a brown lunch bag). This year’s challenge was to make a crazy quilt – or at least a crazy block. When I was at the Saskatoon quilt show I had this wonderful brain wave of what I was going to do. Today I made a start on that project. There is such a long way to go (and it needs to be done by June) but I really enjoyed the stitching I did today.

This block is one that Mum had in her collection. It will be one of the blocks in my piece. I’m adding embroidery stitches to the seam lines. The other blocks in the piece will be more traditional with lace and embellishments.

I was able to make my Guild deposit this afternoon, as well as verify the details on the Guild insurance for the year. I’m hoping to be able to get the ribbing done on Pat’s socks tonight, but first I need to write the Guild blog.