Tuesday, December 1, 2015

I usually come home from a bee thinking I didn’t accomplish much but today was different. I had a chance to work on three different projects, but there are only two that I can show you.

I attached and stitched down the binding on my latest card. I still have several more to go but this one needs to travel the farthest so I can get it in the mail tomorrow.

Next, I made my Block of the Month for the Guild meeting on Thursday. Several of the ladies were working on their blocks so I didn’t feel too far behind; although having others working on the same block can be a bit frightening as they are cursing over pieces that don’t end up the right size or frustrated because they don’t understand the pattern. This block, as well as the previous two, called for either Half Square Triangles or Flying Geese units. I usually do HSTs because I can make eight at a time. But today I didn’t have my notes on cutting sizes so I made mine with Flying Geese. I don’t know why I didn’t use that method in the other blocks; it was easy and, as someone pointed out, it looks better than a HST that leaves a seam down the centre. I’m still not sure I like my colours but they are what I chose and I’ll see it through.

There was still a bit of time left and I thought I could get my wool appliqué stitching finished. I added it to my bag just before I left this morning and I thought I had everything I needed. When I got to it though I was missing the brown for the tree trunk so there is a bit left before I can call it a finish. This should be one of those quick free-motion finishes, but after the luck I had yesterday I’m not counting on it!

I’ve been waiting for days for my orchid to bloom. BOND gave it to me for Christmas a couple of years ago. It had several blossom when I got it; last year we had several buds but they never opened. When I saw buds again this year I was holding my breath and we finally have one open so I have hope for the others. Our old Christmas cactus is a reliable bloomer; we usually have blossoms in November and again in February. I can’t say for sure how old the plant is but I would guess somewhere in the neighbourhood of 15 years. Both plants seem happy in their respective spots so we’ll leave them there.