Thursday, June 8, 2017

It’s been raining all day today – wouldn’t you know it would pour rain on a non-gardening day. No doubt the sun will be out tomorrow and I’ll be back to weeding.

I did a bit more paperwork after I got home from the board meeting last night; naturally there is more work for me to do but what didn’t get done last night had to wait. Today was all about getting to some sewing.

I started the day by doing a bit of scrap management. I keep a bowl of scraps on my cutting table and when I have a few minutes I cut a few into strips or squares. I didn’t get to the bottom of the bowl but my back was getting tired of standing so I moved along. I got the final borders attached to the Guild’s Block of the Month from a year ago. I didn’t like the piece much without the borders and I don’t think the borders have made me like it any better. I have been perfecting my mitred corners and I must say I did very well on this one.

After lunch I picked out and cut the fabric for the next Splendid Sampler block; I seem to be able to manage one block a week. I’m saving the sewing on it until the weekend – I think it will be a quick job.

What I really wanted to do was some quilting. I pulled out a top that I’ve had finished for ages but the backing I planned wasn’t big enough; the alternate backing I had stored with the project was also too small. I found some fabric in my stash that is large enough but I’m not convinced I like it. I may look around again or I may just go out and buy more; I wanted to use flannel but I don’t have much of that in my stash.

So what I decided to do was get a different piece sandwiched (yes, I have a few waiting in line) and start quilting it. When I pulled it out of the bin I realized that the final border hadn’t been attached on it. The borders are in place now so it is more or less ready to go. I say less because the backing I picked for the piece was the perfect size before I added the border but now I think it will be too small. I’m not fond of pieced backing but maybe I can make something work. I’m going to try some machine Sashiko on the quilt; I’ve had the book on loan from the Guild library for months and, as librarian, I probably should be setting a better example.