How Far Did I Get?

Another Wednesday's rolled around.  How far did I get with last week's list?

Here's what I had left on the list as of last Wednesday's post:

• Mark on the Body (MOB): stitch for Tuesday (that would be yesterday) and Wednesday (that would be today);
• 15 x 15: make sleeves for the two pieces that have to go to France -- sooner rather than later - cut out and pressed; not sewn or attached.
• Start to blind hem the binding on L's Magic Tiles quilt.

Since then, a week of MOB stitching has happened.  I caught up last week, and find myself in the same spot again today -- having to stitch for yesterday and today.  This happens often on Tuesdays and Thursdays because my work at The Shop interrupts my stitching.  :-)

The binding on L's Magic Tiles quilt was finished...and the quilt was laundered and delivered.  :-)

'Magic Tiles' (Kathleen Bissett) in 'Red Hat' fabric

And the pieces destined for 15 x 15's Guest Exhibition at Quilt Expo en Beaujolais, France?  They're in the mail!  Here's how I prepared them for their trans-continental travel:

• Urged by Caro in France to keep it as simple as possible, I hunted down a cardboard box and cut the two sides to fit:

• Then I wrapped each piece lightly in plain white tissue paper:

• Having sandwiched the pieces between the two sheets of cardboard, I used duct tape to seal all around the edges, with special attention to the corners.  I printed off the address label on each of two sheets of paper, encased them in plastic envelopes (one with a zip-lock that can be opened) and secured one to each side with more duct tape...

...and mailed it off!  

Canada Post offered me two mailing options based on the size (although thin, it was too large to go by letter mail):  

• "Surface International" (read: 'slowly, by ground to a coastline somewhere and thence by ship' -- $40 CAD, insured but not tracked);
• and "Xpresspost International" (read: 'speedily by air' -- $70 CAD, insured and tracked -- "guaranteed" delivery in 5-7 business days).  Wanting it to get to France by March of this year, did I have much choice?!  

I leave you now to return to my quilting...with a major focus on finishing Section 1 of the Japanese Taupe Quilt intended for my son and his fiancee as a wedding gift.  Even with an extra day this month/year, July will be here before I know it!

Photo from 2014 -- this is now sandwiched and being quilted!

I have another 15 x 15 Group project under way...but this post is already long enough, Gentle Readers!  While you await the next installment, enjoy the link to WIP Wednesday over on The Needle and Thread Network...Pour yourself a cuppa and see what Canadian quilters are up to!  ;-)

P.S. For those of you who 'follow' this blog on Facebook:  I am "off" FB through Lent -- starting today (Ash Wednesday) and not returning till Palm Sunday (March 20).   This blog post will continue to link to my personal page, to the 15 x 15 page and to my business page (3 F Creations) on FB, but I will not be stopping by to view comments.  If you wish to comment on my posts during the next 40 days or so, please do so here.  And thank you for your support!  

Everything's in Order Here

Woke early to try to see the lunar eclipse.  Living in Western Canada, I'd have had a good chance of it...but for the snow.  So...back to bed, but couldn't sleep.

I lay there, sipping a cup of sweet tea (yes, I'm nursing a cold; it's the only time this coffee afficionado drinks tea)...and thinking about my agenda.

I like routine.  

I've never been very spontaneous.  I dislike surprises.  My late DH was the only one who could ever get away with surprising me, and even he stuck to doing so on my birthday or at Christmas -- when one can get away with it.

This morning, pondering this aspect of my character, I realized my tendency to plan and organize has a powerful impact on my creativity.

I like deadlines, and like to give my piece(s) plenty of time to 'percolate', both before and during construction.  Once begun, I generally break a project down into steps and pace myself, doing a bit each day on each of several projects.

Currently on the go?

• This month's Master Class theme is 'color'...and I have to have five items (images) sent off to EB by April 10...so yesterday I tackled the assignment as follows:
• Read through all the notes and instructions;
• Checked out the recommended links (including a video or two);
• Looked at inspirational sources to create a colour palette.
• Recorded those sources as photos.  Here's a sampling:

Canvas-work cushion made by my mom

Needlepoint footstool done by my mom

Water colour collage
Sharon Lynn Williams,
Calgary, AB (ca. 2004)

• Next steps: 
• close colour studies to develop final palette;
• create a design or colour in a sketch from January's work;
• audition fabric.

• SAQA Benefit Auction piece:
• Next steps:
• sandwich and quilt background;
• fill in stitching details;
• add foliage to tree;
• face or bind;
• apply label and sleeve;
• submit!

• My knitting projects are even more closely organized.  For example, the Wedding Prayer Shawl used to look like this:

It's now several times longer, as a total of 14 pattern repeats have been finished.  Each repeat is 24 rows, broken down into sections of six rows each.  There are 25 repeats to do before the shawl is finished, and the wedding is mid-June.  I won't be attending (another commitment) so have to finish and deliver sometime around the end of May or right after Quilt Canada (June 4-6).  My agenda?  

• Knit a minimum of 6 rows per day.  
• If I knit 12 (or half of one pattern repeat) and am consistent, I could finish this baby before I go to Portland for the SAQA conference later this month.

Then there are the April Socks-from-Stash...the first one is now happily about 3" long, meaning I'm almost 1/2-way to the heel...

What about you?  Are you super-organized or more spontaneous?  How d'you think your tendency to be one or the other governs your creative practice?

Linking this up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...

If it stops snowing, I might just get in to Red Deer for the last of the Central Alberta Quilt Show.  And yes, there'll be a sock in my tote...  :-)

Happy Easter! Happy Passover!  Happy Spring!  Happy Fall!  ;-)

Have a great weekend!

Day Interrupted

I set out each morning with a list -- in my head -- of things I want to do that day.  Sometimes I write the list in one long, run-on sentence in my Morning Pages, but more often than not, it's merely in my head.  I'd like to think this reflects some ability to be flexible (never my strong suit; just ask my kids!), but in reality, I like to proceed from point A to point B and so on down the line without much to interfere with "my" plans (yes, that's God you hear laughing).

Today I began well.  After my usual morning routine (Morning Pages, devotions, prayers, breakfast, e-mail, weather report online, Joyce Meyer Ministries broadcast online), I put some more ribbons in the dye pot.

This approach differs from yesterday's in this: yesterday I put the dye bath directly into the pot.  Today, I took up the instructions from my morning e-mail, courtesy of Dharma Trading, to "Play Silk Rainbow With Dharma Acid Dyes".  Now, the dyes I've been using are from Jacquard, but I bought them through Dharma...so there you go!

Because I was dyeing small skeins of silk ribbon (wound off the spool onto my niddy-noddy and secured with scraps of 100% wool), I used the smallest jars I had on hand -- baby food jars I've used for mixing MX dyes in the past.  All had been washed free of the MX, so were ready to use for this project.

Per the instructions, I filled each jar a bit more than half-way with hot water.  I put a skein of ribbon in each. For the dye, I turned to the un-exhausted brown dye bath I had left from yesterday, and put a teaspoon in each.  In the largest jar, I added a few drops of the deep purple/navy dye bath left over.  In one of the smaller jars, I put a second teaspoon of the brown.

Things were proceeding nicely when Diesel got up from his nap to eat...and I noticed some swelling around his throat.  I felt the area -- possible abscess!  I called the vet -- it was about 10:30 a.m. -- and was able to get him in for 11:30 a.m.

What about the dye bath?!  Blessedly, it had to simmer for only 20 minutes, have vinegar added to each jar (I decided to put 1 tsp. in each) and simmer another 20 before being allowed to cool.

I carted Diesel off to the vet at the appointed time.  In the interim, it appeared he'd self-drained the wound, so he was thoroughly checked over, given an antibiotic by injection, and I brought him home -- with a bottle of oral antibiotic to be given 3 times a day till finished (about 5 days).

As soon as I got him home, he ate and went out for a few hours.  Now that he's returned and had his supper, he's getting his own back.  Clearly there's no way I can sew up the second side seam of this sweater tonight:

Ah well.  There's still beading to do on "Wonder"...

Last evening, instead of beading, I finished another row on the Atlantic Sampler, and now it looks like this (well, the bottom half of it, anyway):

Only 3 rows to go...and the deadline (gift date) is just over a month away.

And those ribbons?

Here's how they turned out (middle right side):

Wait!  What's that fabric? (I can hear you asking...)  Well...remember the goodies I gave away during my three-week Blog-anniversary celebration in February?  Pat was a winner of one of the surprise mid-week treats -- and she returned the favour by sending me a packet that included several batik charm squares that (purely coincidentally!) match my new ribbons!

Also in the package that arrived from her today were these yummy fabrics -- "fruit-flavoured" batiks and some landscape fabric and one that's just plain sewing goodness.  And the lovely gift card she painted and created herself!

Aren't I spoiled?!  Thanks Pat!

Now where did I put that to-do list?