A Change of Plans but still a Productive Day

Here we are at my rostered days off again.  By working weekends, I'm rewarded with days off at home uninterrupted to do my own thing, in my own time. As you know, my days start early.5.45 ish. Tony is off out of the door by 7am and I make a start. I usually try to get my chores done early, if I'm baking it's good to get the oven on, especially in winter as it warms things up a little. Today all of that went sideways. The man of the house decided he was unwell and staying home. I still got up bright and early but felt that maybe I shouldn't make too much noise as Tony had opted for a lie in. No washing machine. No food mixer, no vacuum.... I sat in my chair drinking tea and contemplating how I might rearrange my day. First, homemade seed crackers, not too noisy and I still get to put the oven on. 

The recipe needs a tweak. Once I'm happy, I'll share.

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A quick tidy in the kitchen and another cuppa.  Next, the base for a cheesecake. Again not noisy and by the time it went into the fridge to chill Tony was up. Yay!! I could really start my day. All the noisy chores were done and out came the mixer and the cheese layer of our dessert was made and poured over the base. 

We didn't try it yet, I'll let you know what it's like. But I will say, a new to me recipe. Cheesecake made with Jelly.

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Off I went into town, groceries were purchased and I headed home again. That didn't take long. By now it was lunch time. Yes, he could eat. Then he crashed. 

He very quickly went from not too good, bit of a sore throat to crashed on the sofa under a crochet blanket.

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That was the end of the noisy stuff. While he was out of the way, I decided to spread memory quilt blocks all over the floor and took a photo.

 Did the shuffle.  Swapped some pieces out completely.

Took another photo and set to sewing the blocks into rows and then the rows into a quilt top. Dashing between the sitting room floor and my chair at the fun machine, in the happy room.  Just as I was finished, Tony stirred and was on the move again. 

Hopefully tomorrow I can get some borders on. 

It could do with a good press, but......

All those manmade fabrics are a worry. I got on OK pressing the interfacing onto the fabrics by covering them with baking paper. Pressing the blocks and even the rows under the paper was ok, but trying to press a whole quilt top under s sheet of baking paper? Maybe not so easy.

Last week I ordered a Teflon coated silicone 'shoe' to fit over the sole of my iron. Hopefully it will be here soon. 

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Time now to look at getting some dinner sorted.

Not quite the day I had in mind. But it was a good day.

A Foggy Start and a Productive Day.

 My days off have come to an end, back to work for me tomorrow.  I've enjoyed my three days. I've been busy in the kitchen, completed chores and errands and I've had fun sewing and quilting. 

Today I had cookies in and out of the oven before 8am. 

Treats for the team at work tomorrow.

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While they were baking I got busy on the quilting frame.  It really didn't take long to finish quilting the hexie quilt. 

While I worked, the sun climbed into a foggy sky.

By the time I was finished, the fog had receded a little and the sun was able to shine in on my quilt.

It's only a small quilt. A nice size for a cot or a lap on a cool evening.

I put the hexies to one side, completed some chores then went out to meet a friend for a cuppa. That was fun. Once I got home it was time to work on the memory quilt again. I got the sashing strips sewn to the other sides today and took the time to press them all.

Here they are, all sixty blocks pressed and waiting to be trimmed.

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After a late lunch I trimmed the hexie quilt and had a look for binding. I was lucky and found three blue binding off cuts from previous quilts. I sewed them together and sewed them on. By the time Tony came home I was settled in my chair closing the binding by hand.

No, your eyes are not playing tricks. It has wavy edges. I'm not quite sure what happened there. Never mind, I wasn't aiming for a prize winner. Just a little something to keep me busy and to keep someone warm. 

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Was it last week? Or the week before? That I laid out my goals for August.

By my count, I have achieved them all.

1) Progress on Lest we forget.     ✔

2) Progress on Down in the Garden. ✔

3) Progress on the memory quilt. ✔

4) Christmas Ornaments. ✔

5) Get a quilt onto the frame. ✔

All of that and I still have time left. 

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Back to work for the weekend. Then I'll have two more days off.

More time to sew and play.

I hope your weekend plans include some sewing.

Another Busy Day in the Happy Room 🪡

So here I am, day two of my rostered days off, and though it’s only 2pm, it’s already been another busy day!

I had my chores done by 8.30, then I took myself into the happy room and got busy with the Fun Machine. It was still loaded with a quilting needle and red thread, so I set about adding some more quilting to Lest We Forget.

I’m happy with my progress, and all of the poppies are now quilted. I do still need to work on the leaves and add some final touches before binding this one. 

And I won at thread chicken! The bobbin was just about to run out when I cut the last thread. Talk about cutting it fine!

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Next, I set about cutting the sashing fabric for the memory quilt.

I got one piece sewn onto each block before calling time on that project for the day. It was time to head into town on an errand for Tony.

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I was home just in time for lunch, and while it was cooking I loaded a scrappy hexie quilt onto the frame.

After eating, I set to quilting a meander design. I quilted until the bobbin ran out.

Are you seeing a theme here? LOL.

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Now it’s time to sit in my comfy chair and stitch some more flowers onto the final Down in the Garden block. I made good progress yesterday and hope to get lots more done today.

And with that, I’m off to do some more stitching. 🪡

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Oops! I did it again.

 And here we are at my three days off. I do love this part of my roster. Three whole days to do my thing. Well mostly. The chores do get in the way.  I got busy early this morning and got todays chores done and out of the way.  Then it was time to play.  I got the last of the memory quilt blocks cut and laid them onto the fabric I plan to use for sashing strips. 

I wanted to check that none of them became invisible.  I think they will all be fine. Tomorrow's job will be cutting sashing strips. I have three pieces of each of these fabrics and there is more should I need them.

I left things there as I had to go out to see my chiropractor. 

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Once I got home it was time for some lunch, then I settled in to do some work on Down in the Garden. I spent most of the afternoon sewing up a storm, I'll show pictures soon. During a break to make and drink a cuppa I had a look at facebook marketplace and spied a bargain!

Two more grocery bags, filled to bursting with pretty fabrics.

Of course I made another donation to Sue's grandchildren's bank account. LOL

Again another mix of larger cuts, fat quarters and smaller pieces.

Two bags full.

And once again there were WIPs.

This one looks like fun.

After sorting through both bags, I put them onto my cutting table, ready to be put away another day. Picked up my needle and got back to my down in the garden. While I was out this morning, I called in to see one of ladies from my local club, she had the thread colour I had run out of.  It's a good match. I'm happy about that. The final word has been stitched and now it's back to the flowers.  I'll post an image soon.

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Sunday Progress.

Chooky had a zoom session this morning, so I settled in with my Down in the Garden stitchery. While we were chatting, I realised that I was going to run out of the charcoal brown thread used for the words.

(Once again, blogger has made my image weird. Hopefully if you click on it, you will see what I can see in real life).

Janice appeared quick as a flash with some of the right colour on a bobbin which she has promised to send to me. Thank you Janice.  

Yes, I know there is a shop in town that probably has it in stock, but this BOM kit is over ten years old and possibly the latest batch might be a different shade/dye lot. Hopefully Janices thread will be the perfect colour.

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Once the zoom session was over, I got on with a couple of chores then as there are no grandchildren visiting this week.  I wandered into my happy room and worked some more on the memory quilt. I've mentioned that most of the fabrics are polyesters. Very lightweight and floaty. I've been using a medium weight iron on interfacing to help stabilise them. I cut it to just over the required size and press it onto the fabrics, using a piece of baking paper to protect my iron from any issues the heat might cause.

So far, there have been no issues and I'm happy with how things are going.

The ladies name is Lynn and she attended Timaru Girls High school. Two old school shirts were in the bags of clothing I was given. I cut out the school logo and stuck them onto the plain black back taken from one of the shirts. Clearly, they are different ages so I will make sure they are well separated on the quilt. 

As a young lady at the school, she was in Kowhai House. (Koh-fy).

Kowhai is a pretty yellow flower that grows here in NZ. I went digging in my stash convinced I had a piece of Kowhai fabric but could only find this small piece.

I could make it bigger using some kiwiana off cuts in black, or I could try to find a fat quarter and cut a piece the size of the other blocks. Lynn later returned to work at the school, so it really does have to feature in the quilt. 

I might also have a look out for some Hockey fabric, as she was a lifelong fan of Girls High hockey teams. 

I don't have to make a decision today. I have a few more pieces to cut. The interfacing is already fused; they just need trimming.  

The next job will be to start laying the prepared pieces onto the fabric I purchased for the sashing strips. I want to be sure it is the right one, before I start cutting. But that is a job for another day.

 

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It's time to cook some dinner then I might get back to my stitching for a couple of hours. 

A very productive weekend.

Back to work tomorrow. 

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