Keeping busy

So, what have I been doing that keeps me from blogging? Little bit of this, little bit of that.

Besides a full-time job that requires me to work some evenings and weekends as well, and two volunteer groups that I am the secretary for, I manage to make enough work for myself so that I’m just about always doing something. People who know me ask me when I have time to quilt. Usually, it’s between the first cup of coffee in the morning and heading off to work!

One of my volunteer groups is fundraising to pay for putting on a festival next summer. We had a very successful spaghetti supper and fundraiser last week, and I donated some notecards for the silent auction on which I’d printed some of my photographs. And I couldn’t just dump the cards on the table, so I sewed up some quick cloth folders to hold the cards and envelopes. I think they were well received. After all, a big part of marketing is presentation, right? These were so simple to make – I made up six of them in about an hour and a half. (Between my first cup of coffee and leaving for work!) I think I need to make some more – a little fancier – and use them as gifts.

My second volunteer group hasn’t required any sewing of me yet, but we have a Christmas singalong coming up next week and I have dusted off my old recorder, which I haven’t seriously played in … 40 years? /cough/ Anyway, one of my friends and neighbours, who sits on the committee with me, is the local music teacher, and she and I are playing several songs for the event. She talked me into playing this afternoon at a recital her students were giving to one of the seniors’ groups in town. Ouch! Need more practice.

I’m making a Christmas present for her – something to carry her music in. It was supposed to be an easy little carry-all, but I’ve had nothing but problems with it, and it’s not going together as I would like it to. However, quilter Leah Day has a new free motion quilting design she calls a Cat Hairball filler – how could I resist? I used it to FMQ this bag. It isn’t easy to see the stitching, but that was the point of using dark thread on a dark fabric. It turned out well. She warned us that all of the curves could result in “eyelashes” if the speed of the machine didn’t match the speed of our hands. I practiced a bit first, and YUCK! She was right. Pretty gruesome! So I upped the speed on my sewing machine and put the pedal to the metal. Normally, I don’t like sewing that fast – I was waiting for the sewing machine to explode in my face. But it didn’t happen, and the design turned out fine. It’s a great all-over FMQ design and it covers a lot of area in a short space of time. Leah has lots of great ideas and designs.

Anyhow, tonight’s my night to quilt with my quilting partner, friend and next door neighbour, Judy, but first I have to cut some fabric for my next project/Christmas gift, so time to wrap this up and get busy.

Until next time,