A Morning Out In A Quilt Shop

 Yesterday was quite nice with the temperature rising up to 12.1C. The wind started to blow in the late afternoon and it began to rain shortly afterwards. We broke the high temperature yesterday. This morning it is 6C and we are to have a high of 9C with a few showers. 

Lifestyle

My morning plans of cleaning and decorating were scrapped when my neighbour arrived at the door to take me to the grand opening of the new quilt shop. We had a lovely visit and arrived home at noon. She felt (and I agree) we should support the owners by being there on their first day.

I didn't take the cane shopping and noticed that I am walking much better and with less pain. It is a great improvement and I'm thrilled with it. 

The wind last night set me on edge and I slept poorly. I was worried that the BBQ would move but it stayed lodged securely in its spot all night. Elliott wasn't upset about anything as the wind wasn't as strong as on Dec. 1. 

I have been fighting a cold and felt very tired yesterday afternoon. I have been sneezing a lot which is not common for me. I did rest and had the hot water bottle as I felt cold. Hopefully I'll be over it in a day or two. 

Sewing

The new quilt shop only has a portion of their fabrics displayed with the rest coming out over the next while. Their selection is very different than the other store which is nice. My favourite bolts were these ones. 

I am a sucker for these and would have bought some of each. But I was only looking. The other fabric I liked is 108" wide and a cross between a minky and a terry. It is so soft for using as backing on quilts. My new backing choice. 

Daughter loved this one when I sent her a bunch of pictures. 

She said the foils are very popular for western shirts and I will be getting her a piece of it this week. 

I did buy a piece of fabric from the Halloween section. It is a grey/black/white mix that has great texture and I could see a doll's jacket and hat out of it. I didn't take a picture of it but will when I go to sew it. 

In the afternoon, I finished the pyjama pants, gave them a light press, folded them and put them aside to wrap. I then got busy and threaded both sewing machines and started on the hot water bottle cover. 

The one side is cross hatched using two colours of thread on the top. When I cut out the pattern, I tacked the edges down with white thread, then laid the lining underneath and tacked it down. The next side I'll tack it down only once. When I do this again I may even put the lining on the back of the outer fabric and batting and cross hatch it all as one. 

When I did this hot water bottle in Embroidery Club in 2010, we did the embroidery on the front and made it without any lining. Though I'm using the pattern for the hot water bottle, I'm designing this myself and so far so good. My next move is to cut 2.25" wide strips on the bias and make a quilt binding to finish off the edges rather than using it like bias tape. I want something that is narrow rather than bulky. I will hand sew it all down and then machine stitch it in place. 

Knitting

I didn't do anything last night. I did see where one of the testers showed the last sweater I knit. She also did the skirt and commented that it had a vintage look. It does as I steered the designer that way when she showed it to me before it was approved. This tester did hers in red and added a white muff and hat to give it a real Christmas look. 

Thoughts

    It was really nice to support a new business on their opening day. The staff was really helpful and one lady even tried to sell me a new embroidery machine. I don't think so as mine is still in great shape. There was one embroidered ornament I would have bought the file for but it is on the machine only. Bernina needs to have their Christmas files for sale as this one was really cute. 

    I am designing my Christmas quilt in my head. It is coming along nicely and will take quite a while to make. The napkin blocks will have cardinals embroidered on them as I found an embroidery file I liked. I will use dark grey and a bit of red fabric for the borders and the new cuddly backing in light grey. I'm going to show my neighbour to see what she thinks.  

Today

 I need to do what I didn't do yesterday morning; clean and decorate. This afternoon, I will cross hatch the 2nd part of the hot water bottle and get it cut out and tacked together. I may crochet on the parasol tonight. I am tired as I was awake  worrying about the BBQ for a good 2-3 hours while the wind blew. 

Until the next time...........................................................