Daily Archives: February 20, 2014

What a challenging day!   Between the sheep and the tension issues, I had a full day.

These are some of the Shop Hop Blocks from 2003 – hey! that was only 10.5 years ago.   A shop hop is where several stores decide to have an open house on the same days.   This was Western Washington and I think there were over 50 quilt stores at that time.   Each store gives a pattern for a block and 2 or 3 barely big enough pieces of fabric to make parts of their block.   Then it is up to you to add fabric to it and make all the blocks come together.   A challenge when the stores don’t get together and decide what colors with which you will be working.   I actually finished the top  ago and it has been waiting for me to do something.   Saturday, our church is distributing meals and clothing, blankets, etc to the local street mission.   Now this is quilted and I will bind it tomorrow so someone can use it.

I said the day was challenging.   Have I also told you that my seam ripper and I have a  running  affair?  Here is my favorite.   It seems to stay sharp and closes nicely.  This quilt has over 4000 stitches in a row.    I got nearly to the end of one row when I realized the tension was horrible and I had to take the entire row out.    In the midst of that, I could hear a sheep crying.   So, difficult as it was to get to the sheep some 500 feet away through rough terrain, I stopped in the middle of this ripping to go find and help said sheep.  Indeed, she had badly tangled herself in some netting left lying out there.   So, I released her and came back to finish this.  Without these challenges the binding would be done.   Why is it that something that take a mere 15 minutes to put in can take a couple of hours to remove?