Work has been fairly tedious lately so I am very pleased to be on a five-day weekend: my non-working day plus the Easter bank holiday weekend in the UK. I've spent lots of time in the sewing room and have sewn another dress for myself using Michael Miller quilting fabric that I got on sale, and the same dress pattern I've used before. I felt the fabric had a bit of a vintage vibe so I went with the fun polka-dot collar. It will be nice to wear if the weather ever improves.
As is traditional for bank holiday weekends in the UK, the weather is chilly, grey and overcast, but earlier in the week we had two days of astonishing summer weather: 21C, hot, sunny - everyone I saw on my daily walk was in shorts, spaghetti strap tops etc. The three of us were able to enjoy our work lunch hour together in the garden, with the nesting blackbird eyeing us warily from afar.
I took advantage of the long weekend to ask DS to move his 'office' temporarily off the dining table, so that we don't have to crowd to one side like we've been doing for a year now. We've been enjoying eating off the unencumbered table, but I also took the opportunity to spend four or five hours over two days erasing pencil lines on my 25 block applique quilt. As well as the diagonal lines I drew for the background quilting, there were some placement lines around some of the appliques that I wanted to remove. It looks better now.
I mostly used a normal fabric eraser, but I also tried out a Sewfine Aqua Eraser, billed as the gentle way to remove ink and pencil marks from fibre. It was recommended, I think in a quilting magazine, as a good way to remove pencil lines without discolouring the quilting thread. The pen is basically a microfibre tip kept moist by a water reservoir within the pen. The reservoir is filled with a plunger-type end that you pull to draw up water. I wasn't that impressed with the tool, the fabric eraser did a better and quicker job of removing the pencil lines. However, the pen was useful for confined areas between two appliques where the fabric eraser was too big to be useful. I suppose the pen would be good for removing water-erasable marker lines if you use those - I no longer use a water-erasable pen anywhere that will show, due to the many reports of the lines reappearing later in time.
My Japanese teacher is pregnant, so I've switched knitting gears to baby things, and parked the second Autumn sock for now. I've pulled yarn (sadly acrylic) from my stash to knit a baby hat and some matching booties, and I will knit a toy bunny - all patterns that I have knit before in the past so hopefully will all go okay. She's not due until August but I will need to post them to America so I would like to get them done.
Our magnolia tree is looking glorious, although you have to choose the viewing angle carefully to avoid sight of the bright blue portaloo in the next door lot for some construction they are having done. Some years we only get to admire the magnolia for a few days before the weather shreds the blossoms, so far this year it's lasting. There are also buds of white blossom on the pear tree next to it, and there are fat buds on our sakura ornamental cherry.
Lockdown has been partially relaxed in the UK this week, you can now visit another household if you stay outdoors. DS is eager for us to drive him over to see his girlfriend, but first we will need to make the trip down to see the in-laws. Don't think it would look good if we prioritised the girlfriend! I'd rather wait for some warmer weather though before I have to spend two hours sitting out in the in-law's garden.
1 comment:
Your appliqué quilt is really lovely. Hope you had a lovely Easter
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