When not quilting

Even when not actively quilting, having a long arm does not necessarily mean, doing nothing.  There is always space for improvement or just getting the everyday stuff neat and tidy again.

When I so suddenly decided to try my hand at pantographs and couldn’t find foam sheets at any nearby office supply or craft shop, daughter-in-law suggested I use a yoga mat.  This was gifted to me by my daughter but I found it too flimsy and not stable enough to keep my papers flat and in a straight line.  Pondering to go to a sports shop to find a more expensive (firmer) yoga mat, hubby and I went to the office on Tuesday and there he found a piece of left-over sports flooring from a gym floor we fitted a year or so ago.  This would be ideal!  He trimmed this to size and now I’m hopefully set for these pantographs.

Then I took the leaders on the frame off to give these a proper wash and then the huge task to iron these to the exact width all over using spray starch has to follow.  This is such a pain in the butt job but it is either that or buying new canvas to make new leaders.  So for now, I went with washing and will tackle the ironing later.

With the leaders off of the frame, I secured the ends of my Velcro tape, something I should have done from the start but I kept putting it off until after the next quilt!

I also made a file to keep the pantographs already printed in neatly and added to that a flip file for a quick search when having to decide on a motif.

Outside our kitchen we have a granite table build around a tree many moons ago.  The tree was taken out and replaced with a roof, leaving us with a big hole in the centre of the table.  Not a big problem.  I bought a lazy Suzan to cover the hole and it was ideal when eating outside and moving the dishes from one person to another.

Then I phoned our interior decorator one day and asked him how I can make this table pretty when not eating.  He suggested painting the wood a charcoal colour and then he’d search for a nice flat dish to put in the centre.  He recently had the dish delivered to me.

He also added decorative goodies with the dish to allow me to play with different options.  This was my first attempt.

Now for the bad news… those leaders (zippers attached) that I so neatly washed and ironed shrunk extremely, the canvas and not the zipper.  Thus leaving me, with terribly wobbly leaders, definitely not suitable for accurate loading of a quilt.  So as I am about to start working again tomorrow, I’ll also have to go shopping for new canvas.  Darn!  Why didn’t I do the washing earlier when I had time to go to the shops?