Like so much of the country – we’ve been experiencing a lot of stormy weather this past week. I had so many plans, appointments, some stitching, and other tasks that needed doing this past week. All that went right out the door when the wind brought down several trees, a couple of power poles, and lots of power lines – a block from our house.
I’m certain that many of you experienced some power outages this past week too. At one point there were more than 200,000 of us without power. More than 3,000 outages were reported, and crews are still trying to get the last few taken care of.
We were without power for 3 long days but had several things on our side. The gas fireplace kept our small house reasonably comfortable; we also have a gas water heater and stove. That meant we could cook on the stovetop and shower – all good things. The downside – no power meant the fridge was in danger of getting too warm to safely keep food. Our solution? Make ice outside in plastic containers – and fill up the fridge with them. As they melted – they went back outside to refreeze. We were also able to charge the phones in the truck – that was very helpful.
So with all that going on – what’s a quilter to do? Hand stitching of course. Happily, I’ve been working on a big English Paper Piecing project, and I had a pile of hexagons that needed to be basted. I’m hand-basting them rather than using glue for the edges. This was the perfect project to pull out and fill the time.
With the power out, lighting was an issue and the battery-powered candles we had lit up around the house were not nearly enough light to work by. I pulled out my (fully charged) neck light, placed it around my neck so it could illuminate my work and I was off to the “stitching” races.
In time each of these hexies will be worked into flowers and then joined into a quilt. For now – I’m concentrating on fussy cutting all the rest of the fabrics I’ve set aside for this project.
Once I’ve done that, I’m using a spot of temporary fabric glue to position the paper shape to the back of each hexie. Once that’s done, I’m hand-basting every one of them (7 per flower).
Even with the challenges this week – it was very satisfying to get so many hexies basted and ready for the next step in the process.
A note about that neck light: I could not have done the stitching on this project without it. It also made a HUGE difference in moving around the dark house – without having to hold a flashlight. Keeping my hands free to cook, make the bed, or do other tasks – made doing them in the dark so much easier – and safer. It worked so well it’s become a big part of our storm prep kit – I’ve ordered another one so that we each have one to wear during power outages. I found the charge good enough for me to be stitching for a full day and part of another before needing to recharge. Recharges take about an hour with a USB connector.