Civil War Diary Quilt

I have started the Civil War Diary Quilt at last (see previous post). I have been waiting for the CD for EQ to arrive from the States, so in the meantime I have made a few of the easy blocks that can be rotary cut. I have made 5 so far, and have started an album in Picasa, which of it's own accord has popped up on my blog. How do these things happen? I certainly didn't ask it to go there, but I suppose it is OK. Here are 2 of the blocks, and if you are interested, the album is there on the right.

I have been worrying that I might not get into it, but I have to say that I'm really enjoying it. Each block is done fairly quickly (so far), and you only have to do it once, which cuts down on boredom factor. Also choosing the fabrics requires you to sort through your stash wasting time fondling all the lovely fabrics. No time-wasting guilt involved. Perfect! I feel quite at one with my 1800s Reproduction stash already - I know we are just at the beginning of a new phase in our relationship, and are going to become very close.

Being Australian, I admit to knowing very little about the Civil War, so it is all very interesting. I must admit that the fabric of the era interests me more than the war itself. I wish we had such a rich quilting history. Those of you that live in the States are very lucky, and I really love seeing old quilts on quilter's blogs.

Anyway, yesterday my CD arrived from Rosemary Youngs, the author of the book, happily on the first day of my holidays from work. Plenty of time to sew. I opened the case, took out the CD, leant down and pressed the little button for the tray to come out to put the disc in the computer... and... it won't open. Why does this happen?

Now I had been at work all night, and it was about lunch time. I was sleep deprived, but I WAS NOT imagining it. It wouldn't open. I have to tell you that thoughts of going downstairs to get the carving knife flashed through my brain, and lingered there if truth be told, with the ill-advised plan of sticking it in the front of the computer and 'forcing' that thing out, but commonsense prevailed. I just couldn't believe it! It still won't open, and I don't know why.

Then I had a cunning plan (that I thought probably wouldn't work knowing how much I know about networking), and put it into my laptop, thinking that I could save it to a shared folder, then I could see it on the desktop. After a fair bit of fiddling around IT WORKED. So now I have it in the correct folder in EQ5. Which of course I have never really understood. It doesn't seem logical to me. Anyway after much effort, I actually got one of the blocks printed out as a line drawing. Then I took the advice of Cathi who suggested I iron the leading edge of a piece of freezer paper to the A4, and run it back through the printer.

Now Pam will understand, also being a night nurse, and probably those sleep deprived Mothers with small children, but do you think I could figure out which way to put the paper through to reproduce the printing already on the paper? I got it on the 4th go, and of course there are only 4 options...

Now, why was I doing this when I was obviously in need of 14 hours of uninterrupted sleep? Well there is some weird thing about sleep deprivation that makes you believe that you are NOT acting in any way that is not normal. You are totally in command of your wits, even though you found yourself looking closely at the birds flying beside the road on the way home from work that morning, rather than the road. Instead of going to the shops to get some food, you suddenly found yourself boarding the ferry. Then on the way home stopped to discuss with the neighbours how irritated we all are by the Idiot that Rides the Trail Bike around and drives us all crazy. Then find yourself picking up the phone to call the police to complain, even though you have no idea of the address of the Idiot With the Trail Bike. Fortunately I had a flash of sanity before I dialled - no doubt due to my inbuilt fear of the police even though I've never done anything wrong.

In other words it seemed like a perfectly good time to deal with all these technological challenges. All's well that ends well, I suppose, but boy I do some stupid things. Shiftwork can't be good for you.

The Craft Fair is on today. Bettsy was going to go yesterday, and I am thinking about going today. I am a bit worried as I don't have a lot of spare money at them moment, and would rather spend it on the fabric for the background and border of the 1930s quilt that I love in the latest Fons and Porter magazine... but that's for another day. I could probably go and not spend much. I do need some Thangles and freezer paper and stuff, and there will be beautiful knitting yarns from the colder states...