Last Post for 2018

Trying to finish the last few Dear Daughter blocks.

Blessings,

Chris

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Progress

I have been working (very slowly) at making the tiny 4 1/2 inch Dear Jane blocks

 for this Bright Jane Quilt as my RSC. 

I started it in 2014 after completing my Civil War Reproduction Dear Jane Quilt.

 That one took only 5 years and a masters degree.  

This time I am working on a doctorate.

 

In 2017 I joined in the monthly RSC and progressed a few blocks monthly. 

In 2018 I only made 14 blocks but that is 14 more than before.

Then I put them in a see-through box and totally misplaced them. 

I am sure they will show up eventually. 

Blessings,

Chris

Goals for 2019

   The list this year will be simple. This is different from my Bucket List. I dream really big there. 

• complete and gift Dear Daughter 
• stitch at least 20 minutes a day
• learn to thread the bobbin on the treadle machine
• learn to use the treadle machine
• complete rest of courses for DCC
• complete first draft of Sister (got about 8 chapters written so far)
• write first draft of Surviving Menopause (got a box full of notes, journals, research papers, massive action plan, outline and a document started with 2 pages written)
• research editing options
• progress on 12 ufos for 2019
• not start any new applique projects
• bake an apple pie
•  lose 40 lbs
• return to India to do a women's conference
• I want to say change my name to Dr Chris, but there is this dissertation that needs to be written

Blessings,

Chris

Reflections on 2018

This has been a most interesting year. I joined several quilt-a-longs to hopefully, move forward some ufos. Did not happen. There was really only one quilt start and it was the one thing I worked on every month. Oh. There was another impulse. The lazer cut pre fused Huguenot Friendship Quilt. It was boring. Really. I did bring Bright Jane out to play for a few months. That was fun. Then impulsively I wrote up 26 blog posts about ufos never before mentioned here. It was quite a journey. But not a stitch to move any of them forward. I did complete a few blocks for Beyond the Cherry Trees and my Morrell even one for Antique Wedding Sampler. And I completed the 1857 Album and got it ready for quilting and layered Dear Jane for quilting. But all that was before Dear Daughter came into my life and took over my stitching time. That and a lot of diapers.  

On my calendar for 2019 I have several quilt-a-longs written down for a January start. I wish. And then I think about not starting any new quilts at all next year. Sounds impressive. But oh the self control necessary to maintain such a goal.  The reality is, I enjoy starting new things. Do I get bored with the old? Maybe. But usually the adrenaline rush is such that I just have to jump in and start. The other reality is, I have a couple of big things that I need to get done and just floating from one thing to the next most days, apart from family stuff,  keeps me going day by day. 

I was in India for 2 weeks last month then came home and got a stomach bug from family here that had me out of it for a good 4 days. Being in jet lag recovery did not make that a happy journey. I finally feel human again and there is an itching within to start on something new. I have been considering doing some serious clean eating again to feel better and hopefully shed a few pounds. 

In August I started intense chiropractic treatments 3 times a week for my neck and back. I decided to not change any of my eating habits for a while until I could see if the treatments were working. They were. They are. I have little pain in my hands these days, where, before, I had pain all the time. I have more immovability in my neck. I realized that I am sitting straight in my chair. Also, I can stand straight more often but not for too long because I have trouble breathing. Turns out my diaphragm and right lung are somewhat compressed from bending over for so many years and sitting most of the time. Yes, getting moving is the answer, but that seemed almost impossible for so long. But things are shifting. My spine is a bit straighter. I do move around more. My daily responsibilities have lessened with our daughter and her little boys no longer here 4 days a week and now our son is living here and the girls half time. They are such a joy. Most of the time. I can hardly wait until hormones awaken. He says we will just buy lots of chocolate. 

I finally got to visit family in Saskatchewan. Rented a 2018 Dodge Charger and saw some beautiful flat country. My Sweet Farmer and I took a few days and drove to Iowa for a Guernsey Cow convention. Had dinner on a river boat on the Mighty Mississippi River and saw an eagle. Shipshewana quilt retreat in April. And I even stopped playing computer games but that only lasted for 5 months. 

In may submitted one course for my doctorate in Christian counseling. Now just 8 more to go. And I wrote 2 whole pages for Surviving Menopause. I gave NaNoWriMo a half-hearted try to write 1 page a day while I was in India in November. I ended up writing 22 pages for Sister but no where near the required 50,000 total. 

I mentioned that I had wanted to do some clean eating: no dairy - I am a dairy farmer- no grains, no legumes, no sugar, basically eating only real foods but specifically fruits, vegetables and meats. And absolutely nothing with chemicals. Try to find that. So, I realized that I had been eating real foods in India everyday for 2 whole weeks. I ate a small chocolate bar today and it tasted really awful. Really. Then I had a sugar cookie. It was way too sweet. Really. 

My daughter completed her Master of Social Work Strategic Leadership and graduated. Hurray!! That means I no longer had her little boys coming to the Farm every week for 4 days at a time and changing diapers. I have again taken the long through Toronto drive to visit her. I love visiting her home. It is so orderly and the view out the back is her large yard and the farmer's fields behind. We will be there for a 2 night sleepover house party over Christmas. She is cooking the turkey this time. Maybe they will barbecue it since our son will also be there with the 3 little girls. 

Winter has arrived. At least for a while. The snow is all gone for now as rain has taken over the weather. The crops are all in and we are all settled in on the Farm, looking forward to those quiet days at home. The Farmer watching football and me at my computer. I am decluttering the work space here and changing a few things so there is room for me and the girls to be productive. Now I must get back to yet another book report.  

Blessings,
Chris

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Blocks for 2018

My goal for the RSC  was to progress forward my Bright Jane blocks. This is how I did this year. I had planned to put up the completed ones on the design wall but for the life of me, I cannot find the box of completed blocks. Has nothing to do with decluttering and cleaning. Did I mention I hired a new cleaning lady? I did. I gave her a few directions and let her go to it. We are both happy. 

Not many, but 14 more to add to the box wherever it is hiding.  
Blessings,
Chris

Dear Daughter Progress

The final blocks for Dear Daughter were released the other day. I have decided to stop at 36 instead of 42 like the original. I had made several replacement blocks early on and just got tired of some of the leaves and stems and layered bits. Some of them are so similar to the 1857 Album blocks. I have 25 complete and the sashings sewn on. They look pretty good up on the wall. I have the rest in various stages of progress. 

My one-monthly-goal is to have all these complete by the end of the month. That will give me a whole month to layer and quilt it. It will be gifted mid February so I have a time limit to my dawdling. 

Blessings,
Chris

12 UFOs for 2019

Judy at patchworktimes has posted the link for 2019 ufo challenge. But I have a doctorate to complete. At least that is what I keep reminding myself. In case I decide to join in, I will be ready.

1. 1857 Album Quilt

Machine quilt and bind.
This was the  Sentimental Stitches BOM for 2016-17. I collected all the free patterns when they were free. The top is completed, sandwiched, basted and ready to machine quilt. It has been sitting patiently waiting for nearly a year.

2. Almost Amish Irish Chain

There is so much work done here that it would be a shame to not put this on the list. Machine piecing. Machine applique. Machine quilting. Sounds pretty straight forward.

3. Morrell Sampler

Machine applique all the broderie perse blocks that are already prepped. Change that center pinwheel.

4. Antique Wedding Sampler

Complete this one block finally. Been working on it off and on since early summer. But first, have to locate the last bits of leaves and flowers to hand applique on.

 5. Dolls of the World

This is my oldest ufo from 1979. It also is the simplest and most close to being completed of all my 40 some ufos. I wrote about it a few months ago and have some thoughts about completing it. Check back later to see what I do.

6. Dear Daughter

Complete the hand applique, assemble the top and machine applique and bind then gift. Whatever number is called for January, this will be the project. I need it complete and ready to gift by mid Feb.

7. Huguenot Friendship Quilt

Finish the machine applique with silk thread on the 36 center blocks and assemble the center so I can lay out and prep the borders.
This was an impulse purchase last winter.

8. Country Bride 2

Here is my opportunity to practice some machine quilting with rulers on the already pre cut alternating squares and borders. The backing and batting have been cut and ready to go for nearly 22 years.
I still have to do some embroidery for the stems before layering these already machine appliqued blocks.

9. Green and Gold Irish Chain

There really is so little to do on this one to get it to a flimsy. This will be another I can practice my machine quilting skills.

10. Stack-N-Whack Butterflies

Stop being a coward and just make some bodies and antennae so I can add the borders and machine quilt to my hearts content. I think loopy flowers would be nice. But what colour? White to disappear? Varigated?

11. GO Not So Fast 

My goal here will be to get the center medallion to be a square.
I saw a completed quilt using the same Winterthur panels that has given me some ideas.

12. Dear Jane

Last but by no means least, this one. I started quilting it by machine last winter but had much trouble with tension and my machine was in for repairs for a mere 3 months. Turns out if you do not use it, parts seize up. Who would have know?  I want to remove all the machine stitches in so far and start over. No promises.

Bright Jane

Rainbow Scrap Challenge for another year. I plan to put it on the wall to stay when there are 100 blocks complete. As I get sections of blocks done, I will sew them together into 9 units. But for now, the blocks are easier to store individually. And besides, the little grand children love putting them up on the design wall.
I will not be making the pieced triangles for the border. I am planning to make the corner kites.

Beyond the Cherry Trees

This will be my hand applique project for the year. There are 3-4 already started blocks to complete the 25 for the top and then begin the 4 borders. The 200 cherries are all cut and waiting but the 20 yards of bias stems still need to be made. After the stems are cut I can run the left over fabrics through the GO Cutter and make a few hundred leaves. This took a time-out when I started Dear Daughter.

 One Block Wonder

This can be my hand piecing project for the year. After making a whole bunch of hexies, I realized that if I made half hexies, I could easily sew a long straight seam to connect the rows. Live and learn.

I am not planning to start any new quilts in the coming year. That's not entirely true. I have been considering making a couple of tractor quilts for the little boys. But I could start them this year. I am making small goals for these ufos. Maybe only 2 actual completions of quilting and binding.

Blessings
Chris

November Is Almost Done

It is hard to believe that November is almost done. What have I actually accomplished in the quilting area? I took 9 Dear Daughter blocks to India with me. I completed 4 and did all the stitching I could on the rest. I did take along some extra bits of fabric for broderie perse but did not get those done. So in the end, I did not get my November OMG met but that is okay.

Here you can see the progress. 
The next blocks will be released on Friday. I am aiming to get them all complete by the end of the year. At least that is what I am telling myself.

I am still in jet lag recovery. Some say it takes one day for each time zone to recover. India is 10 1/2 time zones away. So that gives me another 3 days. I actually slept well each night when I got home and was awake during the day. The grand kids all showed up and we had big family Christmas dinner with my husband's family. Someone shared a stomach bug and we are all moaning and groaning here as we get over that. Sigh. This is day 3 for me.

I have 900 photos from India and plan to write up a few blog posts soon. I have not felt like thinking for the past week.  

As for the NaNoWriMo, I got 25 pages written about my adventures in India. Not one page each day. But it is still 25 more pages than I had a month ago. 

I opened my Word program the other night and was reviewing all the documents in there. I have been using this desktop computer for nearly 4 years now so not a lot. I spotted a paper I had written 7 years ago on Dissociative Identity Disorder and wondered what it was doing here. So I read it. And by golly, I can hardly wait too get back into working on my Surviving Menopause book.

Blessings,

Chris 

NaNoWriMo 2018

I am off to India for 2 weeks for a ministry trip so I have prepped several blocks to take along with me. I have threaded lots of needles. Last trip I did not have enough threaded and ran out. My extra thread and scissors were in my checked bag. We will have a 15 hour train ride after we arrive with lots of time to nap, read, and of course stitch. My OMG -one-monthly-goal for November will be to get these 9 blocks completed. 

Also, there is this annual writing challenge called NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). You sign up and commit to writing 50 thousand words (about 1600 words every day) without stopping to edit and proof. Just write your next novel quickly. There will be time the rest of the year to get it ready for publishing if that is what you want to do. You have accountability partners and a whole bunch of guidelines. I have been talking about, thinking about, blogging about and planning about writing two more non-fiction books about my unique life experiences for several years and it is time to get off my good intentions and get busy writing. 

Tonight, on a facebook group I belong to, the discussion circled around doing the challenge and becoming "buddies" to keep each other accountable. I will be writing long hand in a notebook because I can do that on planes and trains and in my air conditioned room in the guest house. I am aiming for a minimum of one page each day for 30 days. I really like to edit as I write to correct all the typos, but will be using a pen and a paper note book. I can think better with a pen in hand. I will be off the grid for most of the trip so will check in at the end of the month.

Blessings,
Chris

October 2018 OMG Completion

Why do I so often set tough or impossible goals? It might have been easier to just say I will make one block. My October OMG  was to post about 15 unfinished quilts that I had not ever posted about before. I thought I had written up most of the 15 posts back in June but, alas, I had far more work to do than I had realized. I looked up 7 ufos and photographed them. A couple were still awol but eventually found. 

At the beginning of the month, my Sweet Farmer went away for 5 days to a big cattle show in Madison Wisconsin. Kind of nice to see one of the cows he sold a couple of years ago. She placed well in her age class.
The little girls were at their mom's and I was home alone most of the day so I took the whole day and got the posts completed and even scheduled them to post throughout the month. Now if I can only put this kind of effort into writing my book or doing school work. 

I finally figured out how to schedule a post. 

• write up the post 
• save it
• find schedule option on right under post setting
• click it open
• choose set date and time
• pick a date  (Oct 24)
• looks like we can pick a time also
• click done
• click save 
• not done yet
• now click publish 
• if you go back and edit the post you have to click save and publish again
• now it is sitting in posts scheduled 

My intent for this was not to actually start working on any of them, but to chronicle part of my life journey through some of my quilt starts and why they did not get done. Fact is, I am way ahead of the game for next year's ufo challenges.  Gretchen tells me to pick the one closest to completion to work on. Good advice. But I will be leaving for India in 12 days. My plan will be to take along a few blocks for hand applique. 

Blessings,
Chris

UFOs #26 Midget Blocks 2012

Since I was all finished school, I thought I had lots of time to play. I discovered the Midget Blocks at sentimental stitches in 2012. I was still trying to figure out the on-line free block of the week and month process. I bought the first 50 patterns then started saving the free weekly ones and any that had already been available prior to that. I also bought the  midget applique blocks .  Then I found the extra 4 1/2 inch blocks over at dearjane.com/bom. So I have them all. A lot of them. Maybe 250 or so. Somewhere along the way, I printed off ALL the patterns and put them into a binder. Then I started printing the foundation patterns onto foundation paper. I was on a roll with my preparations. 

Years earlier I had started collecting 1930's reproduction fabrics in anticipation of making an old fashioned Double Wedding Ring Quilt. But, I found an original top in excellent condition so never actually started it but had hundreds of small fabrics. I even bought a bunch of solids. I thought I would use these for the Midget Blocks when I ever got around to making them.

I had completed my Master's degree and had not yet jumped into the doctorate so I spent a lot of time on the computer downloading patterns, printing them off and filing them away to make up some day. I was now retired and no longer milking cows but still drove tractor. A lot. Because I could. I did not start blogging until a whole year later.

This brings to an end the ufo's in my quilt cupboard that I have been writing about. All my other ufos have been chronicled here on my blog that I started in 2013. I have at least a dozen kits I bought and did not make. Yet. I also have piles of fabric I bought for specific quilts not yet started. I had intended to eventually make scrap quilts, but I do not really have scraps left over from quilts that are not finished. So I have not actually started this one but am ready. One of these days. 

What I do have now is a great recollection of memories through some difficult years in my life that will be very helpful for the second book that I am writing. It is about menopause and anger and depression. Spoiler alert! It ends well because I am still here to tell about it.

Blessings,
Chris

UFO # 25 Farmer's Wife 2012

I did not actually start this quilt. What I did do was buy the book. Then read it. After that, I considered making it. There were no applique blocks and I was okay with that. But the patterns were a nightmare of some 80 templates that had to be printed off the CD, sized correctly, then created out of something. 
However, I was in possession of EQ6 at the time so I found many of the patterns in the library and drafted out all the rest. The one smart thing I did was to print off all the patterns. Then my laptop crashed. Yup.

But, the laptop still had 2 weeks of warranty and they put in a new hard drive. It almost appeared that I had lost 5 years of research papers, 10 thousand photos and a lot of other stuff. Then I remembered that I had backed up everything the end of March so everything was on my fancy-dancy external hard drive. All I really lost were the 120 Farmer's Wife patterns. But I did print them all off so I was good. And the one research paper that was not backed up, well I had emailed a copy to my doctoral facilitator so I was able to retrieve a copy. Then didn't I misplace my external hard drive a couple of years later but eventually found it in a box of left over bits marked Dear Jane leftovers. That thing had my entire  Denine manuscript on it. Good thing  I had a floppy disc with it from ten years earlier that we got put into a jump drive. But I digress.  

That summer I started my doctorate in Christian counseling and finally changed internet servers so I could stream lectures and I took a team to India. I had no idea how much time is involved equipping 10 people to join me on one of my adventurous ministry trips. Also, that summer another nephew was getting married so I made them a 10 day quilt with 2 dislocated ribs and how in the world a massage therapist's business card ended up on my desk I have no idea, but she was amazing. Too bad she moved away.  

So, in case I forget what other things I am not working on, I am ready to start this one. I love being a farmer's wife.

Blessings,
Chris 

UFO # 24 GO Not So Fast 2012

May 2012 I graduated with a Masters in Theological Studies. It took me 4 years. I had taken a year off for health reasons. In May of that year, I flew out to New Brunswick to visit my daughter and this time  took my new toy - a GO Baby cutter and a couple of dies and some fabric named Bread and Butter. We were going to make a quilt quickly. Well, we got 16 twelve inch squares cut and sewn together. I brought them home in my carry on bag and put them in a box. We talked about the possibilities often. But that is all. 

It was much later that I found the Winterthur panels for my Morrell and thought they might just play nicely here. However, the panels are all rectangular not square. Until I put these all up on the big design wall, I had no idea how good they looked. Much different than in a box in the closet with a pile of other fabrics. Now to calculate how to make that middle section square.

Blessings,
Chris 

UFOs #23 Blue and White $10 Quilt 2009

My local quilt shop has been running a $10 Quilt Class for quite a few years. The rules are simple. 

• To join you pay $10
• If you miss a class you pay $10 
• If you are late you pay $10 
• If your block is not done you pay $10

I participated for five years. The best I ever did was pay $20 and the most was $30. We met once month for half an hour. There would be choice of a hard or easy block and often two different colourways to choose from. 

It wasn't that I did not get one of the blocks done. I missed a month and the block was not done so I never finished it. So often I would be sitting up late the night before to get it done. I did  not always get it pressed. On the final month, we were given our pattern and fabric packet, but there was no pressure to get it made since the next year's class began the following month. I did complete two. And why did I stop going to the class? I joined  just-takes-2 block of the month with Sentimental Stitches and Dear Jane. 

Blessings,
Chris

UFOs #22 Sense and Sensibilities 2007

I had often read about quilt challenges and when one was offered at a local quilt shop I could not resist joining the fun. That year there were several fabric collections from the Jane Austin Era. I bought fat quarters, fat eighths and a bit of yardages. Radiant Stars were popular in the early 1800's so I decided to use that as a starting place. This was to be a mini sized quilt and I started sewing up one inch diamonds. 

In the summer of 2007 I was doing 2 distance ed courses for school, mentoring a couple of 20 somethings, doing peer counseling at a pregnancy and resource center and of course, milking cows. And, I had started no less than 6 quilts that year. I did not get it done in time for the challenge deadline so into a box it went.  I have a whole bin of Jane Austin reproduction fabrics. Maybe I could pull these out for Mrs Billings to keep the historicity of the era. The quilt shop closed. 

Blessings,
Chris 

UFO #21 Reminiscence 2007

In August 2005 my Sweet Farmer and I went to the Ohio State Fair. He went to see Guernsey Cows and I went to see quilts. Two quilts caught my attention. One of them was Reminiscence by The Rabbit Factory. A couple of years later, I found the pattern and entire quilt kit for half price at a closeout sale at a local quilt shop. I did not need to think twice about buying the thing.

I had just enough of a white tone on tone fabric for the background. I started it Dec 2007.

I was in the final year of my undergrad and I was doing an internship, 2 distance ed courses, individual counseling, I was still milking cows every day AND my first grand baby came into my life. I started spending a lot more time with my son who was not willing to give up all his nights playing yet and his wife went back to work waitressing 3-4-5 nights a week.  So, I started Reminiscence. All those little freezer paper bits in the box. I found a portable lamp and spent many evenings tracing and cutting. This was the fifth quilt I started that year. I completed one 2 years later. 

I even took one block with me to India Feb 2009. That was the last block I worked on. How I hated pushing the needle through all that dried glue with the freezer paper still inside, and tone on tone fabric is not so easy to hand stitch through. This was before I discovered needle turned hand applique. But then, I started my first Dear Jane quilt and this changed the direction of my quilting journey.  Machine applique just might be the solution here. 

Blessings,
Chris

UFOs #20 Stack-N-Whack Hexies 2007

(This will be my hand piecing project for 2019. I have it right here ready to go when I want to avoid doing something else.) 

This was a fascinating year. I started no less than 5 quilts. Had the good sense to take a few scraps for some of the workshops I attended. I also went to India on my second ministry trip and got to speak to an audience of about 10,000 at a crusade. That was fun. Actually, it was terrifying. But I had a very good translator. And then met my sister and niece in Thailand for a weekend after. 

Attended my first AQS in Columbus Ohio. Here is where I saw one of those one-block-wonders so bought some fabric and cut half of it for stack-n-whack since I knew how to do it now. Sort of. After I had hand pieced a lot of them. 

I realized that if I made half the hexie, I could sew them together in rows really quickly without any Y seams. My cleverness can be so intoxicating. 

Sometimes. These ended up in a bag on a shelf somewhere and I lost sight of it until today. 

Blessings,
Chris

Slow Stitching This Sunday

Three more Dear Daughter blocks done. 

The two on the outside are alternate blocks.

These are all hand appliqued. 

Linking up with Kathy at slow-sunday-stitching.

Blessings,

Chris

UFO #19 Stack-N-Whack Butterflies 2007

As I was rummaging in a random box, I found the missing Disappearing 4-patch blocks and yet another ufo. I took a stack-n-whack workshop way back in the spring 2007. It was a bit advanced for a first time project.  We were to find a bold print that showed through to the back so we could do some mirror imaging. 

When I taught this later I had them do a 4 block repeat. That way they got the technique easily and could complete something quickly. 

It was incredible how the butterfly wings all came together.

There were 13 points coming together on the center.

So why did I not finish this thing? It was a lot of work. But why not complete it? I did not have the pattern piece for the butterfly bodies. And I started 5 other quilts that year. 
When everyone else used black for a bold background, I chose to be different and used a crisp white. Those butterfly wings would have sparkled against black. 

Blessings,
Chris

UFO # 18 Black and White Something or Other 2006

A girl that was working for us was leaving for collage and I decided to make her a quilt. For her birthday I gave her a box of fabrics and a pattern I found in a magazine. It was a simplified carpenters wheel in burnt orange and random scraps.  It took me a few months but I got the quilt made and machine quilted with that wretched monofiliment thread. She loved it and dragged it off to college every week and back home on weekends.

I thought I would make my son one but in blacks and whites with a touch of red. So I started collecting fat quarters then cut hundreds of squares getting ready to make hundreds of 3 inch half square triangles. 

I never actually got any stitches sewn but am ready if a mystery quilt comes along that needs hundreds of 3 inch half square triangles. 

Blessings,
Chris

UFOs #17 Ladies of the Night Mystery Quilt 2006

This was a fun evening. 

We met at the quilt shop at 7 pm 

probably on a Friday night in March. 

The group got locked in and worked on the mystery quilt 

until 2 in the morning. 

I think we lasted until about midnight 

considering we had an hour drive home after. 

The fabric above. Now that is interesting. 

I bought not one but all the fat quarter bundles 

of solids at Walmart when they still sold fabric long before this class.
I do believe that I used this same solid for the crazy quilt I completed
last year and gave to a cousin in Poland. 

Then I bought some cute yardage with bright sewing stuff

 on a black background. 

The pre cutting instructions told us to cut fabrics a specific size. 

So I cut a lot of pieces that size. 

I mean, a lot. This was going to be at least 72 x 90. 

Then when we got there,

we were given further instructions to cut 

all those pieces again to the actual required size. 

So, I proceeded to re cut a lot of pieces. 

Eventually, we were given instructions to sew together 

a lot of squares then cut half square triangles. 

Then,

we were given yet more instructions 

to trim all those half square triangles

to the exact size. 

Needless to day, this ended up in a box. 

We had pizza at 11 pm. 

And we could shop. Imagine that.

I bought a whole lot of fat eights just because I could. 

And some border yardage. A lot. 

This is all prewashed sitting in a project box 

labeled "Stonefields".  

Blessings,
Chris

This might just be a good project for next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I will have to give that some thought. And most of the pieces are already cut. 

UFO # 16 Biblical Blocks Three 2006

In 2006 I had 6 quilt starts with 2 completions. 
This is the third Biblical Blocks quilt I have started. You can read about the first two here. The floral border is all hand appliqued except for some of the  flowers. I will add these after the border is sewn on so I can center them over the seams and mitered corners. There is a lot of freezer paper to remove. Not looking forward to that.

Also, there are quite a few more nine inch blocks to make. These will be fun fussy cutting into that wonderful Jinny Beyer border print. I have since learned other ways to do half square triangles. 

I loaned the pattern book to a friend a lot of years and 2 moves ago. I wonder if I can get it back? If not, I am sure I have the skills and resources to figure the rest out since I have already made one and a half.

I cut all the borders out first. Lots more applique bits ready. I sure hope that red flower does not run. All the setting triangles are cut and labeled. 

I took a class with Rosemary Makhan 2003-2004 when she was writing her More Biblical Blocks book. She taught us to draft our own patterns. This gave me the most amazing freedom to change the block size without panic or stress. I think that may be why I started 2 more. 

Blessings,
Chris