End of September

The end of September is here and I have very little to show in the area of completed anything. 

I did work on a few Dear Daughter Blocks. 

This is one of the alternate blocks.

I still have to stitch the centers. Did not want to do that on the train.

One blue Bright Jane block for the RSC.

A good start on another. 

This is an alternate block using a stay-in foundation. 

I think I am going to like doing foundation piecing this way.

Two of my little girls were quite productive. 

Well, the 5 year old especially. 

 She had sewn several pairs of I Spy blocks together. 

Then she got creative. 

A cape for the elephant.

A cape for the turtle. 

She found several uses for the hearts I stitched up in May.

 A pollinator box she made at fair camp in July. 

She got a 3rd prize. 

Not bad for a 5 year old who uses glue 

at about the same speed her Gramma uses her credit card. 

More heart blocks.

More pairs of I Spy blocks.

Another cape. 

Our OMG goal was for the little girls to stitch up some of their blocks. 

 Since she only got as far as sewing 2 blocks together about 10 times, 

I entered these for her as a needlework item.

The 6 year old had gotten about 60 I Spy blocks sewn into pairs

then she sewed 6 pairs together. 

It is a good start. 

But she is a starter.  Like her Gramma. 

Actually,

this is what she prefers to be doing. 

And the second front tooth fell out the night before so

she could focus on her calf. 

Blessings, 

Gramma Chris

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September Reflections

The Fall Equinox is upon us and that means a few things.

• The calendar says Fall officially begins on Sat. 
• It always rains. 
• We could have our first frost of the season.
• Daytime temperatures are still high. 
• Nights are getting cooler. 
• Yesterday the kitchen air conditioner was on. 
• Today I wanted to turn on the furnace. 
• Turning on the furnace will dry out some of the moisture in this old house.
• The children have gone back to school.
• The new half time living here is 3 weeks in and so far things are working well. 
• The black walnut trees are the first to shed their leaves. 
• Actually, they are the last to open them in the spring. 
• The squirrels have planted many new trees around the house. 
• I saw a flock of about 60 Canada geese fly over. 
• They were noisy. 
• They are not Canadian geese. 
• They are Canada Geese.
• It is fall fair time. 
• That means we show cows. 
• I am retired so I do not show cows any more,. 
• Actually, I do not do any set up or take down or run errands any more. 
• Fact is, I am going away this weekend to a ladies retreat. 
• I baked a banana cake. 
• This has nothing to do with the season. I just finally had some brown bananas.
• Lots of bananas are eaten here these days. 
• And apples. 
• And yogurt. 
• The girls have entered some of their crafts and needlework.
• Elly had 12 seven inch blocks sewn together. 
• Devan had 2 blocks sewn together.
• I put socks on one day last week. 
• Now I don't know how to get rid of these dots. 
• I have been posting about ufos and enjoying the journey. 
• At this point, I have not pretended to try to complete any of them. 
• I just wanted a record of what is in the cupboard and why they are not yet complete. 

That's better.

I went to Upper Canada Village last weekend. It was a 6 hour drive so

I took the Via Rail train.

 Had a nap both ways and read a whole book.

Stitched on 2 Dear Daughter blocks.

And got a kink in my neck. Been going to waterfit at least 3 times a week now because I can. I will be seeing the little boys this weekend. I bet they have grown. Four year old Jonathan is now in school and learning to print his name. Two and a half year old David wanted snow so he emptied 3 cans of powder all over his room and carpet. Its been 3 whole weeks since I saw them and will be there for hugs and kisses tomorrow. And Sunday since I am babysitting then. 

I will be going to India for a ministry trip in just over 6 weeks from now and am collecting a few things to take along. I have saris and Punjabi dresses all over the living room. I need to get rid of a some of them. I have them in all sizes.

Blessings,
Chris

UFOs #11 Rose Medallion 2004

In winter 2003-2004 I took a bi-weekly Sacred Threads class with the infamous Rosemary Makhan where I learned how to draft my own blocks from a photo. She had a picture of an antique sampler quilt and we collaborated on drafting out each block to a 12 inch size. After the first class, I went home and redrafted the 4 blocks of the day into 9 inch blocks and very quickly completed my first Biblical Blocks Sampler. She also taught us the theory of drafting up the setting using graph paper. Who would have thought to use that? I had been drawing on the back of envelopes up until then. 

I was on a roll. I completed 2 large quilts that spring with the simple incentive of anyone whose quilts were completed and at her house by a certain date would be shipped off to the publisher of the newest book she was writing. I also started 6 more quilts that year and bought fabric for a couple of others.  

I had made several more blocks than I needed for the Sacred Threads class so decided to use some of the more complex ones and design my own quilt. Have you ever tried to bring 16 points together in the middle of a 12 inch block? It was suggested to use a hammer to flatten them.

I thought I would venture out and do some broderie perse sort of techniques with the rose applique blocks. I had good intentions but disastrous effects. And, trying to be daring in colour selection I bought this bold floral print but did not know how to work with it and I used a yellow for the background and fussy cut some shapes. I was working hard on my undergrad degree that year and started an internship at a pregnancy resource center where I did peer counseling with women in unplanned pregnancies as well as milking cows, etc. 
It ended up in yet another box.

Blessings,
Chris

UFOs #10 Woodland Creatures BOM 2002

This was one of 5 quilt starts in 2002. I completed one last year. Others I have written about before. 

It was at Jilly Bean's Pride Quilt Shop that I discovered BOMs - Block of the Month programs. You signed up for the year. If you paid all up front, they paid the shipping. The first few months blocks arrived on schedule, but then, all the rest came at once and I was overwhelmed with the task. That and we had just taken over the family farm and I was overwhelmed with the paperwork involved in running a small business. I was smack in the middle of my anger-depression para-menopause journey and taking a couple of classes for my undergrad degree. Did I mention I was milking cows every day? I was. And driving tractor. 

Also, this was the year I started giving up doing stuff like my very big vegetable garden then the 3 hours of grass cutting. Also, this was the year I started flying to the east coast to visit my daughter.

All the patterns which were sold separately, were included and all the fabrics needed to make each of the nine 18 inch blocks plus the borders. I cut lots of freezer paper templates and fun fabrics. I never actually got anything stitched down. I had taken a machine applique workshop and I see that I bought all that really nice expensive mono-filiment thread. I opened one large spool and it exploded and was useless.  

However, the background fabric was not included. I was adamant that this quilt had to be big enough to fit a queen bed, so needed more than the required amount. I was on the hunt for a suitable looks-like-dark-but-not-solid-black background. Enough background. I eventually found what I wanted and purchased enough. I hoped.  

Now I am thinking I might make 2 smaller ones for the little boy grandchildren. I might even put the snake in somewhere along with the spiders and bugs. After all, the original was made for the designer's son. I think I will do the applique by machine. Goodness knows, I have enough different coloured threads. If I machine quilt it as I go, I can be more creative with bugs and spider webs, etc. 
I wonder if there is enough of the exact background fabric? 

Blessings,
Chris

UFOs #9 Country Bride 2 2002

I continue to amaze myself with how many 
quilts I have actually started and why I did 

not complete them. 

I had made one of these Country Bride quilts for my daughter when she got married in 1997. After all, she was a country bride growing up on a dairy farm. I hand appliqued and hand quilted the thing and even did a scalloped border.  

I impulsively (no surprise) decided to make a quick one for a friend getting married that summer. I was going to machine applique and machine quilt in squares. My daughter was helping me, but she and her husband suddenly decided to move to the east coast where he got a job as a pastor. We got all the applique done and even removed all the freezer paper. But did not get past that.

I have to remember that at this time I was still purchasing the very cheap and not so good quality but really nice colours from Joann's fabrics. I had made a few quick quilts in earlier years that wore out way too soon. My Sweet Farmer said he saw how much time I was putting into the hand applique and hand quilting of our daughter's quilt and said I should be using the best quality fabrics that I could find. And now I do. But not with this one.


One of the things that I was having trouble figuring out was how to applique the stems on by machine. I had done the first one by hand. I suppose there is nothing stopping me from doing them by hand here now is there? I think I might use these blocks to practice some fancy dancy free motion quilting.

All the borders are cut, the extra appliques for the top are made, batting and backing cut and ready to go. But they ended up in a very large pizza box to keep them nice and flat. We gave the bride an envelope with cash. We do that a lot. 

Blessings,

Chris

UFOs #8 Stained Glass Windows 2002

When I started quilting I was happy to make a few quilts and decided that I needed to make at least 2 quilts for each bed in my house. Then in December 2001 discovered an amazing quilt shop in Oakville on my way home from the airport after taking one of my sisters to the airport after our father's funeral. This quilt was hanging from the ceiling. I had to make one! Not only this one, but nearly every one hanging from the 14 foot ceiling. I walked through that shop gawking at all the wondrous quilts and patterns. I had to wait until Sept to take a Biblical Blocks class so I signed up for machine quilting, machine applique and foundation piecing.  

I was in the middle of doing an undergrad program in counseling studies, the details of taking over the family farm and all the farm books were in process and I was in the middle of a nightmare menopause journey as well as mourning the death of my father all while milking cows every day. I am writing a book about that time in my life and I realize now, that writing up these blog posts about my quilting journey is allowing me to revisit those difficult years albeit through the happy journey of quilting. Quilting, or at least starting new quilts became my happy place of escape from the realities of real life.

I started signing up for classes and making whatever they were offering. I had more money now and bought patterns and gadgets. Many I do not remember how to use. I even bought EPP papers to eventually learn to do that.

We did one block in the all day workshop and I went home and made a whole bunch of units. The challenge then became to find suitable fabrics for the stained glass effect. It took buying dozens of fat quarters in random colours for my "stash". Most of these are still in the stash. I realized that the newly available batiks gave the best stained glass effect. I wonder how many windows I will eventually make to complete something? 


Blessings,
Chris 

UFOs #7 Bricks and Mortar Kit 1998

I only started 2 quilts in 1998. I did complete one. Not this one. I thought if I got the whole kit and pattern I stood a chance to get it done. And it was easy, 

until I tried to figure out how to do the applique flowers on the borders using freezer paper because that is what I knew how to do. But this is flannelette. 

I think I would do raw edged applique with no fusing or paper. 

Blessings,
Chris

UFOs #6 Rose Sampler Supreme 1997

My daughter was getting married the summer of 1997 and we were working together at the national election. It was fun to do some real adult things with my 18 year old daughter. She had finished high school earlier that winter and was working 3 part time jobs. We fit this in. Often, when working at an election, one had to sit behind a table for 11 hours. This was the last election that I worked at. 

I sat for hours tracing leaves and flowers onto freezer paper for the twenty 14 inch Rose Sampler Supreme blocks by Rosemary Makhan. I decided to try my hand at machine applique. I had had no instructions then and was trying to figure it out. To me, every background block had to be the same colour from the same bolt of fabric. I did not yet know that using a variety of different backgrounds would be legal and that it would look really good. I always did my sewing with the quilt police looking over my shoulder criticizing every move. I am glad I have lightened up. But it has taken a lot of years.

It was a few years later that I took a workshop in machine applique. This block is 16 inches and I have been trying to figure out how to make it fit into the one above since I did not have extra background fabric.  I still like to use all the background and borders cut from the same bolt. But now, I make sure I buy enough in the first place. One of the reasons I have so so much fabric in my cupboard, closet, other closet and under some of the tables.

I have these 5 blocks made and only 15 more to go. To my credit, I started using a different pink and different green for each block. Now that was pretty radical for me back then. That's about the time I started collecting many different fabrics for future projects. 

Blessings,
Chris

UFOs #4 Lancaster Rose 1994

My sister went to university in Waterloo and I often drove the hour to visit her. One of those trips, I discovered the quaint village of St Jacobs and several quilt shops and the Farmers Market nearby. There are often a lot of Mennonite made hand quilted quilts on display and for sale. I wanted to make one. So I started dreaming. Eventually, I got the pattern for the Lancaster Rose. It was a simple 2 page photocopied sketch of the  rose and the leaves. There were no instructions. Seriously. For a newbie like me, that was a challenge to figure it out. I did this by asking a lot of questions each time I visited there. I bought some cheap muslin  and some solid and some print fabrics. I started this hand applique journey in 1994 using brown butchers paper I got from my father, a retired butcher. I even took an applique class there where they taught several different applique methods including ironing the freezer paper to the back of the fabric and using UHU glue to turn under the edges. I always used too much glue. Way too much. 

I was struggling to manipulate the fabric with the freezer paper under my left hand while stitching with an applique needle from right to left. Turning corners was a struggle as was turning an inny point or curve. Pushing through all that glue.

Again, I was trying to figure out how to grow the thing to finish 72x90, but this time, it was going to be set on point and I needed one more block. I had only enough pieces prepped for 12 blocks. I often thought I would use these blocks to practice machine quilting, but new projects came along and I kept moving forward. I even thought about sashing with a border print. 

For the life of me, I cannot find the blocks anywhere. I know they are in this house somewhere. Now that is a challenge I should enjoy, except that our son and the girls have moved in to the old Farm house and there are quite a few more things piled up here and there until we get things sorted out. I will post pictures when I find them. Wish me luck. 


Blessings,
Chris

UFOs #5 Grandmother's Fan Kit 1996

I bought this kit at Mary Maxim which is about a half hour drive from the Farm. I took time to stitch all the fan blades together for each block. I started doing needle turned hand applique with a regular applique needle usually nights I was babysitting my niece next door who just turned 22. I even took a few blocks to India with me in 2006 and again 2009. Needless to say, I was not enjoying this journey. The fabric is a poly-cotton and the needle would not glide through the fabric. A year later, in 2010, I was introduced to #10 Milliner's or Straw needles and needle turned hand applique. It took a while to get it figured out until I came to love it. But not back then. 

I probably could whip these up now that I know what I am doing. But will I? 

Blessings,
Chris

Some Slow Weekend Stitching

The first week of school is behind us now and we did not lose any children. Well, not quite. The 6 year old got on the wrong going home bus Friday, but after a few phone calls Daddy met her at the bus stop near Mommy's house so all is well. The girls are all at the farm this weekend. One is hiding somewhere on her ipad another is helping Grampa do stuff around the farm and the 5 year old is doing science experiments here in the quilt room. She is determined to make some spray paint for her treasure chest. We agreed that quiet is a good place to work on our projects.

And what am I working on this weekend? Dear Daughter of course. I am more than a few blocks behind but have been prepping several for hand applique. I could have gotten quite a few stitches done as I sat at the end of our very long lane way waiting for the bus if I had known it was going to be  25 minutes later than the suggested drop off time. The girls can eventually walk home but for now it is comforting for them and the bus driver for one of us to be there.

I have been doing some back basting prep work on a few blocks. I totally messed up on this one a few months ago. I had cut out each of the buds and stitched them in place them laid the leaves piece on top. I missed. But since we were away at the time, I just started stitching the leaves anyway and figured I'd figure it out later.

This is later. I pinned back the leaves and started over with the buds. I will know soon if this works. In the meantime, here the  only other blocks I made earlier in the summer.

Blessings,
Chris

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UFOs #3 Single Irish Chain 1993

I made several quilts in 1993. I had figured out the how-tos from one of Eleanor Burns Quilt in a Day books. I completed at least 4 log cabin quilts. Then I ventured out to a Single Irish Chain. I bought some green and gold fabric and some creamy background. Everything had to match. After a while, I found more green and gold fabrics. 

I drafted out my plan on the back of an envelope. It was years later before I started using graph paper and eventually Electric Quilt on my computer. I was still obsessed about getting the thing to 72 x 90 and and this one was far from it. I was not adventurous enough to try to put some other fabric with it. It was lost in a box for decades. It looks like there is enough fabric - that matches - to complete the thing at 72 x 90. But it will not be hand quilted. At least not by me. 

Blessings,
Chris

PS: I was reminded about another similar quilt I made back in about 2001. I was teaching 10-12  year old girls to sew and they made up most of the nine patch blocks as they learned how to use the rotary cutter and the sewing machine. I had them and their mom's in for tea one evening and they all tried a few hand quilting stitches. I left most of them in. This quilt is on my bed. It is hand quilted but I see I missed a few blocks. I had lost the template years ago and finally found it then misplaced it. If it shows up again, I really should finish the quilting.  

UFO #2 QAYG Sampler 1993

Way back in the Dark Ages, in 1993, I got a do-it-yourself book teaching how to quilt. I bought some fabric for about a dollar a yard then, when I did not have enough to finish, it sat forever in a box. Then on a quilt shop hop in the summer of 2005, I came across the exact fabric in a shop in a remote town on Lake Huron when I was visiting my niece. I hoped I had bought enough. 

I needed another light pink and found it on Ottawa St in Hamilton. It ended up costing me $25 for each of the 2 yards that I bought. I got a parking ticket in a rush hour zone. I cried all the way home because I could not afford that but I was guilty. Today, $25 a yard is common. But not in 1993. I was so proud of myself as I made blocks. I had taken a class in Quilt-As-You-Go at Mary Maxim. I used some of the blocks for a 9 patch setting for a lap quilt. I actually did complete the thing, but loaned it to a missionary family that stayed with us one summer and it did not come home when they did. So sad. 

I often used these blocks as samples when I taught beginning quilters here at the Farm. Not sure why I never completed it.  I hand quilted each block, often while my daughter was at swimming classes. We were given a square quilting frame to quilt up the square blocks. I later made a dozen of these for a 4-H class I was teaching to hand quilt. I have a whole pile of them here that would be useful if I could find the lug nuts for them. 

Blessings,

Chris

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UFO #1 Dolls of the World 1979

A lot of years ago (probably 40), I did textile painting with Tri-Chem. It was not anything original or artsy. Mostly paint by number. I painted up many Dolls of the World blocks intending to make a quilt some day. That day has not yet arrived. I gave  some of the blocks to one of my sisters. I wonder what she did with them? My first born daughter Denine died around that time and this ended up in a box somewhere and found recently in a mass de-clutter. 

At a local quilt guild meeting several years ago, the guest speaker was a quilt appraiser. She explained how appraisal and actual monetary value were not the same thing. She had in her collection a few unique, one of a kind quilts. One of them was the aforementioned Dolls of the World. At that time, I wondered if I still had the blocks. I did! I do. I seem to recall I planned to sash them in a solid red. 

I always had this thing in the back of my head telling me that when (not if) I completed quilts, they had to be a minimum of 72 x 90 inches in order to qualify showing them at my local fall fair. Seriously. Then, my adult kids got queen sized beds and I was trying to figure out how to grow the quilts I was making to fit on the larger bed. Then, my son got a king bed and I quit trying to figure it out. 

I did another similar to this with fairies flowers, completed it and hand quilted and donated to the Home where our daughter lived the final year of her short life. 
This is a poor fuzzy picture, but I could not scan it and it was a photo that "just happened to show up" the other day. 
I recall I had a birds of the world kit I made up and thought it would be nice to make it up with fabrics, but at that time I did not know how to applique and wondered why anyone would spend that much time making it anyway. 






Dolls of the World will be a throw size. When it is completed.  Any of you modern quilters out there have creative ideas how I could finish this ?

Blessings,
Chris

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New Series of Posts About UFOs

One of the things I wanted to do this summer is downsize my quilt stash. Its more of a massive hoard. I have bought hundreds, ye, thousands of yards and pieces of fabrics over the years. But in reality, I will not be able to make all the quilts I wanted to. Something about choosing the more difficult hand appliqued samplers in the past few years that take more than a weekend to make and I have progressive osteoarthritis that slows me down.

 I thought about doing a one month challenge for August to write about each of 31 never before mentioned ufos including kits purchased and their journey. I have a notebook I have kept over the years listing, in order, all the quilts I have ever started and those I have completed as well as how and to whom they were given. I even figured out how to pre-schedule posts. 

One of the reasons motivating this great task was that I will be celebrating my fifth year of blogging on Sept 4th and thought it would be nice to have it coincide with my 500th blog post but I would still have to write up another 131 posts, so, instead, I started to prepare 31 posts.  In June I started doing a treasure hunt in the massive quilt cupboard and taking pictures and writing what comes to mind. It has been quite the nostalgic journey. I also have been doing more research for my second book and so much has fallen into place with this quilt ufo journey. 

Mid July I decided to take a break from blogging and reading blogs. After all, it takes time to read and comment and interact with bloggers, which I love by the way.  I thought I would have some time without little people and I planned to be writing. Mid August I had one week and thoroughly enjoyed some quiet time, started chiropractic treatments 3 times a week and had 2 painful dentist appointments. The little children all returned at once and the summer is now over. 

I am celebrating my 5 year blogging anniversary and will post about my ufos sporadically. Stay tuned.

Blessings,
Chris

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September One Monthly Goal

September brings a lot of new activities here at the farm including showing cows at the local fairs and now, meeting the school bus 2-3 days a week. The little girls and their dad are settling in to living at the farm. Can I set a goal for their quilt blocks? If they get enough sewn together in the next 2 weeks, they can show them in the school fair. I think I will make my OMG goal to help them get their tops sew together.

 How many blocks actually make a quilt top? They each have 80 seven inch pre-cut squares. Earlier this summer the girls went to Fair Camp at our local fair that is 3 km up the road from the Farm. They each made a bunch of crafts so they are ready to enter and win lots of $$$. We will aim for at least 36 blocks each. That would make them 39 inches square. Maybe there should be more. We shall see. After all, they are only 5 and 6 y ears old.

Blessings,
Chris