June OMG 2019 Finish

My one-monthly-goal for June was to complete the last BTCT block.
I have been hand appliqueing these blocks on and off for 5 years.
Kathy at slow-sunday-stitching is celebrating 7 years sharing what others are slow stitching.   
This is where you can find my first post.

This is what all 25 Beyond the Cherry Trees blocks look like in the original setting.
Now to prep the 4 borders.
I think I will prep all 4 at the same time when I have the long tables set up.

Also,
I need something to obsess about.
I really, really want to hand quilt this one.
I have a really ancient frame that my husband's paternal grandmother used here a hundred years ago.
I have considered sewing the whole 100 inches by 100 inches together and
 getting someone else to hand quilt it.
I have considered quilt as you go.
I do have an oval rotating frame that I have never used, yet.
It's not that I do not know how to quilt by hand.
it's just that it is hard on arthritic hands.
But,
I do not have to worry about this right now.
In the meantime,
I will again be taking a summer blogging break.
I will have family visiting and little girls will be here for weeks at a time.
I will be back in Sept with my next OMG.

Blessings,

Chris

linking with:
oh-scrap   cookingupquilts    boms-away  emsscrapbag slow-sunday-stitching  quiltingismorefunthanhousework. monday-making  busyhandsquilts

New Keyboard

I bought a new keyboard for my desktop computer. I have been reading about writing this week and had a couple of aha moments. My writing coach offered 16 free kindle books on writing/publishing online/marketing etc. So instead of writing my thousand words a day, I was reading ten thousand words a day instead. So the first thing I did was buy a new keyboard and stapler and tape and pens and desk calendar and markers; well pretty much everything at Staples. But not chocolate. I bought that at the grocery store today and came home to rip open the bag and discover that I got peanut butter M&M's. I hate peanut butter. I thought I got plain since it was a red bag.

So, I initially thought this new keyboard was very similar to my old one but with a comfy wrist rest and a slightly curvy and bumpy ergonomic look to it. But now, as I practice using it, I see that there is an additional backspace bar to the left of the space bar. I had been using the old one for four and a half years and often had to re-type letters that did not appear even though I had typed them. I tried burping the thing to dislodge some of the crumbs and dirt but I only made a mess and the problem did not disappear.

This thing also comes with a new mouse. It is different from the old mouse. Same black colour but different. I will get used to it. Something else that is different is that the nice comfy wrist rest takes up an additional two inches of space so the mouse now sits a bit further away. This means I have to move my hand further to use it. I can get used to that also. So far I like how everything is working. Especially the wrist rest.

The first aha moment was when I read that searching for words to write, looking for keys while typing, and editing as I go engages both right function and left function of my brain at the same time causing brain freeze, or analysis of paralysis as I have often called it. Using the practical and the creative at the same time exhausts my thinking and I do not get very far. Having said all that, I have been editing as I go here because that is how I have done this for so many years. I think this may explain why I have preferred to do my writing by hand then just typing it all out later.

Now the other aha moment. I am writing non-fiction. And I get this brain freeze thing. So one writing coach suggested writing each chapter as a letter to someone specific explaining what the chapter is all about. So I took a nap. A nice long four hour nap. The  kind that leaves me refreshed and ready to stay up till the wee small hours and write. I awoke from the nap with a dream about how I could format my chapters as I write these letters to a friend. Problem is, my friend's name is Jane and I cannot start each chapter with "Dear Jane". Jane is my alpha reader and prayer partner for this project. Also, Dear Jane is the name of a reproduction quilt from 1863 that I spent 5 years making.  I will figure it out.

In the mean time, I plan to write an entire chapter before going to sleep tonight. I will try to not edit as I go. I can do that tomorrow as I proof what I wrote. I realize now, that I use the mouse for editing and I could just put that out of reach while I write.

Blessings,
Chris

Moving Right Along

This is as far as I have progressed this week on the last BTCT block. I stitched that top right pointy thing nearly 5 years ago and decided to not remove it. Why I cut out the inside like that I will never know.
The skinny stems were all left over bits of bias strips that will fit in there very nicely. I drew a line then just pinned them on the curve. They seem off set but are really balanced according to the pattern which was one pineapple design copied 4 times and centered along the diagonal.
It will be fine. Goodness knows, there are enough crooked and wonky stems throughout the other 24 blocks.
I can hardly wait until I can trim all 25 and put them up on the design wall together.

Linking with Cathy at slow-sunday-stitching
Blessings,
Chris

Thinking About LE

Kay Triplett posted this picture from one of her antique quilts. It appears to be the same center that is in Esther Aliu's Love Entwined love-entwined-pattern  without the center and circles around the outside. This pattern was first released by Esther in June 2013. I collected all 18  months of patterns and lots of fabrics in anticipation of making this unique 1790 reproduction quilt. Problem is, I could not decide what colour to make that center compass. So I started a blog and a dozen huge reproduction applique quilts later, I am still thinking.

I bought the book showing the original coverlet.  Found an old library copy on amazon at a ridiculous price of $15. I love the smell of old books. Almost as much as new books. I saw one in progress at a retreat a couple of years ago and loved her choice of soft reproduction fabrics. I was told to pick a green first. But then, I probably could make the thing without any green. Or red. I am tired of red. Especially Civil War reproduction red and poison green. The jury is still out on cheddar. I have not used much of it so cannot say.

My final decision now, I think, is that I will NOT be making Love Entwined. It has only taken me six years of not making it to realize that I do not want to make it. Instead, I am anticipating designing  my own medallion quilt from some of the many options I have in the many books on antique quilts in my library. No hurry at this point. I have a doctorate to complete and a book to write.

Blessings,
Chris

Treadle Machine

I set goals all the time. But a goal without a plan is just a dream and I have lots of dreams. At the start of every year, I write so many goals and make some plans but do not always follow through on many of them. Now to make an effort to stop shoulding on myself and beating myself  up for not getting things done. One of my 12 Things for 2019 is Treadle Machine. I thought I should finally learn how to use the treadle machine without catching my fingers in the hand wheel.

First thing is to get the clutter off the top. Then to dust it and set it up. Make sure I have the bullet bobbin case and a couple of bobbins. When I bought this thing a dozen years ago, it came without either. So I located them. Later I discovered that I had no less than 2 other machines here that had those bullet bobbins and cases.

The next thing is to learn how to wind the bobbin. One quilter years ago said she could not figure it out so just wound them by hand. I want to avoid doing this if I can. When I first got it, I practiced sewing without thread. That is when I kept getting my fingers caught. My mother had one of those, but replaced it with a fancy new 222K Singer Featherweight in 1958 and that is what I learned how to sew on. Still have it.  I love to do foundation piecing with a Featherweight.

So I have decided to follow through on this goal and learn how to use the thing. It might be fun to get the little girls involved for the fun of it. When I was in India in 2010, I spent several days teaching a group of young former prostitutes, then I asked them to teach me how to use their treadle. I decided to hem up one of my house dresses. I sat on the bench and several girls hovered about helping. In the end, the only thing I actually did by myself was pump the foot thingy. I got my fingers slapped when I did something backwards and they carefully changed the needle when I broke it both times. We laughed a lot and had fun. And I did get the hem sewn on though not very straight.

Blessings,
Chris

Found the Needle

Now how did I miss that? This box of notes and journals for my book SMOWJ was sitting on the floor to the left of my chair on the floor in the quilt room. I found it when I finally started sorting all my notes to begin the 30 Day Writing Challenge from my writing coach.

Not so funny story. Saturday afternoon, eleven year old Ava was sitting at my computer working on homework and I hear her sister calling for help. The desk had collapsed onto the chair pinning the girl in the office chair. She was not hurt but plenty scared. It took two men to lift the desk off her and put both desk legs back in place securely. Now how did that happen? So I have moved all my writing up to a table in my bedroom.

Now the funny story. Six year old Devan helped carry books upstairs. When I was settling in she asks if she could get two birthday cards done at my table. In my room. I looked at her, hesitated, then smiled and said yes. On one condition. You are to be absolutely quiet. She says she can do that. She only asked how to spell words five times. There were seven words in her cards. After she left, seven year old Elly comes and asks if she could join me and help me. I hesitated, then smiled and said, yes. On one condition. That you be absolutely quiet. She said she could do that. I gave her a picture to colour and even had some pencil crayons in the desk beside my bed. She chattered about her colouring then started sharing things from her thoughts and her heart and her feelings. Sigh.

After she left, Ava came in and asked if she could sleep with me since her bed was not made up because we washed her sheets and blankets earlier that day. I looked at her, hesitated, then smiled and said yes. On one condition. You are to be absolutely quiet. She says she can do that. She climbed into my bed with her three pillows, head phones, notebook and pen and started asking me questions. Quietly. And what was I doing all this time, upstairs, in my bedroom? On a Saturday night after supper at the nice big table with all my notes and journals and calendar and high lighters and a lamp? I was looking for a quiet place away from other humans so I could focus on my writing. It was Day 1 of the 30 Writing Challenge. You know, the one where I wanted to write at least a thousand words a day?

I realized all three girls had given me a gift that night. Family is important and they all wanted to be near me. Alone. Talking. So, the thousand words I ended up writing were here, on three blog posts, in my journal and my weekly to-do list. On Monday.

Blessings,
Chris

Original Beyond the Cherry Trees Quilt

The Original Beyond the Cherry Trees Quilt

I have been working on this quilt off and on for  5 years. I started it when my first grandson was born. Most of these blocks have traveled around the world and back with me as I stitched on trains and planes and in cars and airports and guest rooms not to mention hours and hours of little grandchildren babysitting time.  
I bought the digital download at an insane sale price from
sentimentalstitches.






This last and final block was one of the first ones I started but had difficulty with those fingery things so it ended up at the bottom of the block pile every time I took them out. 

Since I started this quilt, I have "mastered" needle turn hand applique and back basting. Mastered in the sense that I have gotten as good as I will ever get and loving every stitch. I started and completed no less than 3 hand applique quilts after I started this one, which is one reason it has taken me this long to get to this point. 
CCCQ, 1857 Album Quilt  Dear Daughter. Not to mention lots of other hand work on the Morrell and Antique Wedding Sampler. 


My June OMG one-monthly-goal will be to complete this block. 
Blessings,
Chris
linking with slow-sunday-stitching  quiltingismorefunthanhousework.