Chookshed Challenge

 

My Chookshed Challenge for Sept is Machine Applique. This is timely. I have about 100 hexie flowers to assemble for Stonefields. I am doing them by maxhine. I have many hexies prepped and ready to sew together for the border. I am starting at the other end of this quilt. Not sure why other than I can. I actually have a lot done so far. I am impressed with my productivity. Now to keep the momentum going. 

There are only 46 more flying geese to make for this border. I think I have most of the coloured bars cut out just need to cut more background squares. This will be my OMG goal for Sept. I am doing the sew and flip method. I like it. I will have a lot of 3/4 inch HST eventually for something mini. 

Devan and I are using them for leader enders. She is progressing with her Jelly Roll quilt. I will show pictures when her flimsy is ready. I am looking forward to that since she is using the big design wall and I want to put up all the Stonefields blocks and borders as I complete them. 

I am working on prepared edge applique. The one using starch and a brush and a hot iron. Not sure if I like it, but I will have lots of practice now that I have started. No hand applique for me for now. 

Check out on how Gretchen and Rebecca are doing. We are all making this quilt at the same time. I love that about this project. I am so inspired by their progress. 

Blessings,

Chris 

linking with alyciaquilts-finished-or-not.

Hexie Flowers

So what's with blogger these days? Suddenly I have hundreds of page views and many going back several months. Got 400 on the 20th then another 1000 just yesterday. 

My plan for Stonefields is to make a 9 x 9 setting of 6 inch blocks, I am thinking about putting a larger medallion block in the center. I had this idea 8 years ago when I did several workshops with Di Ford-Hall at one of the Shipshewana quilt retreats. These are some of the blocks I have done so far. I put them up on the small design wall to see how a 12 inch border will look with all those hexie flowers. I plan to space them further apart than the pattern. Not sure yet how many will be needed.

I have been prepping a lot of the blocks and of course, a lot of hexies. Just need to cut a few more larger scale florals after I get the block prepping done. Devan has been working on her Jelly Roll Race quilt. It is suposed to take about an hour if you know what you are doing. We do not. So she has been at it for a couple of days and has almost half the strips sewn together. One delay was stitching her finger right through from top to bottom. A lot of noise happened and we found the broken needle tip, and bandaged the finger. My goodness! She has such skinny little fingers. She is taller than my Sweetie now. So about 5'6"? Ellyse is over 5'10". When did all this happen?

Another delay was the machine jamming every few flying geese I was chain piecing together. So, today Devan and I took the machine back to get it looked at. And of course, it ran perfectly. So, I brought it home, set it up and sewed a few geese together and it jammed again. Twice. Sigh. I think I am lifting the presser foot up too quickly and my left foot is hovering over the foot pedal and possibly adding just enough tiny pressure to bring the needle up and it jams. So, I started doing everything slower. No more jamming. 

The girls start back to school next week and I plan to turn my focus and time on writing. This past week I have been reading back over the Morning Pages I hade been writing for the past 4 1/2 years. I have focused on the books through 2022. A lot happened that year. I turned 70 and had many unexpected, age related health issues. No wonder I did not make much progress on writing and sewing.

blessings,

Chris 

Stonefields Update

I have been home all alone for a few days without any other humans around. People will show up tomorrow. In the meantime, I have been a busy girl. I can eat what I want when I want where I want. But I still have to do dishes. But not many. I did some laundry and, get this, I even ran the machine through a clean cycle since there were no other humans standing in line to do their own wash. I did stay out of the hot tub since I do not go in there when I am home alone. 

I am starting with the borders for Stonefields. And why not? I am loving doing the flying geese units. Partly because that is all I am doing with them. Earlier, I made flying geese for the star blocks and that is that. I am doing the method that gives me a gzillion bonus triangles. I am planning to make something very tiny with them. Not sure what just yet. I have another 50 to make.

And you would think that with all the many different hexies I have prepped so far, how did I manage to make these first 2 flowers, that are not going into the border, the same sprigged floral? 

I tried hand stitching the yellow one together. That took me nearly an hour while watching Miss Marple. The pink one was a lot faster. I machined stitched it. First I stitched 2 hexies together from the back. One using a tiny zigzag then another seam using a blanket stitch. Both show from the front. Then I machine appliqued them both onto the background square using a tiny narrow zig-zag. I did leave the papers in. Oops. Well, maybe not. I cut away the back and pulled out the papers. I am using a neutral colour bottom line thread that I was hoping would disappear. Almost and that is good enough. Only 168 more flowers to go.

Check out what Gretchen is doing here , here , here and here. Rebecca here and here. I am so inspired! 

Blessings,

Chris

lonking with: ninamariesayre. at off-wall-friday. 

quiltery put-your-foot-down-300/ 

inquiringquilter.wednesday-wait-loss-445

quiltingpatch.blogspot

smallquiltsanddollquilts.design-wall-monday- 

melvalovesscraps.

Stonefields & August Challenges

My OMG goal last month was to make 7 more of these star blocks for Stonefields. 

My OMG for August will be to make several more of the 6 inch blocks. There are 3 or 4 with hexies. I will start there.

I am really enjoying this journey so far. Four of these stars still need some tiny circles appliqued on but I will wait until I am doing more circle blocks. I took time to look through the pattern pages and listed blocks with circles. If I have the circle making stuff out, I might as well make a lot. That was my thinking with the hexies and the flying geese. 

There are 121 six inch blocks in the middle of the quilt then a flying geese border then a wider hexagon border. I am still of the mind to make only 72 blocks.  

For this project, I am working on the outside borders right at the beginning. Here is the logic. As I sorted through all the soft floral prints for the first star blocks, I took the time to cut a multitude of strips of the same fabrics to cut and prep the flying geese and the hexagon units. There will be a lot of each. Why wait until the end?  I layed out several layers of the fabrics and cut, cut cut. Devan helped me cut out hexies with the Go Baby. I will now cut a few more strips for her. She is at camp again this week loving it. I really like the colours so far that I have used. I think I will keep to this pallet. No reds or orange or really dark fabrics. 

The Chookshed Challenge number is 7. I again tweaked my original list and will assemble a flimsy. I have several almost ready to sew up. You will have to wait until the end of the month to see which one(s) I get done. 

Our summer Houseguests have all returned to their respective homes. I see a few weeks of empty spaces on my calendar. My plan for now is to sew, sew, sew and write, write, write. 

The summer days here continue to be nice and hot but the evenings have cooled down to a nice 15C or 60F. Perfect for sleeping. 

Blessings,

Chris

Linking with smallquiltsanddollquilts.design-wall-monday- 

Quilty Goals for July

The Chookshed Challenge number for July is 9 and that for me is to do some hand applique. I added a few stitches to this Ella block that has been languishing for several years awaiting completion. My goal will be to simply complete it. That should take about 15 minutes if I hurry.

There are a few other half done blocks nearby that I can progress also. The right hand is beginning to hurt a bit again. Wonder how long the cortisone will last this time? Last year, it lasted about 2 months.

One sister is visiting for the month on her school vacation time. Another sister will be coming over to visit and work on one of her projects. She lives in a tiny 2 room apartment and does not have the luxury of space like I do. 

Twelve year old Devan will be starting her Jelly Roll Race quilt this week. And all that means that I have to clear away my Stonefields bits and peices.

I did complete my June OMG and now for July, I want to complete the next 7 star blocks for Stonefields. I have a good start on them so far. But we also have houseguests for the entire month.

Blessings,

Chris

Linking with wednesday-wait-loss-439

finished or not friday 

Gone Stitchin' FNWF

quiltingpatch.

Slow Sunday Sitching 

Progress on Stonefields

My Chookshed Challenge project for June was permission to start a new project. I started Stonefields. 

My OMG goal was to complete 1 block. So I did. That is not all I did. I pulled out lots of fabrics. Checked out what I had in the project box. Much of the fabric was already prewashed. Some was not so I pre washed those.  I cut out lots and lots of bars and squares in preparation for making a lot of flying geese units for one of the borders. 

There are 8 of these star blocks in the quilt. Four are made in month 1 and another 4 in month 8. These also have circles appliqued on. That can be my goal for July. 

I was reading Angela from Soscrappy the other day and she mentioned cutting hexies with her Go cutter. Duh! I have a GO cutter and I have a hexie die. Wonder what size it is? My thoughts for the Stonefields hexies was fussy cutting some of them and random for others. It turns out that I do have the right size  so Devan helped me cut out a whole bunch. I am glue basting them.

The plan for now, is to machine applique them in place but that will not be till closer to the end when I have the outside borders figured out and prepped. I want to make the whole thing smaller than the original, so do not have the final count. 

Blessings,

Chris

15 Minutes

What can I do in just 15 minutes? That's just 900 seconds. I have a note on the wall in the Blue Room. It was a challenge to myself some years ago to spend just 15 minutes doing something - anything. 

I am really good at making a mess and creating clutter. Its okay at first as I am gathering and organizing for a specific project. But, I walk away to do something else like show up at the dinner table when called. I do not, after all, do the cooking in this house. I wash dishes. When I walk away, and no longer see what I am doing, it no longer exists in my head until I walk back into the room. Then I sigh and turn and walk out of the room because the clutter is too noisy and draining. 

I have spent the better part of the last 6 months not stitching, not writing, not exercising, not a lot of things around the house. Okay. I had a lot of Christmas houseguests, was away for a couple of weeks twice and sidelined with the breast reduction surgery for 3 months. So here I am. I am back. A shot of cortizone in my right hand a few weeks ago has given me a new lease on doing. I can pull weeks. So I have. I can type. So I am. I can wield a rotary cutter. So I have. And I can water the outside flower pots. 

Its only 15 minutes. I finally decided to stop thinking about what I can do and just do something - anything. So I started clearing a small space in the Blue Room. This is where I have relocated most of my quilting things. Until I hosted a retreat here last month and brought down a machine and a "few" quilty gadgets. But they piled up a lot. 

So back to the 15 minutes in the Blue Room. I cleared a few square feet of floor space and vacuumed the rug. I put things away. I even, horrors, threw stuff out. I bought one of those small rechargeable vacuum cleaners just for this room. I have used it a lot. Just 15 minutes at a time. I bought another storage shelving unit to organize the many project boxes.  

Does anyone else have a room they put stuff into to get it out of the way and out of sight? It has been a way of life for me. I learned from the best. My unorganized hoarder mother and my organized hoarder mother-in-law who washed the dishes after every meal for 72 years. I have had a lot of clutter. 

I finally have permission to sit in the hot tub. But only for 15 minutes. 

Blessings,

Chris

And Sew it Begins - Stonefields

Today I made the first cut on Stonefields. I have a huge pile of fabric set aside for this project. Maybe too much. Do I want it to be matchy-matchy or all out scrappy? No. Definetly not scrappy. I over think things and end up hesitating for years before beginning. I trimmed the pattern sheets to fit into our north american letter sized binder and punched holes. 

I read through the directions again. Did that back in early May when Rebecca said she was planning to start. This pattern is not for beginners as a lot of the techniques are assumed. Just the way I like it. This way I can figure things out for myself. 

My palette is soft florals and perhaps some solids. I have several in the bin of endless options. I decided to start by cutting out a lot of 3/4 inch hexies for the rosettes that frame the quilt with an incredible border. I figure that I can make some every month so not to have them all to do at the end. And there will be an end. I am planning to work on this for a year. At least that is what I am telling myself this month. 

I have a whole week with just me and my Sweetie before grand children and houseguest start arriving for the summer. I wonder what mischeif I can get into? Linking with Finished or Not Friday and Off the Wall Friday and Quilting Patchwork Applique and Design Wall Monday 

Blessings,

Chris

Blessings in Slowing Down

I was greatly blessed by reading Jenny of Elefanz's post this week. 

She wrote about slowing down as the seasons of our life progress and we no longer have to do everything. We can stop doing things that are no longer necessary and begin to enjoy the calm and peace in rest. 

Two of the girl grandchildren are at the farm today. It is a PA day with no school. Their older sister graduated from high school yesterday. I did not go to the ceremony. I had been out several times through the day and got home tired, cold and feverish. I know. Devan took my temperature and told me I sounded hoarse and had a temperatue of 38C or 100.4F. I was in bed very early. Like 5:30 on a Thursday afternoon. Among other things like getting blood work and seeing the nurses for the final time and being discharged after my surgery. Yesterday I bought a couple of rose bushes and new clothes which is what we do when we lose a few pounds and have our breasts reduced so smaller clothes fit better. Just saying. And why was I so tired? After all that, I had to pick the girls up from school. That was a lot of driving for this gramma.  

Today, Friday, I took 13 year old Ellyse to the Dollar Store to pick up some craft supplies for a project at school. We spent $101. We also got milk and bananas. Staples in our house. Then when we got home I took 12 year old Devan to help buy some plants for our summer gardens and went out for lunch. We brought home left overs so may have been caught visiting someone else's secret lunch spot. I won't say how much we spent. I cannot count those kind of numbers in my head so quickly anymore.

I can do all this because my Sweetie is visiting the boy grandchildren for a few days. We also bought a new shelving unit to organize my sewing stuff in the Blue Room. I managed to get the thing off-loaded and up to the room before any other adult humans around saw what I was doing and questioned my sanity. We were asked before we left earlier if we had a list and to stick to the list. How much fun is that I ask? The list was in my head. I had been planning this maneuver for a few weeks. Then forgot to get the unit earlier so we got it later as well as some poppies, begonias, sunflowers, and a bunch of other plants. A couple of window boxes. They are already on the windows. Now to remember to water them before it rains tomorrow. 

Much earlier today, I pulled weeds and added water to the water feature. There were a lot of weeds. If I go out there for just 10 minutes a day and putter, it will look really nice. I lasted 8 minutes. I know. I had the timer set on the kitchen stove for running the water. I do not want to forget to shut it off. 

Tomorrow is Sat and I have another Writing Workshop here to help others to start getting ready to start writing their life stories. I have Stonefield's spread all over all the long tables in the SonRoom. I still have a couple of hours to get that all set up before the girls head off to the final night of youth group before the summer holidays. It is an all-nighter. Remember those? I went to one when I was finishing grade 8. Got home after breakfast and had to go out to work on the farm for the rest of the day. No rest for the weary. Well, not in those days. 

So back to Jenny's comments today. I have learned to slow down. A lot. I cannot do all that I used to do. I do not have many of those responsibilities any more. But I can still do things. This summer will again bring family for several weeks and I will be leading my writing group. I plan to write along with them. If I manage to spend at least one day each week doing some deep writing (2-3 hours without interruption or distraction) I can have at least 12 stories written. And if I do one blog post a week, that adds up to a lot of words written. My hands are working very nicely for now since the cortisone shot a month ago. Here's trusting that it will last for a couple months more. 

And what about stitching? I have plans to do some but will not commit to too much. At least for now. Stonefield's awaits some dedicated attention. My OMG goal for that is to start and complete at least one block. Totally doable. And I am rambling. I like to ramble. Oh. And I cut some scrap 1 inch strips to start on Omisgosh as a leader-ender project from now until possibly eternity.

Blessings,

Chris

linking with frederique 

Chookshed Challenge June 2025

The Chookshed Challenge number for June is 5. That is start a new quilt. And I just happened to have the perfect project ready and waiting to start. It has been ready for nearly 9 years. Rebecca at Cheeky Cognosenti has inspired me to get started on Stonefields. I bought the pattern way back in 2015 when I first went to Australia. I plan to make mine smaller than the original. I will not do at least of the 40 blocks and maybe fewer of the hexies surrounding the outside. No promises. 

I was reminded to punch holes in the pages and put them into a binder. I used to do that years ago.  Now to find a binder. I may have donated all the binders during a declutter phase. But I can always buy a new one. I do need to purchase ink for my printer. And why do we need yellow in order to print black? 

I found a solution to getting photos to my blog. My Sweetie recently figured out how to take and send photos on his phone through email. Duh. I could do that now that I know it is possible and I can now do it. 

Last month I put in a few stitches on an Ella block. Now to put in a few more. Also, I have not posted in One Monthly Challenge for a long time. My plan is to get started on Stonefields and make some blocks. How many? I will start with one.

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: off-wall-friday. alyciaquilts.finish-or-not-froday 

Cruisin'

My daughter Melanie and I went on a Norwegian Cruise. We were brainstorming ideas back in November and when we realized that the MSC Poesia cruise ship docked in Oslo, we quickly decided that this was the one and I contacted Hanne to see if she was available mid May to get together. She was. So we did. It was more than great. 

Hanne's husband offered to be our chauffeur and took the day off work. He is easing into retirement. 

We did some touristy things then went back to their home to get the grand tour of Hanne's quilt room. I am so inspired! She does her little stitches with her morning coffee. What a great idea. Doing the stitching to start the day instead of trying to work in the 15 minutes later. 

Hanne has 68 completed Stonefields blocks. We know. Melanie counted them. She wants to finish it so will be joining Rebecca and Gretchen and me as we begin work on ours. Gretchen and I talked about making it together 9 years ago but did not begin then. I came home and pulled out the project box I had put together 10 years ago when I got my pattern. I must have added to the box, because it is quite full of promising soft prints and pastels. Lots of Mary Koval reproduction filler fabrics. Did I say lots? And I finally found the stash of reprodution shirting fabrics I bought lots of years ago. One yard cuts no less.

Since I have most of the fabrics in the box pre washed, I shall whack off a few peices of the shirtings and pre wash them also. I had precut "about" forty 6 1/2 inch squares of other shirtings and some solid creamy fabrics. I am ready to start. More than 20 years ago I bought most of a collection for a cause by Ro Gregg called Heaven Can Wait. There are fussy cutting options of cherubs and flowers. I do like flowers. I have 4 yards of the border fabric. And it is already pre washed. Yes. I do pre wash my fabrics. I like to get the sizing out and have a softer fabric for hand work. Will I be doing hand work? Not sure yet. I got a shot of cortesone in my right hand last month and it feels pretty good. Well, until it got caught between the hand rail and the bus door in Copenhagen. The bruise is almot gone. 

Blessings,

Chris

 

Rambling

Devan and I had a chat about possible quilt projects. She tells me she likes the Flowers for my Wedding Ring but thinks it would be easier to make the Bali Wedding Star. It has to do with the applique. So we pulled out a tutorial for a Jelly Roll Race quilt by Jordan Fabrics.

We may start here. It will have to wait until the end of the month. She likes the autumn coloured roll and the brown batik. So what does that mean for Gramma and her great ideas? The Quiltworx quilts will have to wait. For now. I am okay with that. 

I took all the geraniums outside for the summer. It had been raining for a couple of days. Great time to take them out so they can get all wet and hydrated before getting too much summer sun. That will come later. But where is my good new shovel to dig the holes? I finally found it put away nicely in the drive shed. But not where it had ever been before. Now it is on my porch, close at hand. Speaking of hands, mine are feeling pretty good right now. I will try my hands at pie making tonight. It is rhubarb season and we really like rhubarb custard meringue pie. 

I bought a Majestic Palm at the local grocery store last week. Couldn't pass that up. $22 and 7 feet tall. There were dozens to chose from so I took the tallest one. It looks amazing in the SonRoom. I have already repotted it since the roots were quite potbound. Some 50 years ago my Sweetie and I had gone to visit an elderly neighbour of his who was living with her daughter in a highrise apartment in town. It was her 97th birthday and we took her a handful of tiny pink wild flowers. She hugged them close and smelled them. They were called hipaticus. I had never met anyone so old before. I have known a lot of them since. Anyway, they had a Majestic Palm in the living room touching the ceiling. It intrigued me. I wanted one. Now I have one. Some things are worth waiting for. Now to keep the thing alive until I am 97.  

The consensus for my leader ender project is to start with Trail Mix. No Y-seams. No triangles. No curves. No designated background. I bought a new 60mm blade for my large cutter. Do they really cost $21 for one blade? And is it true that cutting paper dulls the blade? And I have never yet tried to cut through twelve, yes 12 layers of fabric at the same time. That is in the instructions on the Quiltworx pattern. Otherwise, I would have to print off more newsprint templates. So I bought a new blade. Actually, I bought not one but 2 new rotary cutters. Someone wrote about them so I checked them out. Amazon delivers to my SonRoom door quite regularly. I also ordered the Creative Grid Double Wedding Ring Template set. I have been watching various tutorials about the Quiltworx process. Good thing there are so many. I am learning how to read their patterns. No simple feat. I am learning how to prepare to get ready to start one of the quilts. It may take me a while to get out of the starting gate. But I will be ready when that time comes. 

I have a plane to catch Tues and have not yet started packing. Going on my first ever cruise. With my duaghter. To Norway. Plan on visiting with Hanne while we are there. And Katherine's, the only quilt store in Oslo, is walking distance from our hotel. How cool is that? And it is just as warm there as it is here so I will not be taking my winter coat after all. My computer will not download photos off my camera and I do not know how to get pictures off my phone to my blog. Another new thing for this Gramma to learn. But that is what keeps us going isn't it? 

Blessings,

Chris

New Leader Ender Projects

Omigosh by Sue Garman. I first saw this pattern at a quilt show more than 20 years ago. I wanted to make one. But then, I wanted to make one of everything I saw. Years ago, I found the pattern at Come Quilt but could not bring  myself to pay more for shipping than the whole pattern. Recently, I discovered the digital download.

During my surgery recovery I spent a lot of time reading. I read through several patterns. Complicated ones. I had to figure out the underlying pattern and understand the step by step process. Then, I had to decide what colourway I want to make this. That should have been easy - scrappy. But scrappy what? brights? reproductions? white background or cream background? Solids or prints? Do I follow the RSC colours? It all makes sense, sort of. 

My brain will not allow me to mix modern brights with muted repros. Even mixing solids and prints has me hesitating. I know. I don't have enough to do. 

Trail Mix. This is another scrappy pattern that will be great as a leader ender project. This one does not have a designated background. This may make it easier to decide on colours. I saw Gail's when I visited her last fall in Kansas City.                              Trail Mix free download  

I took time to read the pattern to figure it out also. Now, which one do I start on? Whichever one, I will have to take time to precut a lot of strips and pieces and do some organizing. Then there is what colour thread do I use? Probably cream will work for both. However, I am working on 2 fast precut quilts with shiny white backgrounds. Not posted about them yet. 

My right hand is paining so much less and I find myself typing so easily now. I even hunted up the weed digger tool and dug some weeds today.  

blessings,

Chris

Dreaming Again

I came across a great vlog recently by Karen Brown of Just Get it Done Quilts. It gave me ideas. So I started researching and dreaming.

I have been cleaning up and organizing the Blue Room. It was so dreadful. I was initially looking for the left over fabrics from my Cherries Quilt. It has been hand quilted by the mother of the couple that bought most of our cows a few years ago. It still needs to be bound. 

So I pulled out a kits box and had a good look at Jinny Beyers New Moon. I bought this kit 10 years ago on sale. I had really wanted to make the Moon Glow, but it was not on sale. Too bad since it would have had all the fabrics in the kit. So, the other day, I found a free pattern download. So, I did. I downloaded it. All 75 pages. Now I have more options to dream about. 

Jinny Beyer has you printing off countless papers for each unit. Lots of paper needed and ink. Make sure to print the original pattern at 100%. After that you can photo copy onto newsprint. I bought a whole ream on amazon a few years ago. 500 sheets. I wonder now it that will be enough.  How did we ever quilt without copiers and computers?

I also  have her Shenandoah Baskets kit that was the 2015 BOM from Craftsy. See what you get when you start sorting and seeing and organizing. Nothing simple about this one but it is really gorgeous. Did I ever mention I met Jinny in person in Australia when I was there 10 years ago? Forgot to take out my camera for a picture. I do that a lot. Forget. 

It appears that Devan likes this one better than the Bali Star. I have both patterns. Flowers for my Wedding Quilt. I will let her decide since she will be making it with me. She is a get at it and get 'er done kind of girl.  I was looking through a bag of batiks I bought a lot of years ago. Possibly 15-20? I may have a new plan for some of those.

I am now officially  intrigued by the Quiltworx patterns and process. I do like process. My usual practice is to research, track down, purchase and collect everything for a big project, put it in a box, then move on to something else.  

tutorial for fpp   more tips for quiltworks   reading the pattern

Thirteen year old Ellyse is at hockey with Daddy who referees. She is learning to be the time keeper. Seventeen year old Ava has a migraine so we cancelled our lunch out to our favourite secret place. And almost (next week) twelve year old Devan is in the kitchen making ice cream and doing laundry. Ran out of bath towels. It is spring time and raining so cannot do yard work today. And that is how I ended up having access to my own computer for a Saturday.

blessings,

Chris

Chookshed Challenge May 2025

I have been absent from blogging most of this year. Been a bit distracted with a trip to India, Breast reduction surgery and 11 weeks of treatment for a wound that did not heal quickly becuse of an infection. Time to get communicating again. 

Yesterday I had an appointment with a hand/wrist specialist that was booked nearly a year ago. I wanted another opinion.They put freezing in the palm of my hand just at the base of the bad finger. Then the cortisone directly into the joint. That did not hurt. Much. The swelling from that is almost all gone. Just a bit stiff in the finger. I can now use a butter knife and I tried pushing and pulling the needle and thread in one of my Ella blocks. The fingers are stiff, but there is no pain. These blocks have been waiting for over 3 years. The Chookshed Challenge number for May is 8 and that is Random on my list. What shall I work on? As soon as I announce what I plan to do, I change my mind a do something else. 

I have been dreaming again about starting a bunch of new quilts. I have discovered a new to me quilt shop about 1 1/2 hours from here that has retreats and workshops for the Quiltworx Judy Neimyer amazing patterns. I have the Bali Wedding Star I bought a lot of years ago with pattern and all the papers. I went hunting through my many project boxes looking for the Batik jelly rolls I bought from Craftsy back in 2011? And some yardage at a half price sale.

My research shows lots of different colour options. And custom quilting. I wonder if I could machine quilt as you go? I have lots of time to obsess about that since I have not yet decided to start. 

I have gotten new square project boxes to organize all the papers when I start cutting them out. That is something I could do if we zoom with Chooky tomorrow night. Hhmm?

These were for the Bali Wedding Star. I asked almost 12 year old Devan if she liked the pattern enough to spend the next 5 years helping me make it. Maybe.

I found a tutorial to make the thing so I saved it here .

I want to be able to find it again easily. 

I have a quilt retreat here at the farm the last week of May. My quilting friends from Cornwall will be driving up for the week. My friend Robynne said she would give me her Cattails in the Meadow kit. Pattern and papers. And now, suddenly, I may or may not be in advanced Quiltworx school. Am I ready for this? Come back later this month to see if I remembered to pursue it.

I am off on a Norwegian Cruise with my daughter and plan to take along my Ella applique blocks. Will I finish all 5? I hope so. 

 

Blessings,

Chris

Boob Job

Where has Chris been the past 2 months? All the plans and goals and good intentions. After returning home from India and jet lag recovery, I got a phone call the beginning of February telling me that after 4 years of waiting, I had been approved for breast reduction surgery and surprise-surprise - there was a cancellation and I could have the surgery on Thurs. Do I want it? I took about 3 seconds to consider and said yes. So - the past 10 weeks have been taken up with pre-op, op and post op. Well, post op really meant driving into town nearly every day to the nurses clinic to have the dressings changed. There had been an infection and 4 weeks of antibiotics, nausea, constipation, no dairy, no sitting in the sun, no lifting my arms, getting help combing my hair and dressing, no showers. I did go to a local hair salon to get my hair shampooed. That was nice. 

Turns out, the infection caused a wound that did not heal and so then yet another 4 weeks of carting around a VAC unit plugged into my left breast. I got to shower 2 hours before having it changed every 3 days, driving into town. Freedom came last week when the wound healed up enough to stop the VAC treatment and now just change the dressings every 2-3 days. This for another 2-3 weeks.

I do not play computer games any more nor do I watch more than 1-2 hours of TV per month. Sad. I know. I have been thoroughly enjoying hanging out in the SonRoom sitting around, feet up, watching the sun rise and watching it set, and reading. Reading a lot. Nearly a book a day. Some of them kindle books. Lots of blog reading. Very little writing. All of this to say, I got about 10 minutes of sewing done. I am begining to start to feel a bit ambitious. But I know better than to plan too much activity.

I tracked down a copy of the Plan-It Day curriculum from my on-line writing group that I had done just before the first covid lock down. Was it really 5 years ago? This will be my writing goal for this month. To again work my way through the 30 pages of why I write. 

I have 3 book projects in the messy-first drafts stage piled up in all those storage boxes. Now to try to make sense out of all those hand written pages and make a plan to move them forward. 

In 2 weeks I have an appointment to see another specialist about my hands. I can write (a page or 2) and eat (but not use a knife) and type, but I cannot manipulate needle and thread. They may offer cortisone shots. I had a couple a year ago from another doctor. That lasted about a month. And my weight is down to the lowest in 20 years. That is nice.

Today it was warm enough to go outside and rake some of the flower beds. I made a deal with my husband. I would make piles appear (small ones) and he would make them disappear. We shall see. Oh. And no hot tub for at least another month. Looking forward to that. And the Norwegian cruise mid May with my daughter is ON. 

blessings, 

Chris

Mid Winter in Canada

I have come to the realization that in my many years of quilting and the countless quilts I have made and started, I have not made A.N.Y  for my grandchildren! How did that happen?? Other than a simple 9-patch baby quilt before Ava was born 17 years ago that all 3 girls used. And how did she get to be 17? And driving? And making plans for college? 

I did make David a pillowcase when he was sick with pneumonia a couple of months ago. But Jonathan was sick also and so was their dad. I did buy some special fabric when I was in Missouri in Oct. So now, I need to make quilts for my grandkids. There are 7 of them. I have several on the go that will be fine for the girls, but what about the boys? Not flowers or applique. No. Got to have cats and soccerballs. Oh, I do have the fabrics. Had them for at least a year. These are among the fast new quilts on my Chookshed Challenge list for this year. No Y-seams. No triangles. No curves. Just sayin'. Something fast. 

The boys came over for a New Year's Eve sleepover and I had Jonathan design this using 3 layer cakes. Then I sewed it together after I came home from India. 

 This is my new profile picture. And yes. I did climb up onto those rocks by myself. Sort of. Barefoot so I had good footing. It was a breezy day at the beach on the Bay of Bengal. We almost had lift off. 

That was an amazing trip. I hadn't been there for 6 years. Everything changes. All the time. But my passion for the people there has not. There were just 2 of us on this trip. We plan to return in October and do a women's conference. This is one of my favourite things in India. Speaking to women. Encouraging women. Praying for women. 

I did get to speak to pastors and their wives this trip. I spoke about how my Sweetie and I stayed married for 53 years. 

I took one quilty project along with me. I ironed several fabrics onto some wash-away applique sheets. We were just hanging out one afternoon and the boys offered to help. So they did. 

I had 3 pair of sharp scissors with me. Turns out that I had a 4th pair that got into my carry on bag and I had to give them up at security at the airport. Oops.

A trip to India is never complete without visiting our school. We were celebrating the senior class as they were getting ready to write their final exams and the junior class put on a party for them. It was so much fun. Including dancing and balloons. 

 I am in the process of booking a Norweigan cruise with my Daughter for mid May. That is going to be fun. I have never been on a cruise ship.  She has been on several and loves it. 

I am also planning a Quilting at the Farm retreat for the end of May. Everyone is invited. It should be warm by then and the sping flowers at their best. Right now we are in the middle of winter with lots of snow on the trees and ground. My Sweetie has pneumonia and I am reading lots and doing not much else. Never a dull moment here at the farm. 

The Chookshed Challenge number for Feb is 10 but my hands cannot handle the EPP for now so I will work on something else like start another new fast quilt. I have lots of charm packs ready to sew together for a Dis-appearing 9-Patch for David. Now that I have started doing these without using pins or clips, I may as well get a few more made. They don't even have to be pressed until the very end. 

Blessings,

Chris