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