April 2018 Goals

I belong to several (18) facebook groups. Most of them are quilting groups.

 One of them is for the 1718 Coverlet that was made in 1718 a mere 300 years ago. There is a bit of a stir going on in the UK commemorating this amazing needlework which is the oldest known quilt in existence in the UK. I started mine on a whim 3 years ago after visiting my sister in England just as the pattern book was released. There have been numerous posting on the facebook group of completed and wannabes. I did not add this to my 12 ufos in 2018 but I think I might just do that.
Actually, I was looking for a blog post that had "gold" in it for Val's Tuesday Archives and this popped up.
 I have no intentions of trying to complete the thing this year or next, but I did pull the box out and revisited some of the completed blocks. I count 16. It appears that I took time to organize fabrics and cut out some freezer paper templates for the first 3 rows.

The RSC colour for April is yellow and gold. So, I decided it was time for Bright Jane to come out to play since winter is over. These are the yellow blocks I did not make last year. No idea how many I will make this year. Just in case, I pre-washed some more background and cut lots more strips and squares so I am ready.

 In the meantime, I am packing my bags to go to the Shipshewana Retreat  next week. I have been looking forward to this all winter when I get to play with my quilting friends for a whole week. Well, almost. We leave here early Tues morning and return the following Monday. It is a 7 hour drive each way. I am driving. I will buy chocolate to munch on. I have only 3 project boxes packed and ready to go. There will be 2 others with me and my stuff in my car so I am planning to go light.

1. I will be doing some more foundation piecing for my Morrell. I had all the fabric strips cut and the foundation papers cut and ready to go a few months ago. So I only had to put them in a project box. I have new insights to Broderie Perse applique, both by hand and machine. Some of these blocks will have flowers and birds stitched down with a narrow blanket stitch by machine. 

2. My Bernina is in for servicing before I start the machine applique on the Huguenot Friendship Quilt. I hope it gets back in time.

 I bought this on impulse (no surprise) when I saw an ad pop up on facebook. (I really need to stay away from there.)

This is a pre-fused kit and I have all 36 blocks arranged and pressed onto background squares. I am considering using a simple straight stitch with silk thread to match. I will test it out on some scraps first.

3. I have many strips cut to make up all the sashing and cornerstones for Dear Daughter. This is the newest block of the month from sentimentalstitches. 

This will be my hand stitching project for this month. The April blocks have been released and I have them all prepped and ready to hand applique. None of those in the picture are stitched down yet. 

My one-monthly-goal for April will be to make all the sashing and corner stone units for Dear Daughter AND complete the hand applique on the first 8 blocks. This should be doable since I have quite a few prepped already and will be Slow Sunday Stitching for a few minutes before all the grand children come for a sleepover at the FARM. There is no school on Monday and there will be no me time for the rest of the week.

Blessings,
Chris 

Needle Turned Hand Applique and a UFO

My goodness!!! Is it March already? How the time flies when we are having fun. It flies when we are busy too. Actually, it just keeps ticking away one second at a time regardless of what we are doing. I was away twice this week and got substantial progress on 3 of my BTCT blocks.

This bud or whatever you want to call it was supposed to be red on top of yellow like in the original. It was a bit challenging to figure out the sequence but I got it and it does look good. But then, the bottom of that one leaf missed getting tucked inside the wreath. That will be easy enough to fix.

More buds with reverse applique. I think that was the easiest part once I got to there. I made a small cut in the middle and stitched that first then did the ones on each side. I think I like the feel of turning the fabric in with the needle in this way better than from the outside.

This block is similar to the one above and simpler. I still have a few buds to add. I took my whole stitching box with me but forgot to check for bits of red or cream fabrics. I had lots of green.

Now, what more can I say about this block. That red marker will never come out. Dear Baby David got it on his shirt that day and his mom could not wash it out. So, there will be a little red bird. Soon. I also noticed a bit of red marker in the bottom left corner. It will depend on how much gets trimmed away when I square up the block.

The patchworktimes - 2018-ufo-challenge  ufo number for March is 8 and that is doable. Shades of Pemberly. I started this one in 2006 at a local quilt shop but it was one of 5 that I started that year and 1 of 4 that are still on my ufo list.

I have to decide pretty quickly if I will add some borders to this or not. Jane and Cassandra Austin had a lot of 70 degree diamonds surrounding theirs. I will think about it only until I have the top complete. It really should have something more. But what?  Stay tuned. I will post about it at the end of the month. And the picture is upsidedown.

Blessings,
Chris

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End of February 2018

We are at the end of another month. I did complete my OMG goal but not the 12 ufos for 2018. My plan was to machine quilt the 1857 Album Quilt. I got it layered and ready to go but then layered the Dear Jane Quilt while I had the 2 big tables together and had room. The next step was to dust off the machine, put in a new needle and test the tension. On the first try the top thread was too loose so I tightened it. Then tightened it again. I did samples for both. My intent was to begin some free motion quilting on the 1857 quilt but discovered that the feed dogs on my Brother would not drop. Sigh.
So move to plan B. I put in the walking foot and tested the tension on the Dear Jane sample and it was perfect. On the sample. When I moved the whole quilt under the needle and started to quilt, I found that instead of the 6 stitches to the inch I was expecting, I had about 60. The machine was not advancing the quilt. I thought about taking the machine in for servicing, but I did that a year ago when I was quilting up those 5 quilts that I took to Poland. I ended up using the Bernina for all of them. I had not used it all year except to assemble the 1857 quilt. I did not need the feed dogs for that so did not notice then.

So, I shall move the Bernina to the craft table here and get testing the tension. I still have 5 days this month but the little girls are coming over for the weekend and we all know how much work I will get done. Actually, my plan is to get them to help empty out the kitchen cupboards and read expiry dates and help me reorganize the cupboards after they are washed out. After all, I have 3 beautiful granddaughters who are all a bit OCD. Well, maybe more than a bit. The middle one is very thorough with a cleaning cloth. And the oldest knows how to read both in English and French. And the youngest is the most  . . .  Wait until she discovers that I have popcorn in that cupboard. She knows how to make it herself but always asks first. And there are several cake mixes. They all like making those.

Again, I did not get any RSC blocks made this month even though I have the fabric and foundation patterns ready to go. One thing that I did do was go through the box of kits for the Antique Wedding Sampler (AWS). I was looking for something in the fabric cupboard upstairs yesterday and ended up bringing the box down. I have been thinking about what I will take with me to the Shipshewana Retreat in April. I am going with a high school friend who also quilts. I spent a couple of hours photo copying insane small pieces for all the compass - star burst designs for several blocks onto heavy duty freezer paper. I am planning to do some EPP. At least that is the plan for now. I took the box back upstairs. Now I remember what I was looking for. Some left over background fabric for the Dear Jane quilt to use for a sample to test the tension. The little boys went home Wed night so I had an extra day to myself.

I have 27 / 36 blocks prepped for the Huguenot Friendship Quilt. Only 9 to go. I cannot be machine appliqueing and machine quilting or foundation piecing with the same machine on  3 quilts.

So I will put them all aside for a few days and get back to my hand applique. I prepped a few more buds and leaves and the bow on one of the blocks. I don't need a machine or big tables for this.

Maybe if I focus on just one of these blocks I could have something finished this month.

Blessings,
Chris

February Quilting Goals

I had a dream last night that I was binding a quilt

!!! . . . by hand . . . !!!

Haven't done that in so many years

I forget how far back. 

My Feb one-monthly-goal-february-goal-setting

plan

is to finally sandwich my first 

Dear Jane Quilt

and get it ready to hand quilt.

The patchworktimes 2018-ufo-challenge

number for Feb is 1 which is Serendipity

but I am working on that one monthly for the RSC.

So my focus will be to sandwich and

machine quilt the 1857 Album Quilt 

which is #2 on the list.

No promises that I will bind it by hand or machine.

This months RSC colour is purple

so Bright Jane might come out to play since

it is Feb and winter is half over. 

I am going away again this weekend 

so have 3 BTCT blocks prepped with more buds

and leaves

and 2 textbooks this time.

Blessings,

Chris

End of January 2018

I know it is not quite the end of the month yet, but I have 2 whole days to myself and I want to get caught up on a few things before the little boys return on Monday morning. We have spent the last 19 days in a row  together. Twice I made the journey home with them for the weekend and will again next week for another 11 days with the two most adorable little boy grand children.
David turned 2 and it was like a switch was flipped and he entered the next stage of his young life. His vocabulary is increasing daily and he uses almost full sentences. I adore his hugs and compassion.
Jonathan, at 3 1/2, has entered the delightful pre-school stage where he uses his words communicating his thoughts and has the most delightful laughs and giggles.
I got this simple foundation pieced 8 flying geese unit made for Serendipity and for my one-monthly-goal.

For patchworktimes 2018-ufo-challenge the nunber was 10 and that was Biblical Blocks 2.

Well. What can I say? 

I pulled it out and put it up on the design wall and made a list of what still needs to be done on it.

 It sat up on the wall for a week, then I put it back in the box and prepped 4 BTCT blocks

 because

I was going to be away for 2 weekends and needed some hand work. 

And since BTCT is on the list, this will be my offering for the challenge this month

so that I will still have 2 complete months to tackle the Biblical Blocks. 

Stitched down the one large yellow flower. 

Added the cream centers on the flowers and a few more leaves. 

The wreath is stitched on the outside and the inside still needs to be done. 

Finished the bowl. 

Will I go back and straighten the bottom? 

Who knows. 

Buds are back-basted in place and

I used the Go cutter to cut a few flowers. 

Again, I used the GO cutter to cut the flowers and centers. 

They will all be askew by the time I am done.

Some of the leaves are under the stems and

some are beside and others on top. 

And I have a new project for 

Meredith's 6 & 6 challenge.

More on this next time. 

Blessings,
Chris
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First OMG Goal for 2018

This is a tough one to decide. But first, I want to thank Patty for hosting this one-monthly-goal Linky Party. I won the $25 gift certificate from fatquartershop.  My first goal will be to decide how to spend it. They have sales all the time. Will it be fabric? precuts? thread? a new fabric collection? Decisions decisions.

In the meantime,
Rainbow Scrap Challenge colour for January is light blue.  There is no light blue in my Dear Jane 2 quilt and the lightest blue I can find that I have not already used for Serendipity is this Jinny Beyer Pallet colour, so I will only be making one row of eight 3 inch flying geese.

Also,
the 2018-ufo-challenge  number is 10 so I should be working on this Biblical Blocks quilt that I want to complete this year, but there is so much to do on it and I am just finishing day 2 of 5 days of little grandchildren sleepovers. The parents all have to work or be in school and the school kids are still on Christmas holidays.


I had intended to switch this month's pick with the 1857 album and I just might



since I have a flimsy!!!!!

But then,
I just realized that it is the 300th birthday of the 1718 Coverlet that I started 3 years ago.
www.facebook.com/1718coverlet/
Why did I stop? I went to Australia, and a bunch of other places and was away 70 days that year, and started the first blocks of the Antique Wedding Sampler, was working on the Ben Biggs, GORF, BTCT, and trying to finish CCCQ. Oh yes, I was sick at least 5 different times with a  bronchial thing, was applying revisions to my book and had a new grandchild.

And why did I not put it on my ufo list for 2018??? I can still change that. Or will I?

Even though I had 17 in for a turkey dinner yesterday, I still found time to look over some of my ufo challenges for the coming year including putting Serendipity up on the design wall to see what blocks still have to be made and what colours  I have to choose from. I also took a few minutes to put in a few hand applique stitches on 3 BTCT blocks I had prepped back in Nov. Don't get too excited. I did not do much house work ahead of time and they helped set the tables, peel potatoes, brought salads and desserts AND washed up most of the dishes. I put all the bones on to simmer overnight and set them on the snow covered porch to chill at 6:30 this morning when the first of 5 grand children got up and the pot is still there probably frozen solid with the deep winter freeze here the past couple of weeks. 

We are having all our employees (at least 10) and most of our grand kids for our annual Maplehurst Farms staff Christmas party here tomorrow night. We order in pizza and play Pictionary to recall highlights from the past year and it is a lot of fun. There are little Paw Patrol pups, Chinese checker pieces, green tractors and cracker crumbs all over the house but, since all our grand children are somewhat OCD, we can get them to do all the pick up, vacuuming and maybe dusting if I remember to pull out the disposable duster thingies. My grandsons LOVE to vacuum and dust and the little girls are really over the top organizers. I could learn a thing or two from them. I can bribe reward them with pizza. 

So, yes, my OMG for this month will be to get that flying geese strip made for Serendipity. 

Blessings,

Chris

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17 ufos for 2017 Year End Achievements

I was delighted to take part in Meredithe's 17ufosin2017 challenge and did complete some quilts.

I wrote about 17 different quilts I was working on. You can see the original list here. 

Some I hadn't touched in years. I had a lot of fun pulling them out, putting them up on the design wall, photographing them and writing about them. I really enjoyed that. 

But this past year was a busy one with travel and mission trips

 then babysitting grandchildren so I did not work on all of them. 

I completed and quilted 4. 

I did nothing on 6.

That means I progressed on 7. 

That adds up. 

I sort of started only 3 by making a few blocks.

I have made my lists for 2018 by moving a few over from last year 

and finding a few others to work on for

6 & 6-for-2018-challenge-with-pomegranite

2018-ufo-challenge-with-patchwork-times.

This is what I am working on this week. 

I could have a flimsy before the end of the year. 

I so appreciate the space I have and the 8 foot tables that are easily moved around. 

Blessings, 

Chris

Final OMG Completion for 2017

My One Monthly Goal for December was to complete the 13 blocks with corner leaves to use for the borders of my 1857 Album Quilt. I out did myself this month. Not only did I complete these 13 blocks and cut them for the borders,

but I also made no less than 12 more blocks

bringing the total to 36. Several of these were started more than a year and a half ago but they are all complete now. I still need to do a bit of embroidery to finish up a couple then comes the fun part of assembling the top as a whole. I will rearrange some of the blocks to balance out the circles and I want each of the corner leaves to be different. I can get the little girls to help.

 

Now its time to change gears and start looking forward to the Rainbow scrap challenge block colour for January and Gay at sentimental stitches has something new up her sleeve for 2018. Can hardly wait. I wonder what colour I will choose? And what number for the 12 ufos for 2018 challenge. I will try to be patient.

New Year's blessings,
Chris

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2018 UFO Challenge With Patchwork Times

I like a challenge and patchworktimes has a ufo challenge for 2018.  You choose 12 unfinished projects to work on for the year. I suppose it is similar to pomegranate and chintz 17-ufos-in-2017 except they will tell you which number on the list to work on each month.  (I was a bit hasty making this list and plan to revise it slightly)

1. Serendipity   (I might work on some Bright Jane blocks each month like I did in 2017)

   

    BOM from  Sentimental Stitches 2012.
   The plan is to do the RSC each month to complete the remaining blocks then assemble it to flimsy status.

2. 1857 Album Quilt  

   

   Another BOM from Sentimental Stitches 2016-17. 
   I have 12 blocks to complete then I want to assemble it and machine quilt it. 

3. Ben Biggs Wedding Quilt  

   

   Yet another BOM from Sentimental Stitches. There seems to be a pattern here.
   I will be happy to get a few more of the 25 blocks made. This one is machine appliqued. 

4. 150 Canadian Women (I plan to move this one to the 6 & 6 New quilts list since I only have 10 of 150 blocks made and started it in 2017 so it really is more a work in progress than a ufo. I will give Ben Biggs a second month since there is so much more work to be done in it.)
5. Bally Hall Birds (This is another I am moving to the 6 & 6 list since I have  yet to put in a stitch because I just started it. I will work on my Morrell Sampler here instead.)
6. Disappearing 9-Patch 

   

   Made this several years ago. Just needs a border and I can practice some rule work with my machine quilting.

7. Disappearing 4-Patch
8. Shades of Pemberly

   

   Lots of 70 degree triangles to connect then machine quilt this one started more than 10 years ago. 

9. Biblical Blocks 2

   

   Started this one in 2004. Most of the hard work is done except removing all the freezer papers behind the applique. 

10. Biblical Blocks 2 (I am taking 2 months with this one because I really want to complete it including machine quilting.)
11. 1718 Coverlet. 

    

    Started 2015 and made about 16 blocks. 

     
12. Birdy Wreath (Another that I am moving to the 6 & 6 New list. I started it at a retreat in Nov. I guess I will put Beyond the Cherry Trees here. The plan will be to complete the last 7 of 25 eighteen inch hand applique blocks.)

    

    This will be the center block of something in the future. Started it at the Shipshewana Retreat. 

Wish me luck. It will be a surprise each month which number is picked. I will do a blog post at the end of each month to show my progress. 

Blessings,

Chris