150 Canadian Women Update

I finally cleared off my tables, moved a few things, put a few things away, reorganized more things and dusted off one of the machines. Incredible amount of dust. And flies. Now dead flies. Interesting that they just come out of the woodwoork when the spring sun starts to shine.

 

My OMG, RSC, and Chookshed Challenge for February was to make progress on the 150 Canadian Women BOW from 2017 to commemorate Canada's 150th birthday. I had enough precut bits to sort out 17 blocks before I had to cut some more pieces. I preped about 24 then decided it was time to actually start sewing. And sewed I did. And I also unsewed. A lot. When I made more mistakes than correct seams, I decided it was time to call it done for this month. After all, what will I do next month? Deana will pull a number tomorrow night and then I can decide to do that project or, yet again, tweak my list and work on something else. 

Spring has arrived on our part of Canada. A bit too early for our liking. And the sun has been shining profusely. I think we had 3 major snow storms the entire winter. Yesterday was thunder showers and, you know, thunder. All that snow is gone. 

I am planning a Q@F Reunion Retreat for the end of May. We will be sewing for 3 whole days in the new SonRoom. 

After waiting for nearly a year to see a specialist, I finally got some cortizone shots in my hands to relieve the arthritic pain that has hindered my hand stitching. So, Lucy is back on the scene. 

My To-Do Tuesday list:

1. Blog post for To-Do Tuesday, OMG, RSC and Chookshed Challenge. 
2. Habit tracking - find the link and print off fresh sheets since my daughter's cat knocked over my water glass and soaked all my papers when I visited there last week. 
3. Change the March  challenge to something else since I have that option. Wonder what number will be announced tomorrow night?
4. Set my March OMG goal. 
5. Don't overdue the goal setting. 

Blessings,

Chris

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150 Canadian Women Revisited

The 150 Canadian Women was a weekly QAL from Kat Tucker to commemorate Canada's 150th birthday back in 2017. Three six inch block patterns were release weekly for a free downlaod. Each block has a story of a woman that made a significant impact on Canada as we know it in the 21st century. Stories  of women from over 300 years. Northcott released a collection of fabrics in red and white and black and even some tourquoise which I did not purchase. It just seemed wrong. Instead, I pulled a different collection from 2010 with our National Anthem and maple leaves. Surprizingly, I had most of the fabrics, patterns and already made blocks in a project bin just begging to be remembered.

And then I found one more labled box on the bookshelf with other neatly labled project stuff. I even had a couple of blocks with partly sewn units and the fabric needed to complete them. I must have had a lot of time to do all that sorting and organizing. Wonder why I stopped? The last time I worked on it was 3 years ago. Oh yes. Covid lockdown with all my family living here at the same time. Competing for table space with jigsaw puzzles.

So, I took time to sort through all the patterns only to discover that I had them all in order. The completed block patterns had been separated out. I had cut lots and lots of pieces with my GO Baby cutter to sort of speed things up. And today, since I had cleared off tables and and iron boards and machines, I sorted out the precuts into size piles. I have 4 backgrounds and 4 colours. There are more fabrics in the bin, but I am starting here. 

This is my project for February for OMG, RSC and the Chookshed Challenge. I wonder how many blocks I can make without having to cut any more pieces?  

blessings,

Chris

Chookshed Challenge February 2024

Deana picked #2 for the February Challenge. I made a list of 10 quilting projects to work on this year for the Chookshed Challenge. Last month I started in on some Crazy Patch Embroidery. That will continue throughout the year. This month's RSC colour is red so I thought I would again tweak my list and work on the 150 Canadian Women since all those blocks are red.

I have about 28 complete with a lot of pieces quick cut with my GO Baby cutter. I will pull out the project bin from the back of the bottom shelf of endless ufo and fabric boxes in the corner of my bedroom. No. I will not post a picture of that.  

I have been slowly, very slowly, stitching Lucy blocks together. My poor arthritic hands are not liking that so I thought maybe doing some machine work would be a good idea. 

This will be my OMG goal for Feb also. 

Blessings,

Chris

 

December 2020 OMG Goal

Last month I switched my focus to some of the 150 Canadian Women blocks. Those are all pieced so no applique to tire my hands. This month I plan to work on some of the pieced blocks for the Ella Maria Deacon BOM from sentimentalstitches.. This program started in Sept 2019 and I bought most of the patterns each month for half price as they were released. I plan to only make 50 of the 85 offered to commemorate our 50th wedding anniversary next August. I started appliqueing blocks in April. Some of them are extremely challenging and so satisfying. However, the stiffness and pain in my right hand continue to hinder me for now, so I will be machine piecing for a while. This month's OMG goal will be to get a few more Ella blocks made. No promises as to how many. Just a few. The blocks circled in green are the Nov blocks and the ones circled in pink are some that I will be making. I had considered only doing applique blocks and not the pieced ones, but at the rate I am going it will not be finished until my 60th anniversary and I do not want to wait that long.

I am working with colours I do not normally use. Softer colors like aqua and coral and creams and butter and chocolate. Now I am getting hungry. Back to work.  

Blessings,

Chris 

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November 2020 OMG Completion

My November one-monthly-goal was to complete at least twenty 150 Canadian Women blocks. Silly me. I did block 16 twice. I now have a total of 28. Only 122 more to go. 

We have snow and everything looks so white and cold. 

Blessings,

Chris

Friday Night Stitching with Friends in Australia on Sat Morning in Canada

 Some of us meet on Facebook Messenger to sew together on Sat mornings. I have been working on some the 150 Canadian Women blocks that were a block of the week project 4 years ago to celebrate Canada's 150 birthday. I started a Facebook group called Quilting @ Farm several years ago for the women who came out to the farm to learn to quilt. We usually got together Sat mornings. Seven of us took on the challenge to make the Dear Jane quilt. Mine is complete but not yet quilted. We often had small retreats. That was when the guest rooms were guest rooms and not family living in them. There are presently 10 of us living here. Well, most of the time. The 3 girl grandchildren go to their mom's half time. So it is only chaos part of the time. 

Last week I got 8 blocks made. So far this week I have made another 8. My OMG goal for this month is to have at least 20. Now to find the bin of patterns and precut pieces to put another 4 together. 

It's only noon so I have lots of day left to sew. 

Blessings,

Chris 

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November 2020 OMG Goal

I thought I would change things up a bit this month. I have been studying ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and the shoe fits. It helps to understand why I do the things I do and not do the things I do not do. Sometimes I just get bored with a particular project. Other times I am avoiding doing it. I moved my big desktop computer to one of my eight-foot tables and now have at least six feet of space to my left which allows me to spread out some of the projects I am working on. Not quilting projects, even though I have a bin nearby with the few applique blocks I prepped a couple of weeks ago. I have a different view above my computer. No longer the big window with the trees and cows outside. I have given my desk space to my son-in-law for his doctoral studies. So, even though I have been trying to get faster internet, I am still waiting. He needs access to the internet and that is here in my office/quilt room. And with the big monitor between us, we do not see each other, and less distraction. Well, for me anyway. He plugs in his earbuds and is in another world. He works in here 2-3 days a week. I have the small design wall and a different big window reflecting on my screen. Sometimes it is nice other times a glare of too much light. And the sun now shines (when it shines at all with all the rain ) on my right side through the third window. Also, I can see who comes into the room and they do see what I am doing and no more crossing the room when I am online in meetings. 

So what will my OMG goal be this month? 150 Canadian Women from 2017. The project has been revived by the originator as a block of the week. My plan is to sew up at least 20 blocks. I have that many cut out and prepped ready to sew up. It should not be too big a deal. There are no applique blocks to distract me. I have enough applique on the go already. 

November is NaNo month. What is NaNo you ask? National Amature Novel Writing Month. I plan to write every day and finally finally get a first draft of one of my books.  

In the meantime, I am still plugging away at my coursework. Getting closer to the end. 

Blessings,

Chris

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Slow Stitching and Fast Prepping

I took today to spend in my quilt room. Actually, this is also my office but my focus was on quilting. Kat at Next Step Designs a Canadian quilt shop in Calgary, is revamping the 150 Canadian Women BOW and I have decided to join in. 

This was a year-long quilt-a-long back in 2017 to commemorate Canada's 150 Birthday. I started it about halfway through but did not get too far. It turns out that she was using more than just 2 colours. I had quickly cut out lots of bits using my GO cutter but ran out of steam. 

So, today I cut a lot more bits from several different Canada themed fabrics and started to layout a whole bunch of blocks. I prepped about 20 blocks to stitch up another day. 

I have been plugging away at this Ella applique block. It is a bit fiddly the way I am doing it. I started with back-basting then changed it twice before doing a variety of techniques that make it fiddly. The petals overlap and I was challenged to find thread the right colour then find it again when I tidied up and could not find it. Twice. 

And, I am having trouble threading a needle these days. Okay. The thread I am using for that coral colour is quilting thread. But it matches. Just does not thread so nicely into my #10 milliners's needles. Good thing I got some more Bohin needles. They are my favourite. I will finish this up tomorrow while watching schurch online. 

I know I am supposed to be writing, but writing up a blog post IS writing too. 

Blessings,

Chris

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150 Canadian Women Rerun and Goal Setting

Quilt-A-Long

Next step quilt designs will be doing another quilt-a-long with the 150 Canadian Women project. You must have your own patterns to take part. I got all the patterns when they were free a few years ago when we celebrated Canada's150th Birthday. Since I had collected most of the patterns before I started it, I saw many of the blocks and decided to do a blitz cut out of many of the pieces with my GO cutter. However, I forgot that many of the blocks called for several colours. I had spent so much time making the tiny Dear Jane blocks in only one colour on a background, I forgot that some quilters use more than one colour in the same block. So that can be a goal for me to pull out the bin of fabrics and cut a bunch more pieces. I like the leader/enders, but have to realize that I need to be using the same colour thread for both projects. I am using a cream colour for this but white for the 3030 Quilt. Hmm. Too many decisions to be making this late at night.

It is 10 pm on a school night and most of the grandchildren are already in bed but not the eldest who is now in grade eight and wants 11 hours of sleep tonight as well as improving her math skills. The little boys moved into the trailer last night with their mom and cats. Dad will be arriving tomorrow after the movers move all their household stuff into storage until they figure out the next step. 

In the meantime, it is time to decide on my 90 Day One Big Thing Goal for my writing group. And since I started a new mentoring group this week, I have decided to have the same goal for both groups. I am mentoring a group of Christian women and goal setting is our focus this week. I set goals all the time, but do I attain them? I have accountability and since I am the leader here, I probably should set a good example and meet my goals. In order to accomplish my goals for this fall, I really need to let go of some things to free up how I use my time. That was the object lesson using a jar to fill up with the things I am doing. So, I plan to give up computer games. Remember I spent at least 100 of those hours playing them last month? 

So 100 hours per month for 3 months frees up 300 hours. And I was thinking that if I write for 1 hour a day (I was really thinking one page a day) then I should easily have a first draft by the middle of December. That is my logic. But the reality is, I do things in fits and starts, feast or famine, all or nothing. I have done way too much nothing for way too long. Now is as good a time as any to change. I have just been waiting for the school year to begin and life going back to some normal routines. 

Now I am the one needing to improve my math. One hundred hours a month is more like 3 hours per day. That's like getting an almost full-time job.

Maybe I am the one who should go to bed. 

Blessings,

Chris

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Everyone Needs a Week at a Quilt Retreat

It is hard to believe that the Shipshewana Quilt Retreat was a whole week ago. Where does the time go?  I had taken 5 projects to work on. I worked on 4 of them. I am such a dreamer and maybe a bit lacking in time management skills but we won't go there. At least not for now.

I took Almost Amish Irish Chain an old ufo to work on. It was supposed to be simple. I thought maybe 2 days to sew it together. But on day 3, Saturday, I realized that I was short on the tone on tone white background fabric so bought something similar and cut out the strips only to realize that I need yet more strips so back to the quilt shop. When I got home and continued to work on it, I found that I had cut many of the strips 3 x 7 instead of the required 3 x 8. So, I decided the finished size would be 84 x 84 before borders instead of 84 x 108. Now to sew all those blocks together before they fall off the wall or get mixed up.

I did get a bit of hand work done on one Beyond the Cherry Trees Block. I don't know why I did not do more hand work. The fact that I went shopping 5 times, had three 3 hour naps, went to the pool 4 times and talked half the night with my roommates, has nothing to do with that. At least I don't think it does.

I have yet to complete the insides of those 3 flowers and create 2 more. They will be challenging. But then, I always liked a challenged. At least that is what I have often said.

I will be working on this block and prepping the next one as my Slow Sunday Stitching project.


I used some of the red and white bits I had cut out with the GO Baby 2 years ago for the 150 Canadian Women BOW as leaders and enders. I did get 6 Morrell blocks machine appliqued. That was easy once I found the missing presser feet and bobbins. What I did not pull out to work on is the machine applique Huguenot Friendship Quilt Blocks. Maybe next retreat.

Oh, I also wrote a couple of chapters for SMOWJ. So the retreat was quite successful after all.

Blessings,
Chris

Spring and the Shipshewana Quilt Retreat

The quilt retreat in Shipshewana Indiana is fast approaching. It officially begins 2 weeks from tomorrow but we plan to arrive Monday April 8 in the afternoon for a whole week of time away from home responsibilities and little people. Not that I don't like spending time with little people, but this is a quilting retreat. It will be me-time for those of us going. The retreat was sold out weeks ago so it will be a full room of quilters quilting quilts. I have been considering what projects to take along and have narrowed the list down to 5.                                        

1. Beyond the Cherry Trees

I have been working on this hand applique sampler from 

sentimental stitches

on and off for nearly 5 years. It is on now. There are just 4 more of the 25 sixteen inch blocks left to complete. Then the borders. 

This is my hand applique project for this year. 

2.  Huguenot Friendship Quilt

This was an impulse purchase a year ago. All the blocks are laser cut fusible appliques that I arranged and pressed into place. I have some of them machine appliqued down but still many of the 36 blocks to go. It is on my 2019 ufo list. 

3. Morrell Sampler

There will be 60 ten inch blocks and a twenty inch center block. 

I have several more than these blocks fused and pressed onto background squares ready to machine applique in place. Hopefully I will get a few more arrangements made now that I have located some amazing chintz fabrics in my cupboard. 

4. Almost Amish Irish Chain 

This is another ufo I want to complete this year. 

I thought it would be a super simple project for the retreat since all the hard work is done and I only have to sew everything together. 

Not quite. I still have to prep the heart applique shapes and I plan to practice 

the turned-edge-with-starch method. 

5. 150 Canadian Women

This is not on my ufo list for this year but it lends itself well for a 

leader-ender project so that it will be. 

There are many of the 6 inch squares already cut out and ready for stitching just waiting for me to pay attention to it. 

 

I still have some machine quilting to do on Dear Daughter

 before we leave so I can take it for show and tell. 

I have not done much of any kind of quilting this past month. What I did do was look after  my wonderful little boy and little girl grandchildren. March Break ended up being one sick week. Literally. Seven of the 9 people here were sick with a stomach bug that lasted for 2 days each. Fortunately for me, the little children's parents were both here to tend to the details and clean ups. I remained healthy. What I did do, however, was read 7 of the 8 Anne of Green Gables books. I read the 8th one last month. I also reached level 1000 of Candy Crush. I decided to retire there. I have written several thousand words for my book SMOWJ and the research continues. Now to finish the machine quilting so I can start quilting the next one while everything is ready. Spring is here and little things are popping up in my flower beds and the lawn is beginning to look a bit green. 

Blessings, 

Chris

BTW Sun I woke up to 3 inches of snow. 

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April Goals

How do we choose which project to start next? I have been busy this past month completing several quilts and thoughts of starting at least five new quilts  have been dancing through my head. I could not give in to them because I was on a mission to complete quilts.  I had to use the Bernina since the Brother machine messed up  and then I broke the acrylic darning foot from the Bernina. Fortunately, I had a metal one that I used to finish the free motion quilting for my 17-ufosin-2017 challenge. This month I will be working on beyond-the-cherry-trees-album-quilt. I am packing my bags to go to Poland to visit my family for Easter. She is not well. At 91 that is no surprise. I am taking 9 year old Ava with me. I plan to take some hand applique with me and at least one text book.

I have the entire pattern packet for the Caswell quilt from sentimental stitches in a box with fabrics and shirting  backgrounds waiting.

I also have all ten months of Susan Smith's stonefields-quilt-block-of-the-month that I bought when I was in Australia two years ago.  I have an old collection of fabrics and various backgrounds ready in a project box waiting until I get back from Poland. These have been pre-washed because they were so wrinkly from sitting in a few boxes for years.

After I get home I am going to babysit the little boy grand children for four days and doubt I will get much stitching done. But who knows, I won't get any done if I do not prep some blocks and take them along,  

I see so many interesting patterns and projects  in blogland and am tempted by many of them. I have at least 80 blogs on my blog list. Most post weekly, some monthly. And some days when I am avoiding doing any real work I will wander off on rabbit trails and see what else is out there to see. I follow lots of blogs that are doing some of the same projects I am doing so I can get encouraged. But right now it seems that they are over whelming me with so many options.

I started talking about how we choose which quilt to make next. I am drooling over  the  150+Canadian+Women weekly quilt-a-long.

And I have  been collecting the patterns while they are free to make this tribute to Canadian women as we celebrate our 150 birthday as a nation. I have fabric. I bought some of the Northcott collection at Lens Mill Store when everything with red in it was 25% off. I like sales. I spend more than $200 on fabric that day. And I already had some in my cupboard with the Canadian national anthem and some with maple leaves. It is going to be a spectacular quilt. I am only 57 blocks behind. But I have a plan. I will pull out the GO cutter and some dies with one inch and one and a half inch options and blitz them.  They are all pieced with none appliqued. I like applique, but have enough of that in project boxes.

How do I choose which quilt to make next? I usually jump in impulsively and blitz it for a while. Starting quilts is so much fun, but I have tasted what it is like to complete not one but 4 quilts this past month. I could put off starting anything new for a whole month and complete another one or two. Maybe. But I have a plane to catch  Friday and  . . .  the power just went off . . .

It was off for a couple of hours so we went to bed really early since it was dark and very quiet. Eventually we heard the furnace come on so knew the power was back on. I have a family wedding to go to today and it is overcast and gloomy this morning, but the sun is supposed to come out this afternoon.

I do not have to worry about what I will start next since I do not have time this week which will be filled with appointments like dentist, massage, chiropractor and the little boy grandchildren are coming for a sleepover just before we leave. But I do have to decide what my omg-one-monthly-goal  will be for April. I will try to complete one, just one BTCT block. 

The RSC colour this month is multicolour. Since I am doing this challenge with my Bright Jane  and there are no multi colour fabrics I plan to make more aqua blocks since I prepped a whole bunch that did not get made in Feb. 

Come back at the end of the month to see how I did.

(I just received news that my 91 year old aunt passed away last  night so we go in sadness)

Blessings, 

Chris

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150 Canadian Women Quilt-a-long

I discovered this Canadian Quilt-a-long because I was reading blogs instead of doing homework. It sounds intriguing and I have signed up here for the patterns. They are free for 2 weeks then have to be purchased. I am already 2 weeks behind but that is normal for me. Three six inch patterns and a story about a Canadian woman each week. What a wonderful history lesson this can be for my granddaughters this winter! I think I will start in January since it runs for 50 weeks. That will make it an all year kind of project.

In the meantime, my slow stitching is back basting a few more layers on some applique blocks.

Oops. I guess I need to pay attention better. Linking with https://kathysquilts.blogspot.ca/  Esther's WOW
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Blessings,
Chris