End of May 2018 Progress

A Heart a Day for the Month of May

I have been enjoying  hand appliqueing hearts onto these 4 inch squares.
This challenge came from Deb at Happy to be Scrappy
I missed one day but have caught up. Have no idea where this will lead,
but it has been an interesting lesson in slowing down and doing one small thing consistently.
 I decided that if I do it in the morning it is enjoyable, but, if I leave it until night, it becomes something that HAS to be done and is no longer fun. There are still 6 to stitch.
This is one of my new 6 & 6 for 2018 Challenge.

Bright Jane

This one came out to play this spring and the  superscrappy RSC  colour for May has been pink/rose.
 I am using one of my Featherweights. I have been doing foundation piecing on the blocks this past year because I have all the foundation patterns prepared and printed onto Carol Doak's special paper left over from my first Dear Jane quilt that I completed in 2014 but am still machine quilting.
And
I added sashing strips to the right side and bottoms of most of the finished blocks
in preparation to assemble the top some day.
The blocks are 4 1/2 inches. There will be 169.

I had all 60 completed blocks and the bright border flags up on the design wall and asked the little boys to take them down and put them into project boxes. They could not reach the top row even on the 3-step stool. But I have new converts to play with my blocks.
 Jonathan had walked into the quilt room and exclaimed "WOW!" when he saw them. 

David had not noticed but came and gave me hugs and kisses first.

Dear Daughter

My OMG one-monthly-goal for May was to complete the hand applique on 4 blocks and add the sashing and cornerstones. I was ahead since I made several extra donuts and 3 alternate blocks. Next month there will be a couple of flower blocks. I intend to make the easier ones and skip the more intricate if I can. But then there will be 2 bird blocks in November and I am looking forward to making them. These blocks finish at 8 inches and the sashing is 3 inches.

Huguenot Friendship Quilt

After sewing on the Dear Daughter sashing and cornerstones, I changed the thread to red silk and continued machine appliqueing these blocks with a fine straight stitch using the Bernina.
 It is really boring but this is an impulse project and I work on it between other things.
It will get exciting again when I can put the border together after
all the blocks are complete and the center assembled.
These 36 blocks will be 8 inches set on point with alternate white squares and setting triangles
with an applique border.

Antique Wedding Sampler

For some crazy reason, I pulled out the kits I purchased from Homestead Hearth 2-3 years ago and started working on just one block. Then, since I was prepping corner appliques for one, it was easy to prep them for 2 others, so I did. I had photocopied the patterns onto extra heavy freezer paper and cut out the diamonds and triangles for 3 sunflower blocks when I was in Shipshewana in April.
I stitched these together by hand using an English paper piecing technique.
 Still not decided if I like doing this or not.
These blocks are 12 inches. There will be 25 of them set on point.

Morrell

Yes. I did work on 2 more Morrell blocks. And I completed them.

All 105 pieces of the 3 Flying Geese units.
 I still have several more blocks that I had prepped ready to foundation piece
a couple of years ago. There will be 60 ten inch blocks and
a 20 inch center block.
Someday.

90 Day One Big Thing

I completed one course for my Doctorate in Christian Counseling
and submitted it. 

I continued working on another only to discover that,
where I thought I was close to the end, there were still no less than 12 more books to read
and
an entire 12 week study to work my way through.
 Sigh.
Oh well. It will be a good foundation for my dissertation.
Good thing I bought all the books when I first started it 2 years ago.
This course is about bringing healing to broken women.

And all this because I stopped playing computer games.
 Imagine that. 

Blessings,
Chris

linking to 

lovelaughquilt  main-crush-monday   mid week makers  BOMs Away  let's bee social  needle-and-thread-thursday  can I get a whoop-   needleandthreadnetwork     wips-be-gone  esther aliu's WOW  slow sunday stitching

New for 6 & 6 in 2018

I was not planning on starting a new quilt this month.

But the ad popped up late one Wed night on facebook

moments after it had been posted 

and I suddenly became the new owner of 

an 1850s reproduction quilt kit. 

This one is laser cut so no choosing fabrics 

no cutting endless little pieces.

Just peel off the backing

position on the background square

press and

a square is born.

I have 16 of 36 blocks pressed on

for the Huguenot Friendship BOM

from the Triplett Sisters. 

Now the decision as to how to secure these babies. 

Some of the stems are so skinny. 

I am thinking about a straight stitch

 machine applique with silk thread. 

Blessings,

Chris

6and6in2018-january  

DrEAMi

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
Linking with    one-monthly-goal  lovelaughquilt  mid week makers  BOMs Away  let's bee social  needle-and-thread-thursday  can I get a whoop-whoop  slow sunday stitching  needleandthreadnetwork   patchworktimes 2018-ufo-challenge  pomegranateandchintz 2018-challenge/  

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

Linking with    one-monthly-goal  lovelaughquilt  mid week makers  BOMs Away  let's bee social  needle-and-thread-thursday  can I get a whoop-whoop  slow sunday stitching  needleandthreadnetwork  esther's WOW   patchworktimes 2018-ufo-challenge  pomegranateandchintz 2018-challenge/  

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