What's Next?

It is the beginning of November and wonderful adventures. I flew out to Kansas City Missoura last week to visit my quilt blogging buddy Gail who I met in person last year at Scrub Stitching in Australia. We have been zoom friends for about 4 years. 

She took me to an amazing quilt shop that just had a gzillion new bolts of reproduction. I only had a carryon bag. And we went to Angela Walters shop. That is worthy of a post of its own.

When she asked if I wanted to go to Hamilton, to visit the Missouri Star Quilts well, I just had to say yes. After all, I live in Hamilton, Ontario Canada. We traipesed our way through 14 of the 15 shops. I chose to skip the wool shop. 

It was an amazing 86 F. Not bad, considering we were having daily morning frost back home that week.

It was a quilting kind of visit so I took along 17 Churn Dash blocks to finish sewing together. I had all the hard part done. Just had to sew all the units together. I brought them home and put them all on the big design wall and here they are. Somehow I goofed in the math and made one too many with the white center. So now to locate the rest of the bits and make one more with a coloured center. After that, I can sew them altogether and have a flimsy. 

This is the end of the 2024 chookshed Challenge. I managed to move forward most of the quilts on my list. All except the one I did not want to work on. Serendipity. So, since I did not want to work on it, I pulled out all the project boxes, the pattern binder holding all 100 blocks, and I organized what I still had to do and printed off a couple of FPP papers and now have it ready to focus on the next time I do not want to work on it. I have been playing around with a list for 2025. 

The Chookshed Challenge has us focus on 10 projects, including starting a new one if we want. Well, I want. I want to start at least 7 new quilts. So, I wrote up a list and itemized everything that has to be done in order to be ready to start. That is a lot to do. Before I actually start. Then, because I was challenged to close a few loops, (been reading Redeeming Your Time by J Raynor), I made a brand new list of all the ufo's in my cupboard and alphabetized them in a small notebook, then jotted down all the steps that need doing and some thoughts about moving them forward. I put a 2026 date on several that can wait. 

I have often joined a finish it up challenge with different bloggers hoping to move quilts to the finish line. I do not work well with that kind of pressure. I want to enjoy my quilting, not feel like a failure when I do not. I do have a complete finish I am dying to share but need a couple of tall helpers to photograph the thing. Outside. In the autumn colourfulness. Soon.

I had the second writing workshop here this past Sat and am so excited to now have 10 women who want to write their stories. We will meet again at the end of November to learn how to write a "scene". We all know how to make a scene, well, at least I do. I have had lots of practice. But to write a scene - new learning curve.

My November writing goals are to write something, anything, every single day. Today I have written my morning Pages and the rest of this blog post. Now to document this on one of my tracking sheets. I have several. For writing and for quilting. 

My November OMG quilting goal will be to complete that Churn Dash flimsy. And any other machine sewing I manage to get done. 

Blessings,

Chris

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To-Do Tuesday Oct 2024

I have posted my WIPS-B-GONE list for the next 2 months. I have been sewing in the SonRoom off and on for the past few months. As long as I do not try to do too much, I can make slow progress. Hand work is not possible these days and those wonderful Wonderclips are just too hard on my hands. 

My quilting To-Do Tuesday list for this week is:

1. Churn Dash - sew up the prepped blocks. Not sure how many there. This is my Chookshed Challenge project.  
2. Put them all up on the big design wall and take pictures. 
3. Press the Wedding Quilt and make a start on those mitered corners.
   
   I had the whole thing out last week to see what to do. There are 3 borders sewn on that will be mitered all at the same time. The last 2 quilts I made with this pattern were mitered on border at a time. and what am I thinking? I have yet another Jinny Beyer border print quilt sitting on the sidelines waiting for me to start it. I will not be alone in that journey since I have 2 quilting friends making the same quilt from kits we bought on Craftsy back in 2015. No hurry. 
4. Blog more often. Life has settled down here on the farm into a nice rythym with the grandkids back in school. My Sweetie is the "Uber Eats" driver in the family. He makes breakfast for the girls and drives them to school 3-4 days a week and now also picks them up 2 nights a week since Elly is in rugby. That is a lot of driving. I did it all 2 weeks ago and am glad I do not have to do it all the time. Their dad started a new job a year ago and needs the help. Their school is 30 minutes from here. 

My OMG goal for October will be to have one completed flimsy ready for quilting. If I designate a specific one, you know I will work on the other one. 

Blessings,

Chris

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Chookshed Challenge Progress

This is as far as I am going with the Macaron Mystery Quilt for now. 

I have all the blocks made and all the sashing strips made and sewn together. I sewed the blocks and sashing together in diagonal rows. My thoughts are to add a 1 inch black border around the center, then a 3 inch border of the creamy background. Then frame the whole thing with that dark focus fabric. I am hoping to have enough for a 5 inch border. We shall see. 

This is the problem I ran into earlier. Those quarter square triangles on the outer triangle units are a bit big. That means the other half of those are all too small. So, I have to figure out how to grow the others so I can complete the rest of the triangle to fill in the outside edges. That is a problem for another day. 

I have a Writing Workshop here this Sat and I need to put away all my quilting toys from the SonRoom to make room for humans who want to learn how to write their stories. I am so excited! 

In the meantime, October will be the final month for the Chookshed Challenge. The last project on my original list is Serendipity and I just do not want to work on that one. Instead, I will work on the Churn Dash SAL Chooky challenged us with 2 years ago. I made a great start then put everything into a project box. I have it down here ready to pick up and play with next week. I am also taking part in Leanne's WIPS-B-GONE challenge. I will have a project list made up for Oct 1 and To-Do Tuesday. How is that for planning ahead? 

Blessings,

Chris

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Chookshed Challenge Sept 2024

This is as far as I got on the Macaron Mystery earlier this month when quilting friends joined me in a week of marathon quilting. Fortunatly, I only made these 4 blocks before realizing that I had sewn together too many of the snowball units. I have some unstitching to do. I wondered why I had certain bits left over. I had not downloaded the final month of assembling instructions so was just winging it. I do that a lot. I worked on bits of several projects. Just did not take pictures. This one is still on the big design wall I had moved into the SonRoom back in May for a retreat. I like it here. It will stay for now. Actually, I have a plan to use it end of October for a Writing Workshop I am organizing. 

I find critters - an entourage - following Devan around as she works on her projects. She likes to be in the same room with me. She had been away to camp twice during the summer and we have not seen so much of her as we have Ellyse who is playing rugby and needs to be here for practices. They only live here half time and it has been sparse with Ava, at 16, now working part time and just got her beginners so is driving.  

Have I mentioned here lately how much I love being in the new SonRoom? This is my writing space. I try to write first thing in the morning. I get to watch the morning sun play as it rises over the barn and trees to the east. This is facing west. In the evenings I get to watch it go down through the spruce trees. This is our first summer using this room. We have not had to use any air conditioning in here. I open windows when I come down and close them when it starts to warm up outside. Mornings have been as fresh as 10C and afternoons as warm as 32 lately. Two ceiling fans move enough air to make it comfortable. I like to write in silence without distraction. I now have Devan trained to do her thing in silence after the initial hug and I love you Gramma. 

I was looking for a particular bin of fabric I bought from Craftsy a hundred years ago and removed all the storage bins out of the tiny closet in the Blue Room. I have not been writing or sewing in here this summer and now you know why. I had to wait for help to put them back in because I ask for help a lot these days to do things. The pain in my hands has not improved. I am waiting for a referral for another opinion. In the meantime, I started seeing a new chiropractor and we are starting to make progress for the back pain. I have been unable to roll over. So much for getting down on the floor on my back to do stretching excersises. Just getting down then back up took me 20 minutes and not a few tears. 

So Devan helped me put back the boxes. This is what I was looking for. Of course, It was right near the bottom. This is fabric I collected to make Judy Neimeyer's Bali Wedding Star. I have the pattern. That was a fun challenge to locate. But I no longer want to make it. I also looked through every box to see what I have. I have a lot of fabric. I have a lot of half made projects neatly orgainzed with everything they need to make them. I also have several new projects I want to start. So I wrote up a list of steps needed to get ready to start them to see if I could fit them in somewhere between turning 90 and 100. Did I mention that I am flying out to Kansas City in October to visit Gail who offered to take me to Missouri Star Quilts? Of course we have to go since it is so close. 

The Chookshed Challenge number for Sept is #7. That is Serendipity on my list. I do not want to put in time pulling out and sorting through all the stuff and getting my head into it. I have done that so many times and keep putting it away. One of these days it will get done. I did buy the pattern to make the border. Sorry, Deana. I had the whole thing out when you were here in May, but put it all away again. I will instead, continue to work on the Macaron Mystery and see how much progress I can make once I fix my oops. After all, it is on the design wall front and center. I love the colours that are in it. 

For the record, I did a few minutes yesterday assembling Lucy units but had to stop. I had even considered using a curved needle. Nope. Not going to happen anytime soon. And, I did some sewing blocks together for the Summer Mystery. Just not finished it. It was too easy and I had too much time. 

In the meantime, I am planning to thoroughly enjoy the now cooler beginning of fall weather and spending some time outside. Actually, I was going to say, I am plotting out activities for the fall. But I do need to spend time outside. 

Until next time, 

Blessings

Chris\

linking with: smallquiltsanddollquilts.design-wall-monday-

August Chookshed Challenge and To-Do List

The number for August for the Chookshed Challenge was # 3 the EPP and permission to start a new project. But I don't want to do that just yet so will focus on the Summer 2021 QAL Mystery. I started no less than 3 new quilts that summer. I abandoned the Poppy's Garden for now since I did not like how it was looking from the getgo. The Macaron Mystery I have been working on in fits and starts this summer.  

The plan for now is to get the Summer QAL to a flimsy. All the blocks have been neatly piled together all this time. I will add a white border, since I already have the strips cut.

 And I may add a beigey border after that. It will finish a lap size but it will be finished. I hope. 

I have some quilting friends coming over throughout the week for a few days to do a Q@F Marathon. At least that is what I am calling it. 

I wrote up a To-Do at the beginning of the month and each week I keep changing the date since I have not checked off many of the boxes. This is what it looks like today:

1. Weeds - clean the peonie bed. 
2. Blog Post - doing it now. Wrote up a whole other post and it disappeared so I will have to try to remember what I wrote and do it again. It has to do with moving pictures.
3. Geraniums - deadhead - there are about 20 that I over wintered and have in flower pots around the house. I like doing it this way since I can move them around. 
4. Summer QAL - get to a flimsy.
5. Macaron Mystery - got the flying geese units squared up so now to sew them into couplets. 
6. Ella - cut setting triangels - figure out just what size to cut them.
7. Write Your Story Prep - going to start a new small group this fall with an all day workshop so need to get all the prep work done.
8. Get the SonRoom ready for my quilting friends to come and play. 

That's enough for this week. Now to get moving. 

Blessings,

Chris

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Summer Daze

Progress on the Macaron Mystery Quilt. The instruction are so thorough and I was careful to check off each step as I measured and cut. So going through each pile of pre cut peices, I had one bunch of squares left over I could not figure out so checked out the picture on the Meadow Mist sight and realized they went into the very center of the main blocks. 

Making flying geese units. I decided to use a variety of solids to match the focus fabric with the flowers and butterflies. 

There are 2 backgounds. Fun trying to keep them in order. 

Lots of HST and QST. 

It appears that I did not download the final assembly instructions. At least I cannot find them. That makes it so much more fun figuring it out for myself.

I may be awhile trimming all those flying geese units. Keeping them together for the past 4 years was sort of simple. But I did come out a few pieces short. They may be laying around somewhere to be found by accident when I am looking for something else. 

I have been looking at some quilter's storage. I do not sort by colour. I have put all the fabrics patterns and whatevers in a box for each project to make sure I had everything I was going to need to complete it. I do not make scrap quilts because I do not exactly have scraps. I have projects and I have collections. Many collections. I have often told myself that when I complete a quilt, then I will have all the scraps left over for scrap quilts. Maybe. But not just yet. 

Life here on the Farm has settled down to quiet days with lots of time to sit back and just be. We are always so busy doing that we forget to lean back and reflect on the goodness of God. 

blessings,

Chris

July 2024 Chookshed Challenge

 The number chosen for the Chookshed Challenge this month is #1 and that is the Macaron Mystery QAL.  I started this exactly 3 years ago to celebrate completing the Cherries Quilt. I found all the pieces. Some by accident when I was looking for a deck of cards yesterday. I did write on the challenge list to complete, quilt and bind this one. Considering my recent track record of stitching about twice each month for awhile, it will be interesting to see how far I get. 

To-Do-Tuesday list for this week:

1. Look through and organize all the pieces for Macaron Mystery.
2. Make a plan to progress. 
3. Progress.
4. Take pictures.
5. Post progress. 
6. Write something. 

That should be enough accountability for this week. The house has been full of family (8 last week, 24 yesterday, 9 today, 12 Thurs, one's flight got moved to Thurs, another 3 arrive on Friday, 5 leave next Mon, another leaves Tues, another returns and a mass exodus on Fri, leaving 3 if I did the math correctly). So, basically, family time at the farm and I am loving it. I do not have to feed them nor do I have to babysit any of them. 

We had a heat wave 2 weeks ago. It is not common for us to have 34C/93F temperatures here for more than a few days in the summer. And that is just what we had for about 3 days. It is fun to discover that the new SonRoom weathered this heat quite well. I turned off the floor heat and with the ceiling fans on medium, the temperature did not get over 75F in here. Had to remember to keep all the windows closed.  

My July OMG goal will be to have a completed top. Not sure which one it will be. I may surprise myself. 

Blessings,

Chris

To-Do Tues June 2024

 The Chookshed Challenge # for June is 10. This is Ella. For now, I have 41 blocks on the big design wall. We moved it into the SonRoon for the quilt retreat we had here a couple of weeks ago. That was a lot of fun. Deana from Dreamworthy Quilts and her husband Jim flew in for a few days. My Sweetie kept him entertained driving tractors and other fun farmer stuff and thus, kept out of the quilt room. Some of the girls who used to come here quilting in years past joined us in person and others virutally. We plan to do it again mid Aug. If anyone is interested in joining us, let me know and we can pick you up at the airport. We have had practice doing that. 

For now, Ella has just 6 applique blocks that need to be completed. I originally was going to make 50 blocks, but 41 will work. This will stay up on the wall until those 6 are finished and the sashing sewn on. Then the conundrum of how will it be quilted runs rampant through my thoughts. No idea at this point. If I intend to machine quilt it myself, then I will have to hone my machine quilting skills. So I have been revisiting Angela Walters blog for inspiration. 

My To-Do Tuesday list this week is:

1. Pack my overnight bag for a weekend retreat I have been organizing for my mentoring women's group. 
2. Go to the retreat and enjoy myself. I will not be teaching this time. 
3. Plant those flowers and berries I bought last month that are still in their pots. Not sure where to put them. 
4. Put in a few hand applique stitches on the Ella blocks. This will be my June OMG. Everything I need is right here within reach. 
5. Continue to have fun and laugh. Laughing feels so good. 

Blessings,

Chris

Chookshed Challenge

 This is Lucy. 

Lucy and I spent some time together in March. 

Lots of time.

Lucy is teaching me about perseverance. 

About sticking to the task. 

I do not like to be told what to do. 

Some days Lucy lay in a heap on the table.

Other days we played and played. 

It is time for Lucy to take a vacation. 

Well, I am taking a vacation.

 Lucy will not be accompanying me.

And why?

Because my Sweetie and I are going to a family wedding in England.

Lucy takes too much room now that she is growing. 

Sarah Morrell wants to play this month. 

Will she join me? 

The challenge # for April is 9. 

That is Sarah Morrell's number. 

But I do not have any hand work prepped. 

Sigh. 

My to-do list for this week includes:

1. Finish emptying out anything that will move out of the living room to get ready to shampoo the carpet tomorrow. 
2. Bag up and donate the gzillion toys that were removed on the weekend. 
3. Load them into the car to drop off this afternoon.
4. Bag up the broken and discarded toys ready for garbage Friday.
5. Deal with the quatrillion ants in the SonRoom. 
6. Visit the location for our women's group retreat for June today and see just how many beds are available. There are 6 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. I know that. And a heated swimming pool. And a fireplace. And a double curved staircase. 
7. Remember to drop off the toys.
8. Then write up a packing list for my ladies. I already have the meal signup sheets printed. 
9. Order British currency at the bank.
10. Get travel insurance. It is much more now that we are over 70. 
11. Find something to wear to the wedding. We were told we could not wear jeans. You can see the venue here 
12. Work on just 2 Morrell blocks. That should satisfy the requirements for the challenge. Progress it is called. This will be my April OMG goal. 

That should keep me busy for a few days. There is an eclipse coming on Monday and my Sweetie is going to babysit the boys this Friday and is planning to stay over until Monday. That leaves me home for the weekend on my own (insert giggles and extreme brain activity). Whatever mischief  activities could I pursue? My Mentoring Women's group is meeting here for potluck on Sat afternoon and we will be wrapping up a book study we have been doing this winter. 

Blessings,

Chris

March 2024 Goal

 This is Lucy. 

Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses.

Lucy is relaxing laying in the sun

on the heated floor in the new SonRoom at the Farm. 

She is tired of relaxing and being in time out. 

So . . . 

 We are going to play together this month.

Yes. For the whole month. 

The Chookshed Challenge # is 4 and that is Lucy's number. 

A couple of cortizone shots in my hands last week

and I am ready to play also. 

Let's see how far we get. 

It is only 31 days

in a row. 

Can we play everyday?

 We shall see. 

Blessings,

Chris

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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

 

January 2024 OMG Goal

I have thought long and hard about what my January One Monthly Goal should be. I have not always remembered to post one and not always followed through to complete it. I decided to join the Chookshed Stitchers 2024 Challenge and I can combine the 2 goals together. Not an original idea but it works for me. 

My Challenge project is to work on Embroidery. I had this crazy idea to do some crazy patch embroidery. I have a book, I have several project bins filled with floss and silk ribbon and seed beads and other interesting things.

My OMG goal will be to sort through, organize and make a plan.  I actually have several books. This will be a year long project or longer, depending on the plan I come up with. 

We have had all the grand children and an exchange student here for the past week and off to a family wedding in New York later this week. It has been gloriously noisy and busy. This truly has been a Christmas to remember. 

linking with Kathy at Slow Sunday Stitching. 

blessings,

Chris

Chookshed Stitchers 2024 Challenge

 Here is my list of 10 specific stitching goals for 2024. I may tweak this list depending on what number is given for January.

1. Macaron Mystery - finish including machine quilting and binding
2. 150 Canadian Women - progress.
3. EPP - begin new project - got everything for Windermere in a project box ready to start. 
4. Lucy - progress 
5. New Zealand Kiwi Birds - make 24 blocks using the Tilda charms I bought in Australia.
6. Embroidery - begin a Crazy Patch - make at least 24 rows of stitches this year
7. Serendipity - progress
8. Summer QAL 2021 - finish including machine quilting and binding
9. Morrell - progress
10. Ella - progress  

Blessings

Chris