Another To-Do Tuesday

 I cannot believe another Tuesday is here. Some days seem to go by so slow and when I look back, the week is gone and did I get anything done? Well, I did complete 9 of the 12 items on my to-do list last week. 

I got all the sashing strips sewn together with most of the cornerstones. I had to look for the rest but found them in a box of threads? They are the ones going down from the left to the right. 

I cut out the rest of the fabrics for the Macaron Mystery, sewed up half-square triangles, and started on the flying geese. Interruptions came when the girls returned after being away for 5 weeks. Over the Christmas holidays, they went vacationing to snowy Quebec with their father and when they had to do remote learning, they all went back to Quebec and did their school work and played in the snow. We finally had some lasting snow last week and the temperatures dipped to -20C. That is a bit chilly for this farm girl but I did get into the hot tub a couple of times at -14C. 

I made significant progress on Lucy during several zoom meetings. I have not yet sewn any blocks together, but there is a lot of prep work to do before that. Cutting the fabrics after choosing them. Basting the fabrics onto the paper pieces. Waiting while more paper pieces are shipped. I had cut a lot of white background from 2 1/2 inch squares I cut with the GO cutter. Trimming them to the one-inch elongated hexies was easy then. I want to avoid using glue so I can reuse the papers. I decided to use wonder clips to hold the corners in place before hand basting. This is working for me for now.

My list for this week:

1. Square up the Summer QAL blocks and sew them together.
2. Finish the 5 Ella blocks for OMG. What is the point of joining the group if I do not actually follow through on the challenge?  
3. Make one, just one Bright Jane block in January's RSC colour red. I have 10 red blocks to make to complete that colour. I wonder what the Feb colour will be? I have all the green and aqua blocks done, so I can do more red instead if one of those colours is chosen. If it is purple, it may be a while since I still have 19 more of those. Bright Jane is on my PHD 2022 challenge list. 
4. Virtual Writing Retreat on the weekend. This is when I set aside 2 whole days to join my online writing group and actually write instead of talking about writing and writing about writing and thinking about writing. I wonder what I will write? In the 2 years I have been part of Christian Book Academy, I mostly wrote blog posts and did coursework for my doctorate. Well, I completed the doctorate last year and graduated. So now I cannot use that as an excuse to finish writing my books. I have 3 on the go. 

This should be enough to keep me going this week. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: texasquiltgal.com/

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To-Do Tuesday

 Last week was quite successful in accomplishing many of my weekly goals. Even in the midst of changes. We ended up staying over a second night and brought the boys back to the farm very early so they could log into online school. Some serious cleaning and more declutter got done. Well, much of the clutter, already boxed up, got relocated out of sight leaving my old quilt room a happy place for the retreat I was hosting and teaching. We are limited to 5 people. Three showed up and we did some inductive Bible Study skills training. It was good. I certainly needed the refresher. I have taught this many times in many places but the first time in my quilt room. 

This week's To-Do list:

1. Sew up the rest of the sashing strips I cut today for the Ella quilt.
   
2. Attach the cornerstones making sure I get the one-way design on the strips going the right way alternately. 
3. Get them all up on the design wall in the right direction. 
4. Continue making the 5 Ella blocks for OMG. 
   
   
5. Cut the rest of the fabric for the Macaron Mystery. Clue #8 comes out on Feb 4 and I am still back on Clue # 2 or 3. 
6. Press, trim, square up and sew together the blocks for the Summer QAL.
   
   
   
   .
7. File T4 Summaries for the last time ever because we sold the cows and no longer have employees and we are doing taxes next week. 
8. Breast screening Tuesday
9. Massage Wednesday
10. Booster shot Thursday
11. Zoom quilting Friday and again Saturday.  
12. Spend a bit of time with Lucy. 
    
    
    
     

And why can I suddenly plan to be so productive this week? Because I decluttered the Old Quilt Room aka the parlour and home office and have 2 very large empty tables together where I presently have no less than 4 projects on the go. My brain can function better in less clutter. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: texasquiltgal./to-do-tuesday   smallquiltsanddollquilts.design-wall-monday

January 2022 OMG Goal

 I love making goals. I love making plans. I love making lists. I love dreaming about the possibilities. But I need some accountability to follow through on those goals and plans. When we canceled our plans for a 50th wedding anniversary celebration last April, I pretty much stopped working on the 50th Anniversary Quilt aka Ella. This is what it looked like the last time I put it up on the big design wall.

 

I want to get it complete. For my Jan OMG goal, I am aiming for completing at least 5 more foundation pieced blocks this month. I could also sew on more of the sashing strips. That would make it easier to put on the wall. But there is a directional design and I am trying to get all the little designs going in the correct direction. Maybe I could even sew on some of the brown cornerstones. I have them all cut out. Sitting in a box. Somewhere.

Blessings,

Chris 

linking with: katiemaequilts/boms-away-

Thread

 Can we ever have too much thread? Well, maybe not. I usually work on 3-4 different hand stitcheries at a time and pull out the threads I need and put them into a small project box. but I seldom return everything when I am done. Still have a few days to get my Dec OMG organizing done. 

I was looking for the perfect turquoise thread for an Ella Block before we left to spend the weekend with the little boys for Christmas and pulled out all these see-through containers looking for the thread I had used on the last block I stitched on who knows when since it was so long ago. In the end, I did no stitching but lots of snuggling and eating. 

Now to get ready to spend the afternoon with Chooky and friends on zoom and some Slow Stitching. 

Blessings,

Chris

Back Basting and Muffins

 My handwork for Slow Sunday Stitching. 

The retired framer made potato leek soup earlier this week and banana muffins last night. I think it will be fun to have him around the house more.

Blessings,

Chris

More Ella Blocks

 I had intended to sew up the last of the foundation pieced Ella blocks way back in June. 

I copied the foundation patterns from the downloads that I purchased monthly for half price. Four blocks a month for 21 months at $2.50 USD. But I am only making 50 of them.

And Yes, I made a royal mess more than once choosing fabrics for these blocks. I was determined to not use turkey red, chrome yellow, and poison gree. I chose my pallet from the Sussanah Scraps collection by Betsy Cutchian from Moda. 

I redrafted a few on EQ7 and was able to save and print them before whatever happened happened that I cannot find my files. 

During some of the online quilt meetings I took part in, I cut out the units and the fabrics. I decided that saving them into individual file folders would keep them together and save losing them like I am prone to do. 

I even tried sewing some of the units together, but realize that I cannot talk and sew at the same time and not make mistakes. Speaking of sewing mistakes, 8-year-old Elly has learned to use the seam ripper very well without even being told she has a mistake or crooked seam. Got to love OCD grandchildren. More on her new quilt another day. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: smallquiltsanddollquilts.design-wall-monday

Hand Stitching for Today

 It is Sunday and very quiet here this morning so far. I have been up for about an hour and a half and wrote my Morning pages. What is that you may ask? Come back later this week and I will tell you. 

I was looking through my Ella project box looking for something to stitch by hand since it is the day we slow down and do Slow Stitching. 

Here is what I found. 

 Five blocks started and not completed. Three of them were partly stitched back in the spring and are just waiting for me to do some more back basting. Somewhere along the line, I placed each of the blocks and the extra fabrics in file folders to keep them nice and flat and together. One of the things that slow me down is continual rummaging through the fabrics and creating a mess. Now I know how to make a mess, but I am trying to get more organized so I can be more productive. 

I wonder how much progress I will make today?

Blessings,

Chris

No New Quilt Starts (Maybe)

 I am seriously considering no new quilt starts for 2022. I managed to go 2 whole years between starts back in 2018-2020. I was determined to complete the Cherries Quilt. In that time I also completed the 1857 Album and the Dear Daugther Sampler. 

Well, that is not entirely true. I started Dear Daughter in March of 2018. Then nothing new until Ella Maria Deacon in April 2020. So I actually went only a whole year without starting something. 

But what if Gay at Sentimental Stitches comes out with the reproduction of a certain applique quilt she showed us at one of the Shipshewana Retreats? I will have to decide. She has revealed 2 new quilt-a-longs so far in 2022.

potluck-block-of-the-week

This one has many blocks that I have already made in other samplers. But it is in 30s fabrics and I have so many. But then, I still have The 3030 Sampler on the go.  

little-blocks-365

She is offering a repeat of The Little Blocks 365. I did not start that one. I am already making some of those patterns in 4.5 inches to complete the Bright Jane quilt that has been languishing in a project box for years. I started that one in Sept 2014. That will be on my ufo completion list for the coming year. 

 uptown-applique-block-of-the-month

This one is truly unique. 

I don't have to decide today now do I?  

AND, bless her heart, Gay is considering extending the retreat for 2 more days !!!!! So, a whole WEEK of retreat quilting. I'd better get planning.

Blessings,

Chris

Sunday Slow Stitching

 I will be doing some needle-turned hand applique on this Ella Maria Deacon block. I started it around April. It is time to complete it. 

Linking up with Kathy at Slow Sunday Stitching. 
Blessings,

Chris

October 2021 OMG Goal

 My OMG goal for October will be to Quilt for 15 minutes almost every day. I have to leave a bit of leeway. This way I can work on several projects at a time without the pressure to actually complete any specific one. I only missed 2 days from Jan-Apr, then I fell off the wagon for May-Aug. Time to get back in the game. Included will be actual hand stitching, machine sewing and quilting, block prepping, pressing, putting blocks on the wall, printing patterns, 

Some of the things I want to work on.

50th Anniversary Quilt aka Ella. I have 6 foundation blocks prepped and 9 applique blocks half done. There seems to be no rush since we postponed the anniversary celebration until next year. But that might come sooner than I think if I keep procrastinating. 

Poppy's Garden. I woke up from a nap dreaming of a creative way to make a lot of circles. This included stretching out a metal tape measure while applying tape to it until it was long enough, then tracing circles using a wine cork onto the tape and cutting them out. I do not drink wine and I just ordered an Accuquilt circle die. I have some of the most interesting dreams. I changed the background colour to a crisp white and the colors now look good. I also found the rest of the purple/green/paisley fabric I bought some years ago. It will be the focus fabric. I get to add orange and turquoise. 

Macaron Mystery. I haven't actually started working on this yet. I was waiting for a few more clues before dive-bombing in. I want to do some of the cutting prep work.

Summer QAL. Jonathan told me he liked the colours in this when the blocks were on the design wall. I have yet to assemble them and add borders. 

Machine Quilting something. Anything. I finally set up the new Jazz that I bought 6 months ago.

I am considering quilting goals for 2022 already. Seriously. It has something to do with delaying and sabotaging my writing goals. It was while I was doing this that I had the impulsive idea to donate a dozen ufos. Also, I have already given brain activity to projects to take along to the Shipshewana Retreat in April. We registered back in April in faith that we could cross the border into the USA next April. We have our rooms booked.  

The cleaning lady has finally been able to come back and we are doing decluttering. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: wendysquiltsandmore. 

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End of September

I want to say this month flew by, but it didn't really. I was in not one but two covid isolations. It visited our family last month. Our son got it first and was mildly sick. He did not think it was covid so did not get tested immediately. But the damage was done and we all got tested over the next week and again a week later. In the end, I had a positive test but was not sick nor was my Sweetie nor was Jonathan. So, all in all, I had 20 days in a row with the younger grandchildren here at the farm then 11 days without any children.  Do you think I got any work done? 

Some. I made 4 Ella blocks in the foundation piecing method. I love the accuracy off this, but do not like removing the papers. I sat in a zoom meeting with Chooky and friends the other night and removed papers from 7 blocks. Also, this past week the online writing group I belong to, Christian Book Academy, had a week long writing conference. Messages were posted on our facebook group and I have been so blessed to learn from other Christian writers who are way ahead of me in writing, publishing, launching and marketing their books. 

I have been writing. I have new accountability partners and that is very helpful. So far, I have a rough draft for 20 chapters for The ABCs of  How to Stay Married for 50 Years. My ultimate goal is to have a final draft by December. I keep reminding myself that I completed 5 courses for my doctorate back in the spring in just 3 months. I put aside quilting, went to bed early, got up early and even took time for a nap most days. I read blogs and facebook but did not comment or interact. All this to say, I accomplished a great big goal because I made a decision to focus and get the job done. And I had a deadline and accountability partners. 

Being in 2 isolations, I had to reschedule appoints twice. So the first thing I did was have a pedicure. My feet are happy. Next was to go to the chiropractor and get a massage. 

I continue to work at decluttering my old sewing spaces. I made the impulsive decision to donate a dozen old ufos that do not bring me joy. Perhaps that is why they have languished in the quilting cupboard. I posted pictures in our Quilting at the Farm facebook group and several have been spoken for. The rest will be donated to either a local guild for charity quilts or to a local missions donation center where my niece works. 

My 13  year old granddaughter, Ava, is now in high school. She has to do 40 hours of volunteer work and got a position at a hair salon close to her mom's so she can walk. And it is beside the local Tim Horton's coffee shop. She is a bit OCD, so will do very well in doing cleanup stuff.  

Five year old David got to ride a school bus for the very first time ever. He liked it so much, he forgot to get off at his stop. Mom had to flag the bus down to locate him in the very back seat. To his defense, he had just moved into the new house the day before and did not know the routine. The driver was new too and did not know the routine either.

My OMG goals for Sept were to try out some of the new Aurifil thread I won. There are no less than 36 different colours and not one of them matches any of my Ella block fabrics. I did not achieve my goal for Sept.

I also finally set up the new Jazz 2 machine I bought 6 months ago for machine quilting. It took me about an hour to figure out how to thread it, remove the thread and take out a bobbin, wind the bobbin and thread the machine again, then pull up the bobbin thread. All this to discover it was set in basting mode and had to figure out how to change the stitch length. I have not yet actually sewn anything on it, but am ready.

Blessings,

Chris

Sept 2021 OMG Goal

My goodness! How can it be September already? I guess time flies when you are having fun. And fun we have had this summer. It was a time filled with family and rain and people and Covid. Our son tested positive last week and so did 7-year-old Jonathan. His parents were moving so he and David came to the farm for a few days. David was negative so he is isolated at the trailer with Mom. 

Dad is in the new house alone and Jonathan is asymptomatic (not sick) and is isolating here at the farm. He finally has 10 whole days where his little brother is not picking a fight and trying to beat him up all the time. He says he misses that. He has been busy helping Grampa around the farm. The rains finally stopped and we have had a whole week of sunshine so now we can bale dry hay.

Aug 7 was our 50th anniversary. We had a simple family BBQ. It was great. The weather was amazing until we cut the brownie cake that the grandchildren had made, and dished out the ice cream, then the skies opened and we got dumped with about 2 inches of rain. This would have been okay, except that all we adults were outside in the dining tent. The children all had the good sense to run into the house. 

Chooky has hosted several zoom parties this summer. Last night I joined some of the girls from Australia, the USA, New Zealand, and Germany for a few hours to stitch and catch up with what is going on in our parts of the world. 

This is what I worked on. I did so little quilting this summer. This is as far as I got on the Summer QAL from Quilting Gail. I had lots of the smaller units sewn up in July and put them all together last night. I still have to sew all 35 blocks together and add a few borders. It is a bit smaller than I want. I think a half-inch dark brown framing the center, then each of the 3 colours around that. 

Today is my 8th Anniversary of blogging. What a ride it has been! I have met quilters and farmers who quilt all over the world. I even went to Australia in 2015 and met some in person. I definitely want to go back. 

It is time to choose an OMG quilting goal for Sept. It has to be simple this time because  . . . 

drum roll please . . . 

 

I have 36 thousand yards of the most amazing colours of thread that I won for the May Aurifil Thread prize from OMG. I think there might have been an oops because there should have been a 3-pack. So, thank you Patty from Elm Street Quilts. 

My OMG for Sept will be to crack open a few of these threads and give them a try. I will use some for hand applique for slow-sunday-stitching on the 50th Anniversary aka Ella blocks 

and others for machine quilting on the Disappearing 9-Patch that I will be using as a sample for a new quilting class starting here at Quilting @ the Farm in 2 weeks. 

That should keep me out of trouble for this month. 

Blessings,

Chris 

Linking with: katiemaequilts.boms-away 

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August 2021 OMG Goal

 You've heard the expression "Go big or Go home"? I made a preliminary list of 10 things to consider for my Aug OMG goal. I had not yet decided which of the options to choose. I then figured I would probably try to do all of them. Not necessarily for the OMG goal, but just to do all of them. There is something about writing them all down to give a reality check. Planning 10 goals for the month is daunting. But if those same goals are broken down into 2-3 goals per week like for the To-Do Tuesday, then it might be doable. Hmm . . . food for thought. 

1. 50th Anniversary Quilt aka Ella - This came to a screeching halt when we made the decision back in  April to postpone our 50th-anniversary celebration until next year.  Actually, it came to a halt when I set aside everything to finish the doctorate. But I completed that 2 months ago! The anniversary is on Aug 7 and we will have a small family get-together. My Slow Sunday Stitching project could be to continue hand appliqueing on one of the Ella blocks. But which one? There are 12 more to go. 

2. Macaron Mystery QAL - Clue #2 will be posted on Thurs. 

3. Summer 2021 QAL - We are on Clue # 8 and I have been working on that this week. 

4. Poppy's Polka Dot Garden - In order to continue on this new start from last month, I want to either choose a new background or chose a new colour palette or both and start again. 

5. Bright Jane - Depending on the RSC color for August, I could resume making the remaining blocks. I had moved away from doing the original blocks a long time ago and have been making other simple two-coloured blocks to add to the ones already made. As it turns out, the colour is aqua and I have all that colour done. 

6. 3030 Quilt - This was a BOM from last year and I got about halfway before starting the Ella BOM. The plan is to take inventory of what is made and what still needs to be made including the incredible center medallion applique and make a plan to continue. 

7. Ben Biggs - The bin has been retrieved from the back hall where it was tucked away with 22 other bins of projects and fabrics 3 years ago when our son and his girls moved in. These were not accessible so got forgotten. The plan is to resume the prep work on the remaining blocks for machine applique and put them up on the design wall.

8. Jazz II - I bought a new sewing machine back in March and have yet to set it up and start playing with it. I ordered $400 of additional presser feet that did not come with it. No wonder the machine was so inexpensive even on sale. It has 12 inches of throat space and I plan to do machine quilting on it. Eventually. The intent is to set it up and practice machine quilting on something. 

9. Little girls cross-stitch - The girls are learning to cross-stitch. They both picked it up quickly and are stitching words onto bookmarks. 

10. BTCT - clean it up and layer ready for big stitch hand quilting. I have been doing some research (aka reading blogs endlessly) and found this series of posts by Wendy from The Peacock Party on hand quilting. 

I have been settling into my new quilt room. Okay. I have been taking up more and more quilting stuff. The room is looking quite cluttered now. Just the way I tend to make all my rooms. I want to get rid of a lot of my fabric but first want to revisit a few projects and make sure I have everything needed to complete them. In order to do this, I have to pull them out, one by one, and make sure. I do not have bins of neatly organized scraps. What I do have, is many well-organized project boxes containing everything needed to make and complete each quilt. The problem is, I am not completing them. And I did start 3 new ones in July. 

My Aug OMG will be to complete # 3 the Summer QAL Mystery to a flimsy. The Linky Party is Aug 24. I should be able to have a flimsy for then.

Until then blessings, 

Chris

Linking with:

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June 2021 OMG Goal

 The sky is the limit! I aim to make at least 10 pieced blocks for the 50th Anniversary Quilt aka Ella. My OMG goal will be to do just that and put them all up on the design wall to see where am at. 

This is what it looked like the last time I had them all up back in March. The completed blocks and the not competed blocks that were prepped for applique. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: WOOFA Challenge

May 2021 OMG Completion

I completed just this one block this month. I wanted to say so far but I doubt I will get any more blocks done this month. And why?

Because I have been doing schoolwork, like, every single day. I am so close. Linking up with OMG May finish up. See you next week. 

Blessings,

Chris

May 2021 OMG Goal

My OMG goal for May was going to be to stitch for at least 15 minutes a day for the month of May. I thought that with any luck, I could have the rest of the Ella applique blocks done. But the reality is, if I intend to complete my doctorate by the end of the month, then I have to change my quilting goals mindset. 

Instead, I will set the bar really low this month. The OMG goal will be to complete just one 50th Anniversary quilt aka Ella block.  Just one. Anyone. Will I stitch at least 15 minutes a day? I hope so. But I found that too much pressure this past month. So, one block it will be. I already have June goals dancing around in my head.  

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: slow-sunday-stitching.  tishnwonderland. quiltingismorefunthanhousework.

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April 2021 OMG Completion

My OMG goal for April was simple. Stitch almost every day for at least 15 minutes. Very specific, if a bit vague. And I have been stitching at least 15 minutes some days and 3-4 hours most Saturdays when I meet with friends and sisters online. These are the 50th Anniversary Quilt aka Ella blocks I completed this month. Most of them were started already but now they are finished. The final 5 block patterns will be released next month. I wonder what BOM Gay might come up with for her next QAL. She has two on the go right now that are all pieced blocks. I chose to not join those. 

In the meantime, I have been madly working on completing courses for my doctorate. I submitted Blame it on the Brain early in the month. It was a course on learning disabilities in children. I learned far more about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) than I could ever have imagined. I had decided years ago that I had that and it explained why I do things the way I do and don't do things the way I do. Now I am working on completing Christian Counseling I & II. This is mostly a review of counseling and psychology courses I did years ago. Reviews are good. Only 2 more to go. My goal is to have all coursework completed and submitted by June 1st. I can do this, but I have had to drop other activities like blogging, sewing, and housework.  And I realized that I had not replied to the many comments last post. Thank you all who made comments and encouraged me in my endeavors. 

I have had no less than 39 lectures to listen to and outline for the last three courses. Only 30 more to go. All the Action Exercises in one textbook. Two multiple-choice tests and 3 book reports and 4 more summaries. 

We are back in lock-down and the girls are again doing online schooling. Their schedules have been changed to a week here and a week at Mom's. This means that we oversee and hover for a mere 6 hours each day for a whole week then have no children here for a whole week. They probably will not return to in-person school until Sept. 

And in view of the tighter lock-down regulations, we have decided to postpone our 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration in Aug until next year. It was my Sweetie's suggestion. We had our first Moderna jab last week with the second scheduled for late July. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: tishnwonderland.  alyciaquilts.  wendysquiltsandmore.

quiltingpatch.  slow-sunday stitching  quiltingismorefunthanhousework. katiemaequilts. 

smallquiltsanddollquilts.  lovelaughquilt. wednesday-wait-loss-

myquiltinfatuation. ninamariesayre.

April 201 OMG Goal

My OMG goal for April will be to stitch for at least 15 minutes almost every day. I have quite a few Ella blocks already prepped with back basting for needle-turn hand applique. This method goes on in layers as some of the pieces sit on top of others. There will be a few broderie perse blocks. I like doing them once I decide what fabrics to cut out. I prep lots of blocks at a time when I have time to sit with it for a few hours like on Sat mornings when I meet online with a few sisters and quilting friends. 

I am putting most of my other projects on hold for a couple of months as I endeavor to complete the rest of my academic courses. And if I can stay off Facebook and stop reading blogs and playing games, I have a good chance to do just that. But that is not the way I do things usually. 

We are back in lockdown this week, so I won't be able to go to the pool again for a while. It felt good to get some exercise but it did take time and energy. Taxes are getting done on Wed.  

blessings,

Chris

linking with: slow-sunday-stitching_  kate-life-in-pieces. 

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March 2021 OMG Completion

 . 

I am calling it done for my March OMG. My goal was to work on The Curves for the QAL 2021. I do not have the flimsy yet but I did make up a lot of blocks. 

I put them up on the big design wall in a few different versions and asked my Sat morning group for ideas. So now, I plan to put it aside for a while and consider all the ideas. 

Another goal idea was to sew on some of the sashing strips to Ella blocks so I could put them up on the wall easier. And I did that. Most of the blocks around the outside are just prepped and some of them have some of the hand applique done. I work on these for my 15 minutes to Stitch each day. I think I missed one day this month. I had thought to start working on some of the machine pieced blocks but will leave them until June. I should have lots more time then since I am working madly trying to complete the last courses for my doctorate. So back to the books.

Here is a picture of the antique quilt I found. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: myquiltinfatuation.  needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.

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katiemaequilts.

15 Minutes to Stitch

This is where I am in mid-March with the 50th Anniversary aka Ella quilt blocks. A bit more than halfway. There are 22 complete and 13 in-process applique blocks. This leaves me exactly 15 more blocks to make. I try to work on a bit of hand applique every day for at least 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes a day really does make a difference to progress the project. But it takes planning and prep work to have something ready to pick up. I missed stitching one day. Well, actually, I did pick up a block and put in about 4 stitches then realized that I needed to stop and unstitch so put it down. So, really, that does not count for at least 15 minutes. 

There are 85 nine-inch blocks in the original Ella Maria Deacon Quilt from Sentimental Stitches. I am making 50 to commemorate our 50th wedding anniversary in August. It has not been too difficult to choose blocks to omit. There are quite a few repeat blocks and a few extremely challenging ones I do not want to be challenged with. 

 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with:  slow-sunday-stitching kate-life-in-pieces.  quiltingismorefunthanhousework.

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myquiltinfatuation  off-wall-friday.  wendysquiltsandmore. alyciaquilts.blogspot.