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

April 2019 OMG

My April one-monthly-goal will be

• to complete the Almost Amish Irish Chain to a flimsy
• to complete 2 BTCT hand applique blocks
• to complete the machine applique on 6 Morrell blocks
• to complete at least 2 more chapters on SMOWJ

And this is not an April Fools joke. 

I will be taking all this to the Shipshewana retreat next week.

I almost added complete the machine applique on the rest of 36 Huguenot Friendship Quilt but that would be a joke. But I might get it done also. 

Now to finish packing the project boxes. I need to find some thread to machine applique the hearts and the cone of Vanilla Milkshake thread for the Morrell blocks and a seam ripper. I have several. I should be able to locate one to take along. And travel insurance and US cash. I better get busy. 

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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12 UFOs for 2019

Judy at patchworktimes has posted the link for 2019 ufo challenge. But I have a doctorate to complete. At least that is what I keep reminding myself. In case I decide to join in, I will be ready.

1. 1857 Album Quilt

Machine quilt and bind.
This was the  Sentimental Stitches BOM for 2016-17. I collected all the free patterns when they were free. The top is completed, sandwiched, basted and ready to machine quilt. It has been sitting patiently waiting for nearly a year.

2. Almost Amish Irish Chain

There is so much work done here that it would be a shame to not put this on the list. Machine piecing. Machine applique. Machine quilting. Sounds pretty straight forward.

3. Morrell Sampler

Machine applique all the broderie perse blocks that are already prepped. Change that center pinwheel.

4. Antique Wedding Sampler

Complete this one block finally. Been working on it off and on since early summer. But first, have to locate the last bits of leaves and flowers to hand applique on.

 5. Dolls of the World

This is my oldest ufo from 1979. It also is the simplest and most close to being completed of all my 40 some ufos. I wrote about it a few months ago and have some thoughts about completing it. Check back later to see what I do.

6. Dear Daughter

Complete the hand applique, assemble the top and machine applique and bind then gift. Whatever number is called for January, this will be the project. I need it complete and ready to gift by mid Feb.

7. Huguenot Friendship Quilt

Finish the machine applique with silk thread on the 36 center blocks and assemble the center so I can lay out and prep the borders.
This was an impulse purchase last winter.

8. Country Bride 2

Here is my opportunity to practice some machine quilting with rulers on the already pre cut alternating squares and borders. The backing and batting have been cut and ready to go for nearly 22 years.
I still have to do some embroidery for the stems before layering these already machine appliqued blocks.

9. Green and Gold Irish Chain

There really is so little to do on this one to get it to a flimsy. This will be another I can practice my machine quilting skills.

10. Stack-N-Whack Butterflies

Stop being a coward and just make some bodies and antennae so I can add the borders and machine quilt to my hearts content. I think loopy flowers would be nice. But what colour? White to disappear? Varigated?

11. GO Not So Fast 

My goal here will be to get the center medallion to be a square.
I saw a completed quilt using the same Winterthur panels that has given me some ideas.

12. Dear Jane

Last but by no means least, this one. I started quilting it by machine last winter but had much trouble with tension and my machine was in for repairs for a mere 3 months. Turns out if you do not use it, parts seize up. Who would have know?  I want to remove all the machine stitches in so far and start over. No promises.

Bright Jane

Rainbow Scrap Challenge for another year. I plan to put it on the wall to stay when there are 100 blocks complete. As I get sections of blocks done, I will sew them together into 9 units. But for now, the blocks are easier to store individually. And besides, the little grand children love putting them up on the design wall.
I will not be making the pieced triangles for the border. I am planning to make the corner kites.

Beyond the Cherry Trees

This will be my hand applique project for the year. There are 3-4 already started blocks to complete the 25 for the top and then begin the 4 borders. The 200 cherries are all cut and waiting but the 20 yards of bias stems still need to be made. After the stems are cut I can run the left over fabrics through the GO Cutter and make a few hundred leaves. This took a time-out when I started Dear Daughter.

 One Block Wonder

This can be my hand piecing project for the year. After making a whole bunch of hexies, I realized that if I made half hexies, I could easily sew a long straight seam to connect the rows. Live and learn.

I am not planning to start any new quilts in the coming year. That's not entirely true. I have been considering making a couple of tractor quilts for the little boys. But I could start them this year. I am making small goals for these ufos. Maybe only 2 actual completions of quilting and binding.

Blessings
Chris

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

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Shipshewana Quilt Retreat April 2018

We left my place at 6 in the morning on Tues and arrived a bit before 3 in the afternoon. Since it was too early to check in we went shopping.

I took along 3 Antique Wedding Sampler kits in case I had extra time and wanted to do some hand work. I cut out all the little bits from extra heavy freezer paper and will do these by English Paper Piecing.

The retreat did not start until noon Wed so we went shopping. I bought a few fat quarters.

Wed night and Thurs  morning I sewed sashing strips and corner stones for Dear Daughter. I completed 2 blocks. I had stitched on the alternate block on the left last week when I was getting the oil changed in my car. I always get the oil changed before a road trip. Decided to leave the snow tires on. Good thing. We went shopping.

Thurs we went to see the musical Half Stitched. It is based on the book by Wanda Brunstetter set in Shipshewana with a quilting theme. We got
front row seats because we could. Then we went shopping.

There are so many of the most beautiful wide backs available these days. I only bought 5. Some of them are 115 inches wide. All these in anticipation of completing a few really big quilts.

Fri I worked on some yellow Bright Jane blocks.

Did I mention we went shopping? I bought a few Di Ford-Hall fat quarters and yardage.

Sat I worked on 2 Morrell blocks. I have to replace that one white piece on the end. And we went shopping.

Sunday I did some machine applique on the Huguenot Friendship Quilt using red silk thread. When the thread broke twice, I stopped.

The original Dear Daughter Quilt came out to play so I got to look really, really close at the blocks and sentimental inscriptions. It took my breath away with its simple beauty. I think I will change the green I started to use and find something softer.







I cannot understand why I did not get more sewing done in the 5 whole days we were there.

There was a severe winter (in mid April) storm in Ontario, but we left for home Mon morning and after 8 hours on the road, we arrived at the Farm where I got my car stuck in the snow.

Until next time,
Blessings,
Chris

April 2018 Goals

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blessings,
Chris 

Shipshewana Quilt Retreat Next Month

I am  packing my project boxes for the Shipshewana Retreat next month. It begins in just 5 weeks. I can hardly wait. The little boys will be home in their own home for 2 whole weeks and I get to play with my friends. How does one decide what projects to pack into a car and drive 7 hours into the next country 2 states from the border? Five whole days of stitching. I have limited space in my mid sized car with 2 others and their stuff and room for all our shopping.

I have my BTCT box for some hand work. This is the Beyond the Cherry Trees Quilt block of the month that sentimentalstitches  had a few  years ago. I bought the whole digital pattern and started in June 2014. I have 20 blocks complete. Five almost done and 2 not yet started. Then there will be the borders. Four of them. My OMG for this month is to complete these 3, then I will pull out the other 2 that are half done and get them ready to have some hand work for next month.

Dear-daughter-block-of-the-month launches this week. There are over 800 members in the facebook group. I rummaged through my fabric cupboard and came up with a whole bin of reproduction fabrics dated 1830s and 1840s. I am using a Kona Snow background because I have enough and years ago I bought the rest of the bolt of a blue print from one of the Sturbridge Village Blues collections I can use for the sashing.  There are broderie perse options here. Still undecided if I will do hand applique or raw edged machine applique.

I think I will be taking 2 machines. One for applique and one for piecing. I cannot sit at one for hours or days at a time but have to change up what I will be doing. I thought I could take a whole bunch of Bright Jane blocks. But all that foundation piecing takes its toll on my arthritic hands. My best to date total is 7 blocks in a day.

I had initially thought I would take the 150 Canadian Women box and see how many of those 6 inch blocks I could make. Still thinking about this since I only made a few blocks last year after cutting out lots of pieces with my GO cutter. There is no foundation piecing on this one. Have to find the box first.

I have all the machine applique to do on these Huguegnot Friendship Quilt . I am still considering using silk thread and doing a very simple straight stitch. Some doing these laser cut blocks are doing elaborate painting and machine embroidery. This is a "squirrel" quilt to be made quickly.

Not to forget my Morrell Quilt. I have all the saw-tooth blocks prepped with foundation patterns ready to go. I plan to add a few broderie perse appliques from Di Ford-Hall's Bally Hall Birds collection. The colours are perfect.

In the meantime, I have been machine quilting on my Dear Jane quilt this week. Not excited about how the thread tension is behaving. The Brother rebelled and would not drop its feed dogs nor pull all the bulk nicely. So, I switched over to the Bernina.

I bought tickets to see the musical "Half Stitched". It is a quilting themed story set in Shipshewana Amish country. I saw it a couple of years ago in Ohio with a bunch of Guernsey dairy farmers. One of the guys said he was watching me as I watched the show and he said I was having way too much fun. And I was. Really. This time I got us front row seats. Hope that is not too close. They had a whole array of antique quilts decorating the set but we were not allowed to touch any of them. Check it out here. 

Blessings,

Chris

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