WIPS-B-GONE 2024

 Leanne at Devoted Quilter has again issued the challenge to complete some projects over the next 61 days. I have chosen to work on the following. 

1. Churn Dash. This was a Chookshed SAL 2 years ago. I am using some old Robin Pandolph fabrics and several creamy solid backgrounds. There will be 63 blocks. This is also my Oct Chookshed Challenge project. 

2. Summer QAL mystery quilt from 2021. I have most of those blocks sewn together. Next will come a couple of borders if I can remember what I had been

thinking last time I worked on it. 

3. Macaron Mystery QAL. I have an oops to figure out before completing the side triangles. Then there will be a 1 inch black border, 3 inch creamy border and possibly 5 inch dark focus fabric border. I think I have enough of the creamy fabric for the backing. If not, I have wide back options. 

4. Wedding Quilt. I had the thing out last week to see what I have to do to get the 3 outside  borders mitered. My hands are not happy working with wonder clips or pins.  This is one of the inner borders that I had to redo. 

5. Dolls of the World jumped off the pile on the table in the corner of the Blue Room and said. "Hey! What about me?" So this is on the list. 

Remember the Cherries Quilt? I completed all the hand applique on this 100 inch square quilt from Sentimental Stitches back in 2020. I worked on it for 6 years. I found someone to hand quilt it for me. So excited! I will take it next week for her to get started.  

I have a couple of new projects I want to start. Let's see how long I can last waiting until I get some noticable progress on the above. 

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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Macaron Mystery Progress

 There is noticable progress.

However . . . 

There are serious hiccups.

I chose to use some of the solids in my collection. 

Not all of them are in the focus fabric,

which I love. 

I started making mistakes a month ago and 

just kept on making more. 

So. 

This will go into the endless closet of unfinished projects. 

For now. 

I have to clear the sewing stuff out of my SonRoom for small groups meeting here this fall. I started seeing a new chiropractor a couple of weeks ago. I drive into the city twice a week and there is significant improvement in my lower back. And, I am now able to roll over. Haven't been able to do that for a long time. 

blessings,

Chris

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\

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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

Goals for April 2022

 I often set lofty goals for myself. Not just in the quilt room. In every place in my life. Do I accomplish them? Sometimes. After all, this senior citizen completed a doctorate last year. But in order to do that, I had to lay aside some of the more fun things like quilting. 

My goals for this April include:

1. Complete the Biblical Blocks Ufo. I completed one back in November. I actually spend a whole 4 days finishing it. This time, I have a few more blocks to make and the center medallion is not complete. Ten years ago, I loaned the pattern book to a friend who has moved several times. I have a picture of the completed top and a lot of the hard work is already done. For example, in the class I took when I made my first one 20 years ago, she had us cut ALL the borders and setting triangles first, then we used the rest of the fabric for the blocks. I have most of the borders hand applique done and I have most of the rest of the block foundation patterns drafted up and printed off ready to start the sewing marathon. 
2. Blog my book ABCs of How to Stay Married for 50 Years. I had intended to join up with the A-Z Challenge but just realized that registrations closed last week. Oops. I guess I will just have to blog each of the 26 chapters here. It should be fun. No. It will be fun to read some of the perspectives we old folk have on a long life together. Stay tuned. Not sure just when they will begin or if they will be every day. But, HARK! I have started a brand new blog just for this. 
3. Family coming for Easter dinner at the Farm. There may be up to 25 of us. It will be simple. I like simple. The grand thing will be the outdoor garden wedding here at the Farm later in May. My responsibility is the flowers outside. I planted hundreds of bulbs back in October. But first, we have a gazillion pine cones to rake off the lawn as soon as the rains this week warm up the ground. 
4. Learn to chew again. I finally bit the bullet and got partial dentures. Actually, I bit a piece of hard bacon and a front tooth broke off. Completely. But a year before that, I foolishly tried to open a marker with my teeth. The dentist put in a new tooth, but it only lasted a year, just as we went into a 4-month lockdown. So I finally found a denturist and a new dentist who is next door to him, and last week I got the things. I have been pureeing soups and eating mush as chewing is not happening just yet. No hot drinks or hot food. No eating junk since that has to be chewed. I am down 6 lbs. Wonder why? 
5. Shipshewana Quilt Retreat. It has been 3 years since we last went. I am only taking one project box and it is packed already. It has 4 projects in it. I have taken along Bright Jane and some Morrell blocks to every one of the 5 retreats I went to in the past. Why stop now? I plan to take along the Macaron Mystery to complete also. I had all the cutting done a couple of months ago but did not get the pieces sewn together. And the whole thing packs quite compactly. There are 3 of us going. Want to make sure we have enough room. I will pack Lucy to go with us. I am thinking about taking all the small squares I cut and getting them hand-basted. That should fill in a lot of the time cracks and keep me from doing too much shopping, as well as packing very compactly. 
6. Virtual Writing Retreat. What about doing a retreat at the retreat? The Virtual Writing Retreat I often join is at the end of the month. I plan to take along my laptop and join in online. It should be easy to find a quiet spot and plug in my earbuds. I am writing the curriculum for the Mentoring at the Farm small group I will be leading this summer. It was suggested that I get it done ahead of time and publish a pdf file and print off copies instead of handing out sheets each week. I like the idea. I have it outlined already. It will be exactly 80 pages long since the summer group will run for 80 days. One page a day for homework. I like that. 

So my April OMG goal will be completing the Biblical Blocks top and booking the longarm for early May. The rest is just stuff I will be doing. I suppose I could add spring cleaning but that will be a goal for May. 

Blessings,

Chris

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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

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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

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15 Minutes Stitching Daily

 I started out the year faithfully stitching at least 15 minutes every day for 3 months. Then I got side-tracked with completing my doctorate and did not get back into the routine again. Not at all. My stitching for the rest of the year was rather sporadic or nonexistent altogether. I have been dealing with a lot of pain in my right hand from the arthritis and then in the wrist. There was quite a bit of discussion about hand pain and carpal tunnel syndrome in blogland recently. My Sweetie is facing surgery on both of his wrists. Not sure of the timelines yet. 

But it is only 15 minutes. And that can include hand or machine stitching, prepping, cutting fabric, even just pressing, and printing off patterns, etc. I do draw the line at reading quilt blogs and quilt books. 

I have finally started doing all the precuts for the Macaron Mystery Quilt from Quilting Gail. I changed my plan for the focus colour after the measurements came out and my original plan would not work. I know I have way too many different solid colours to use, but it is a mystery after all. 

Blessings,

Chris

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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

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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

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July 2021 OMG Completion

 My OMG goal was to start 3 new quilts not finish anything.

#1. Macaron Mystery QAL. It appears that the July clue was to collect the fabrics. I had that all done months ago when I first saw the link. So all that was left to do for the first month is to take a picture. 

#2. Summer QAL. This was a bit more challenging. Not only did I

have to choose my fabrics, but I also had to actually start it. Clues are posted twice a week. We are up to Clue # 7. This is my focus fabric and I am using a Kona Snow for the background. 

There are so many colour options to pull from this print. I had a half meter and just enough to cut out all the required size pieces including a few random butterflies. 

Clues # 4 and 6.

                             Clue # 2.

Clue # 5 

Clue # 7. This is when I realized I had cut the focus fabric the wrong size. Silly me. I thought I was so clever using the Dear Jane square-up ruler. I have some recutting to do before the next clue is out on Sat. 

#3. Poppy's Polka Dot Garden. I collected patterns for this free QAL

since they started last year. They will continue until about Dec 2022 so lots of time. I wanted to do this one by machine applique and thought of using some leftovers from fused green and purple leaves and scraps from the sampler I made several years ago. I chose a background fabric. My first thought was to use a variety of different backgrounds but ended up cutting out all the squares and borders from one beigey burlappy fabric. Then I promptly prepped the first block in orange  cheddar. My plan was to prep a lot of

blocks now and do the machine applique later. Then I prepped a couple more in purple and green. But the pieces did not adhere to the fabric nicely.  And the colours did not look right. I guess the bright colours do not look so good on the neutral background. I probably could use reproduction fabrics since many of them have a softer washed out look. Decisions. Decisions. But I have made a start and that was my intent. 

Blessings,

Chris

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July 2021 OMG Goal

I know this is a crazy monthly Goal but I plan to start no less than 3, that's THREE new quilts this month. Do I need more projects? No. Do I want more projects? Yes. I did, after all, complete a doctorate a month ago and have been moping around not getting into anything or being productive in the sewing room. 

Project # 1

 meadowmistdesigns - macaron-mystery-quilt. 

The name and the colours of this one caught my attention a few months ago. I have some delicious fat quarters I bought back in the winter I think will work. We shall see as the clues are posted monthly. Not too fast a pace so doable. 

Project # 2 

quiltinggail - summer-2021-mystery-quilt-introduction.

I have no idea what this one will look like, but the button shows flowers so maybe there will be applique, but I doubt it. It is a mystery. Clues will be posted twice a week so I will have to be attentive.

Project # 3

sentimentalstitches - poppy's-polka-dot-garden-quilt. 

I have been collecting the free patterns for nine months waiting until I decided if I was going to make it or not. I did not want to start yet another hand applique sampler, but I really love them. And this one has a unique layout. So, I plan to do this one by machine applique. Not sure yet what format I will use. Possibly raw-edged with a fusible on the back. And, I might use different background colours. This will be different for me since I have always had this attitude that the background had to be the same fabric all the way. Now to decide the colour scheme. The last thing I need is to start yet another red and green reproductive quilt. I have several on the go. I probably should finish them, but starting something new is in my wheelhouse right now.

So the official OMG goal will be to start the 3 quilts and have something to show at the end of the month for each one. 

Blessings,

Chris 

End of June

How did it get to be the end of June already? I have not met any goals this month. Not that I set many goals. I just did not do them. I did prep about ten 50th Anniversary Quilt aka Ella blocks this past weekend but did not actually do any sewing. Yet. I am, however, four chapters into writing my new book The ABCs of How to Stay Married for 50 Years. I guess I need a short form. How does 50ABCs sound?

I am not sure what happened the past 2 days, but suddenly human people have been popping out of the woodwork and and dropping in to visit and bringing their kids along. My granddaughters are in seventh heaven having girls their age to play with. Today my sister went to visit another sister for the day and came home with a 9 year old for a sleepover. Her first here. Could this have anything to do with why no sewing here this week? 

My friend Chooky is hosting a zoom meeting this Friday night my time. I am looking forward hanging out with my quilting friends. There is always room for more. The cleaning lady will be in and we are actively decluttering a lot of the stuff in my old quilt room since I have been moving up to the new room. It is smaller, but I will have everything in the same room and much less traffic. And what will the old room be when the dust settles and the cleaning lady does her thing? A new playroom for the grandkids. I'm not telling them until it is done. Okay. They already play in here but there will be more room and less clutter. And we might bring in one of the big screen TV's. 

July 1st is fast approaching. This means a new OMG. It means a new RSC colour and a new free pattern for Poppy's Polka Dot Garden It means the start of the Macaron Mystery. It also means I have to pay the property taxes and I cannot find the invoice telling me how much the sewers, fire hydrants, street lights, sidewalks, city water, and parks that we have no access to will cost us this year. 

See you in a couple of days,

Blessings,

Dr. Chris