Ongoing Saga of GORF

After ten days of little girl grand children, sleepovers and surprise treats of ice cream, tractor driving and rain,  GORF is back on the docket. So, lets get started:

• Clip on the long sashing strips
• Make sure they are long enough 
• Change the presser foot back to the one with the seam guide
• Remember to put it in needle down position
• Find reading glasses b/c the computer glasses aren't strong enough
• Put on music 
• Fan in hall to draw the cool air from the kitchen air conditioner
• Fresh stash of chocolate
• Put away the Morrell blocks off the design wall to show my Sweetie what that beige circle thingy is
• Glass of water
• Clear work space of Ava's crafts 
•  Turn on iron - no steam

Okay. No children today and I feel the cool air on my feet now. I can do this.

I have to remember that I have completed a Dear Jane quilt top so I am no stranger to 1/2 inch sashing strips. Except that these have ended up being almost 3/4 inch wide.

Sashing strips sewn onto one half.  Now to measure then against the other half. Looks pretty good, but what you cannot see is that I have tweaked them a bit to line up with the other intersections as I pinned them to the design wall. Dear Jane also taught me to be more relaxed with errors. But these intersections glare at  me! Why did I decide to do this the first time with red and off white???

•  Make sure I have the correct sides together
• Line up those ends first

•  Line up the intersection

•  Check to make sure they really line up

•  Off just a tad
•  Do it again

Not enough clips to go the whole length, so stopped just past the middle.
So even though I had worked so hard to line them up,  when I got there, it had all shifted ever so slightly. Looks bad here.

 But looks good here. All my sashing strips were cut on the straight of grain to avoid stretching. But the back strip stretched ever so slightly when I got there. Got to be relaxed. There is such a small margin for error. After all, this is the center intersection in red and white. Would Jane Stickle care?

 I care, so out comes the seam ripper. I bought a couple of new ones recently and they were as dull as high school math class, so found one of the old sharp ones.

 A million loose threads later, they are straight now ready to be top stitched

• Change presser foot back to regular 1/4 inch foot

 But what is this??? A ripple!!

 Out it comes.

• Pause for more chocolate

Until this . . .

To be continued   . . .

Blessings,
Chris

Product vs Process

I have always loved process. Now a completed product is a wonderful thing, but I love to see how things are put together and use my words to explain it to others. I love figuring out the pattern and can spend far more time thinking about and planning a project then actually doing it. I originally started my first GORF quilt with the dream of making a Baltimore style quilt in a weekend. Well, I was wrong. First of all, this quilt is more in keeping with the Red and Green style of quilts of the 1850 than Baltimore quilts. Second, creativity cannot be forced.  If I am just copying patterns, it is easy to make up blocks quicky. But I had to make the first ones first. Not that most of my blocks are that original, but I had to make them. I had to choose colours and fiddle with placement. I thought the top border should be an original using left over flowers and leaves. hardest thing ever for me.  

Then they had to be stitched in place. So, with my first GORF (GO Real Fast) quilt, I got a bit ahead of myself. As I was connecting the machine quilted blocks together, I realized that I had missed machine appliqueing some of the pieces. Turns out that with using matching thread, I could not see which ones were done and which ones got missed so I pulled out a big magnifying glass. And marked the 8 leaves I  missed.

And the 4 flowers. These then had to be appliqued through all the layers using a straight stitch.

Now this gives me an idea for future GORF quilts. I had not enjoyed the process of machine quilting all those cross hatch lines and around all those leaves and flowers. Maybe I could quilt the blocks first, then fuse on the designs and machine applique and machine quilt at the same time. 

My task this week is to get all the blocks connected together. I googled this and found several tutorials online. None of them had the same measurements but most had the same process.As it turns out, I chose the measurement that was almost 1/4 inch too big. Guess I should have made a sample block first before cutting out all the red fabric I had. And I cut some of the print strips a half inch too short.

 I use these wonder clips for attaching bindings and now these connecting strips. It is much easier and neater than trying to pin through all those layers and there are too many layers to try to do with out.

Now, I started quilting 40 years ago. I started sewing at age 12. I have several sewing machines. And countless presser feet. But I did not know until recently that there are quarter inch feet with a seam guide!!!!
So I paid the $69 plus tax plus 2 trips to the Oakville Sewing Center to purchase one and I absolutely LOVE it!. I sewed on those strips through the quilted blocks very very nicely. Who knew? These things are now standard gadgets that come with new modern machines, but I had bought mine a few years back.

 I had to switch feet to do the top stitching. Good thing that is simple with my Bernina since I had to do this several times.

 Now to get back to work and complete the task. I still have to quilt the borders. I have not yet figured out how to do the ends of the swags but will see how they line up when the center is all put together. Stay tuned.

Blessings,
Chris

OMG June Quilting Goals

I have been debating which of the 9 big quilts I am working on right now on which to commit to completing something. And the winner is . . . . . . . . The 1857 Quilt!
I plan to make the circles for the 1857 blocks. This is no easy feat. I finally located my missing Karen K Buckley perfect circles and now need to take some time to sit with them and complete four blocks. I cut out some circles with my GO cutter a long time ago. The June blocks will be released tomorrow and I can hardly contain myself!

1857 Blocks

I also plan to complete the quilting on my GORF quilt.  I have had the 16 machine appliqued blocks all machine quilted for more than a year. So now the goal is to complete the borders and quilt them. Next month I will plan to assemble it all using connecting strips. Still debating whether to use red or green. I guess it depends if I have enough of one colour or the other.

GORF in Progress

I almost started a new quilt last night. Almost. I gave in and bought the pattern for the Caswell Quilt from Sentimental Stitches. I have lots of shirting material and a couple of yards of suitable background already prewashed and ready to cut into background squares. And I got a new project box labeled with the pattern in it and am beginning to add some interesting fabrics. But alas, my daughter is arriving this week with those two little boy grand babies and I had to move  some  lots of fabric clutter from the white room to make room for them and I may forget where I moved all that fabric to. So, I just looked through the pattern packet to get an idea of what is involved. It will be a challenge to do simple back basting because the full sized patterns are black and white photos of the original blocks. There are pattern sheets for all the shapes. But I do not have to worry about any of that since I did not actually start it. Yet.

Blessings,
Chris

GORF Retreat Update

We had our very first ever GO Real Fast Quilt retreat here at the Farm this past weekend. I had this crazy idea that a whole quilt could be prepped, cut out using the Accuquilt GO cutter and dies, blocks designed and laid out ready for machine applique in just 1 weekend. Two of the girls are making a 9 square quilt with swag borders. They are designing their own blocks using mine for an inspiration starting place. The other girl is making the same 16 squares that I made with swag borders. She could only come the one day and I forgot to take pictures of her progress. Each of the girls will be returning in the next 2 weeks to complete their blocks.

This is my yet unfinished quilt. I am quilting it in sections and my quilting machine is still at the repair shop. I machine appliqued the flowers onto the swags as a demo for the girls who practiced setting up their machine tension and thread on scrap bits after cutting out their shapes.

This is Daiva's work space above and she is ironing on the heat-n-bond fuseable web.This took longer than I expected.

How creative is this? She got 3 blocks done and 3 more started.
We laid out the blocks and border  on the design wall to see how the swags are going to look, then auditioned different options to connect the swags by pinning them on.

Leslie is cutting her very soft pink focus fabric after ironing on the heat'n'bond lite fusible web.

Her creative process was fun to watch.

 I learned a lot.

1. Everyone needs their own table space.
2. You cannot make the whole thing in a weekend if it is your first time.
3. Laughter is very good for the soul.
4. So is potluck food.
5. Not everyone wants to copy my patterns exactly.
6. Giving freedom to use my blocks for inspiration to create their own works.
7. This takes more time than copying a pattern.
8. I can learn from my students.
9. Helping each other is faster than doing it alone.
10. Three quilters at a time is perfect.
11. I never take enough pictures.
12. I want to do it again.  

Blessings,
Chris

GORF Retreat

Preamble Before the Retreat Officially Begins

I got the house tidied up, guest rooms ready, project boxes stocked with Lindor chocolates, tables, irons, etc . . . dill pickle soup is simmering on the stove . . .

the only thing I forgot was to complete mine . . . oops. . .
and they are here . . .
to be cont'd . . .

World Blog Hop

Hi. My name is Chris and I am somewhat retired, mother of 2, grandmother of 4 delightfully wonderful children and married to one Sweet, Sweet farmer who allows me and encourages me to study and travel while he carries on milking cows here on our family farm in Southern Ontario, Canada.

Carole at  wheels on the warrandyte bus  tagged me and I immediately panicked wondering, "What am I going to write??"  I discovered Carole's blog from Australia when I joined the chester criswell quilt  BOM which I found through  Esther Aliu . I was intrigued by the yellow buses lining the sides of Carole's blog and how she learned to do hand stitching on the bus commute everyday. Stitching or reading anything in a moving vehicle makes my stomach, um . . . unsettled. But what she stitches just blows me away! She finished her Morrell. Her What?? I thought? Her Sarah Morrell Sampler quilt. I tracked down the Di ford pattern from threadbear. It is on my one-of-these-days-I'll-get-to-it list. And she is presently working on the Di Ford Antique Sampler which is also on my to-do-some-day list.

What am I working on?
I have come to realize that I am actively working on no less than large 5 reproduction quilts using about every technique available. I started the Dear Jane quilt 5 years ago trying to keep 10 blocks ahead of the 6 girls who joined my class here at Quilting at the Farm where we quilt most Saturday mornings. I was working on my masters at the time and then started a doctorate. I had all the 4 1/2 inch blocks completed in June 2013 as well as a few of the triangles. Back in April I started a month long blitz to complete as many triangles as I could, and finally finished them end of August. I added all the borders Sept 1. I plan to machine quilt the thing later this winter after I have practiced up my machine quilting skills on my Brother 1500S. I started a second one this week in very bright colours. I am planning to blog my journey through this at a pace of 10 blocks per month on my new blog Quilting Jane at the Farm.

Dear Jane Quilt

One year ago I bought year 1 and 2 of the Chester County Criswell Quilt, a BOM from  Sharon Barnes

I was born in 1952, 100 years after  the original quilt was made as a wedding quilt in 1852 for a distant relative of Sharon's. And, my father's name was Chester so that was enough of a coincidence to get me on board. I added a few reds and greens to the left overs from the Dear Jane project. I started needle turn applique over freezer paper and quickly abandoned that to straight up needle turn cut away after drawing the the design onto the fabric from a freezer paper pattern.Since many of these are paper cut designs, that was the simplest way to prep the blocks. I packed these as hand work when I traveled or babysat. Each block finished at 12 inches. Year 3 has just been just released.

Chester County Criswell Quilt

In January Sentimental Stitches and Dear Jane offered the just takes 2  free for one month BOM and I could not resist, since I had enough left over reds and greens from CCCQ and just enough background fabric for this 100x100 wedding quilt from 1856 located now in an Indiana museum. There are 25 sixteen inch blocks and 4 borders with 10 or 11 swags. I was already doing a hand applique project, so I thought I would take the easy route and do this one by machine applique. I am using the wash away floriani fuseable web and turning under the edges. This is taking a lot longer than I had anticipated. There will be 4 corner buds in each block, eventually. 

  

Benjamin Biggs Wedding Quilt

In the meantime, the beyond-the-cherry-trees-album-quilt patterns went on sale in Feb and I could  not resist, since I had been eyeing them for a couple of years. I started needle turn hand appliqueing these in mid June. This has become my take along/babysitting/keeping my hands busy project this summer. Sad to say, but the hand work is getting done quicker than the machine work. I am really enjoying working with the Kona snow background fabric. I am giving serious thought to hand quilting this one. 

Beyond the Cherry Trees Quilt

I started this Go Real Fast Quilt quilt last year. I bought many of the GO dies and had some custom leaf dies made to hurry up the process. I am happy to announce that I am hosting and teaching the very first GORF Weekend Retreat here at the Farm in mid November. The plan is to make it in a weekend.  Well, we should get all the blocks made using heat and bond lite fuseable for raw edged shapes cut with all my Accuquilt GO dies and hopefully get a lot of the machine appliqueing done. I am quilting each block individually and will connect them with strips. Why I decided to quilt them with 1 inch cross hatching I will never know. I am not enjoying it as much as I should since I am having trouble sewing a straight line some days.

GO Real Fast Quilt

How does my work differ from others of its genre? 
Others get their quilts completed and quilted. I keep starting new ones. I like the reproduction quilts and researching the historicity of quilting. I like the challenge.

Why do I write/create what I do? 
Quilting is not the only thing I do. It is easier to write about my quilting progress than about my writing progress. I am working my way through a self paced online Doctorate in Christian Counseling. This means that I have no deadlines and so am taking way too long to do all the required assignments. I have written a book about my experience as a young mother with a profoundly handicapped child and am still working through the proofing process because, when publishing non-fiction, one has to be careful not to offend any real people who may be referenced in the story. I have a publisher on standby, waiting for me to commit to a contract.
I am also writing through my menopause journey which was a nightmare of anger, depression and thoughts of suicide that eventually turned to peace, joy and purpose. It appears that I cannot work through some of the doctoral studies without addressing and dealing with some of the things in my past that still bring me pain. But then, that is the whole purpose of the doing the degree, to better help others address the hurts and pain of their past and present by bringing issues to Jesus, who is the Word of God, and allowing the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to bring lasting healing to hearts and spirits to anyone willing to let go of those hurts and pains through forgiveness. In other words, I am still a work in progress and each course brings me closer to God. Quilting had often been a life line for me during those difficult times. So, quilting and writing go hand in hand in my life and experience.

How does my writing process work? 
I usually just start writing and see where the words take me. I am often surprised by the outcome. Much of my professional writing is done long hand where I can think better, but then I still have to take the time to type it all out. I am constantly re-reading  and proofing, but never quite enough, since I often find typos and errors after I hit publish. Sometimes I hit delete and start all over again another day. I am constantly thinking, "Is this what I really want to say?" "Does anyone care what I write?" Then I get comments and emails that make my heart sing with joy as readers share how my words affect them.

I am tagging Marjorie at  marjories busy corner. I first met Marjorie on line last winter through needle and thread network where Canadians are invited to link to others who quilt and sew and knit and do other creative things. She lives in beautiful New Brunswick and says, "it is the open space and fresh air of the country . Everything is green right now and soon the leaves will change with Fall weather. What's not to love, eh?" I am amazed at what Marjorie accomplishes in a 24 hour day. Not only does she do her own quilting, but she quilts for others all day. Now I have only completed a Dear Jane top. Marjorie has hand quilted one for someone else!!

Don't forget that I am giving away a Rosemary Makhan  pattern  to celebrate my 1 year blogging anniversary. Just leave a comment about where you live and what you love about where you live. The draw will take place this Thurs Sept 25th.

Blessings,
Chris

GORF

Completing the GO Real Fast Quilt is on my July Goals list. I had completed all the machine applique back in Feb and had cut and layered the backing and batting in preparation for machine quilting as I go and marked all the cross hatching lines in neat diagonal grids. I am using the walking foot but still have some ripples. Still not sure how to correct that. I outlined all the feathers then stitched the outside lines first.

Then decided to start beside each feather and stitch to the edge. This took  a bit longer but I like how it turned out. I pulled up the bobbin thread, stitched at 0 for 3-4 stitches then clipped the threads after stitching to the edge.

I am still wondering if I should close up the grid lines or leave them alone where they come to the feathers. I consider myself an insecure beginner at machine quilting even though I have been doing it off and on for about 10 years. Need practice, but have to complete some quilts to have something to practice on. Practicing on queen sized quilts is not as much fun as doing these smaller squares.

I sandwiched all the rest of the blocks using a scant bit of 505 spray adhesive on a large sheet of newsprint and still got glue on my table. I now have a very big box from my new printer that I will put them into next time. When I got to the end of the pile of backing/batting squares, I still had one top square and wondered how this could have happened. I am too left brained to have miss counted. I count the steps every time I go up or down them. I had moved the pile more then several times over the past few months and one had been left behind on a box in the closet. I had been looking for a red square but it was the batting that was face up and I kept missing it. 

Blessings,
Chris

Quilting Goals for July

Today I went shopping then had lunch with a friend. I have been waiting for an opportunity to go to St. Jacob's about an hour from here to visit the Antique Warehouse near the famous St. Jacob's farmers market. The last time I was there, in the fall, I saw a book of antique quilts that I regretted not buying. It was not there today but I found a couple of other treasures. The Art of Quilts by Ruth Marler is one of them. As I was flipping through the pages to decide if I really wanted to invest the $10, I spotted this picture. Had to have it.

The first time I ever heard of the The Morrell Quilt was reading about Carole's completed one in Sept.                See the picture here     
I tracked down the pattern at Threadbare and ordered it in Nov, then had to wait a couple of months until they could print off a copy for me and paid the unheard of sum of $30 to have it shipped to me late Feb.

So, will I make this amazing sampler quilt? I sure hope so. I have the perfect background and 2 yards of a red French General sort of solid that I am using for BTCT. Will there be enough for both? Probably not, but I don't have to worry about that right now. I am determined to complete Dear Jane this month.

My old printer is dying a very noisy death and last night I got the brand new one installed and functioning properly after asking for help so I was able to print off the new BOM patterns.  Then I wrote a Quilt Goals for July list while I was watching Pride and Prejudice on my laptop and prepping blocks and then could not get to sleep.

• Top of the list is prep CCCQ #23.   Check.
• Prep BB #6 & #7.   Partly done. I have to remember that I am machine appliqueing these.
• More prep on BTCT # 4. Need more 1/4 inch bias strips. I turned the green print fabric over to use the back for some of the leaves and thought I would make bias strips out of the solid back.  
• Complete BTCT # 17 which I prepped and took with me last week. Should get it done tonight.
• I had booked time on a longarm for next week to quilt a disappearring 9 patch my daughter made for a wedding quilt for next month. Today I went looking for a suitable wide backing. Got really lucky to find the flannel wide backs 30% off so I bought the rest of the bolt of some plain white to use instead of batting and enough print for 2 queen quilt backs. Have to preshrink it first.
• Complete Dear Jane. 
• Complete GORF. The Red and Green GO Real Fast Quilt has been sitting patiently in a neat pile all layered and ready to complete the machine quilting in sections. I marked the cross hatch lines while babysitting back in the spring, then blitzed Dear Jane triangles. I have 3 girls all ready to go to do the weekend retreat as soon as we can all agree on a date. The plan is to prepare ALL the blocks and borders and get most of it machine appliqued in a weekend using my Go cutter gadgets. I do plan on making another one.  This one will not be in traditional colours.
• Get started on my son and daughter in law's Bali Wedding Star Quilt by Judy Neimeyer. I tracked down enough foundation patterns and fabrics for a king size last year and have not yet started it. Maybe I can get it done for their anniversary in Sept. Maybe.

Blessings,
Chris

100th Blog Post

I really, really, really wanted this one hundredth post to be about my completed Dear Jane top. Instead, it is about  my almost completed Dear Jane top. I have made 23 triangles and 3 corner kites in the past 6 weeks, so I guess that is quite an accomplishment. The top row and top kites are now attached and the rest are just sitting there on the design wall. I cannot get enough of looking at this quilt.

DJ Almost complete

I have 16 triangles and 1 kite left to complete. I know I could do it all before I fly out to visit my daughter next week who is about to give birth to her first baby, but there are other things to do like have my 6 year old granddaughter over for the weekend and help her with her first quilt and CCCQ and Benjamin Biggs will be releasing their BOMs on Sunday and I want to prep a few applique blocks to take along with me for the 3 weeks I will be away. Also, I am almost completed the second course for my doctorate and if I type real carefully, (not fast or I make too many mistakes) I could have it done and submitted. I have a massage booked on Tues and lunch with a friend on Wed.

I get to babysit for 2 more evenings. Then I will not see those 3 precious little girls until the middle of July after they get home from cottaging.  And today another new quilter inquired about the Go Real Fast Quilt Retreat in the fall. So, I have to finish calculating fabric requirements for the different sizes that are being offered before I leave since all 3 girls taking the course are going to the Quilt Farm annual sale June 21 and can get all their supplies at 40% off. Sounds like a good deal to me. I am going to miss Quilt Canada which is in St Catherines, less than an hour from here June 11-14. But that's okay. Meeting my newest grandbaby is more important right now.

For the past 2 days I sat in a lawn chair in the barn yard reading a text book while guarding the gate so my farmer husband could draw manure out to the field without the cows escaping. I know my Sweetie husband will miss me, but he is used to it. He is on a tractor now with planting corn then haying begins and then when he gets off his tractor about mid November he will have time to spend with me when I get back from a week in Poland and 2 weeks in  India. Oh, yes, plans for India are coming along. This past week I  have had 4 people inquire about joining me. That is SO awesome! It will be 2 weeks Nov 1-14. The main event there will be a women's conference where we will get to encourage women who live in a culture where women have no status or value. You can read more here .

And did I mention that I booked a double queen room for 2 nights for the AQS QuiltWeek in Grand Rapids Aug 21-23? I once attended one in Columbus Ohio.

It is looking like an exciting few months ahead. Dear Jane will have to wait a bit longer. I am still trying to decide how I will quilt her up. Will it be in the ditch on my Brother or will I rent time on a long arm and do a simple edge to edge design? Never used a long arm and have no plans for ever buying one. But then, I never thought I would ever go to India or Poland  or do a doctorate.

Blessings a hundred times over,
Chris

Quilting Injuries

I went to Buffalo New York shopping yesterday with a friend and we visited 4 quilt shops. And I only bought fabric in 3 of them. However, I did find a 1/8 inch bias tape maker. That will be fun to try out. My right leg kept cramping up as I was driving. Getting out each shop and walking helped stretch it out a bit.
It appears that  I injured my right knee, at least my massage therapist said it was inflamed and that I should ice it.  And how did I do that? Working on my Go Real Fast quilt. I have been using the knee lift to raise the presser foot as I use both hands to turn the fabric as I stitch around all those lovely flowers and leaves.

The knee started hurting last week when I was spending an hour or 2 every day appliqueing. I tried using my left foot on the foot petal and that worked up to a point. Like when I came to a point and had to change direction and lifted the presser foot with the right knee and forgot to let go of the gas petal with the left foot. I had to do some unstitching. The gadget really is great because it allows me to use both hands and make faster progress. At least I do not have holes in my fingers right now from pricking my fingers so often.

I am off to New Brunswick tomorrow to visit my pregnant daughter (how wonderful those words look) and hang out with her for 2 weeks. She wants to make a queen size disappearing 9 patch for a wedding quilt for August. Now, considering that she is on bed rest for most of her pregnancy guess who will be more than helping? 
Blessings,
Chris

Progress on GO Real Fast Quilt

These are the final 4 blocks for this fast quilt that I started almost a year ago. Although I had researched lots of books and patterns, I ended up doing the traditional blocks in freestyle after having cut out lots of shapes with my GO dies.  I was looking for some inspiration and took the idea here from the Beyond the Cherry Trees Quilt but found a picture on a note card that gave me this layout.

Cherries

 Then I started stitching down each individual wretched little cherry and kept having problems with my machine. This is what I was finding on the underside. Now, I had the machine cleaned and serviced a month ago just as I was starting this machine appplique and I could not figure out what was going wrong.

Nests

So, I decided to check under the throat plate and discovered this big mess of lint. Ah hah. So, I cleaned it out using the special brush.

Lint

Then I found this red thread tangled up in the bobbin area. Sigh.

So, I got some tweezers and carefully removed it and proceeded on with my machine appliqueing. Until I had it happen again several times.

Thread caught in bobbin area

I finally decided that as I kept switching from 0 straight stitch to narrow zigzag every circle and it was messing up, the problem seemed to be not having a long enough top thread before taking the first stitch. It did not happen when I just moved the needle to the next spot without cutting the thread.

Using a press and cut mat to center the background square, I laid out the oak leaves in a circle. It needed something else in it but the acorn on the die was just too big for my liking. I actually found an oak leaf and cherry pattern in a book. I did notice one is missing.

Oak leaf and cherries

Flowers in an oval

Here I was making skinny stems to give the illusion of a circle. I cut out strips from the left over bits after running my custom made leaf di through the cutter. The bottom one turned out more round than the top. I am learning as I play. That is a wrinkle on the top stem.

Orange blossoms

Instead of changing thread colours all the time, I am stitching all the greens first then the reds.
Just have the creamy centers to do. And oh yes, most of those cherries.
Come to think of it, there are no cherries on the Dear Jane quilt.

Blessings,
Chris