A Heart A Day For The Month of May

Deb over at Happy to be Scrappy is stitching 

a heart a day in the month of May. 

I think I will play along. It has to be easy. 

So I pulled out some pre-cuts and ran them through the GO Baby.

Now I have a nice pile of four inch blocks and hearts.

The goal of this game is to stitch one heart each day

not stitch 31 hearts.

Blessings,

Chris

Planning Plans to Plan for My May Plans

I have been wrestling with what my one monthly goal for May should be. It should be small and doable.

I have all the completed and in-process Dear Daughter blocks with their sashing strips and cornerstones on the small design wall. The top 8 are complete and stitched to the sashing and cornerstones. The lower 5 are in process. Since I started more than the required donuts and 2 alternate blocks, I am ahead of the game for next months blocks which will be released on Tuesday. I am hand appliqueing these. 

Dear Daughter Sampler

I was talking to a writing coach the other day and am instigating a 90-day goal for one "big" thing. You better believe quilting is not on that list of one "big" thing.  My 90-day "big" thing will be to complete the 5 doctoral courses that I have been pretending to work on for the past couple of years. After that, I will set another 90-day "big" thing goal.  It might be to complete the final 4 courses. It might be to finish writing my second book. I have pages and pages of notes in a box. I took them out to look through them one night before I left for the Shipshewana Retreat thinking naively that I could write a few more pages. Did not happen. I was having too much fun shopping and stitching and visiting. 

I have not played any computer games for 28 days in a row. Instead, I have been turning the computer off and doing other things. Even a bit of house work. But not too much. Today I put the 3 completed Dear Jane 2 blocks into a box and then put the Morrell blocks onto the big design wall. They are looking so good. Well, in my opinion. All 19 of them. But, alas, I am procrastinating yet again.  

I also have been tidying project boxes and putting them away in the cavernous quilt cupboard upstairs as well as clearing off my endless tables here in the quilt room. It is almost time to take the many geraniums outside for the summer and open the windows. The sun started shining in here recently and I cannot believe how prolific the cobs have been spinning webs this past winter.

I think I will be removing the dreadful machine quilting stitches from my first Dear Jane quilt and starting over. I found out what I had been doing wrong causing the quilt to drag instead of feed using the walking foot on no less then 2 machines. I am still waiting for the Brother to come home from servicing at the repair shop. It turns out that the feed dogs were not dropping because I was not able to turn the knob one more time to drop them. Something about arthritis and sore hands. 

Which brings me back to wrestling with what my OMG could be for May. It should be small and doable. I guess it is looking me in the face. I will finish 4 more blocks for Dear Daughter. That will give me 2 complete rows. I could sew them all together then couldn't I.  But then, I don't want to over do it. 

Blessings,

Chris

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Dear Daughter

It's hard to believe I have been home from 

Shipshewana for more than a week. 

How has the time gone by so quickly? 

I guess having little people here almost everyday does that. 

My OMG for April was to complete 8 blocks

and

prepare ALL the sashing and cornerstones 

for Dear Daughter. 

This way I can add them as I complete blocks each month. 

Feeling rather accomplished.

Blessings, 

Chris

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 

March 2018 OMG Done

I met my March one-monthly-goal. 

It was to complete these 3 Beyond the Cherry Trees blocks.

These next 2 blocks are practically the same 

but made by different quilters.

I wonder who made the first and who copied?

Either way

I am so done with reverse applique rose buds.

At least for now.  

I think I will put these all away for a while. 

It is Easter weekend and the grandchildren 

will be here Sunday and Monday. 

I am making dinner for Monday.

 Crockpot Ham and scalloped potatoes out of a box. 

Simple. 

Blessings,

Chris

Dear Daughter BOM is Launched

I have had mixed feelings about doing this Block (read 4) of the Month from sentimental stitches.
When Gay announced it back in November, I thought "No way." I don't have that kind of time this year. Then I read closer and saw the name "Dunham" on the signature block and had to join in. My husband's middle name is Dunham after his mother's family. She is 89 years old and still drives herself everywhere.  This is a family quilt, albeit from 1850-1852.  I recall my husband's grand parents going to the Dunham Reunion over the years, once in Michigan. I contemplated doing it in ultra modern colours like black and white. And all those donuts would look quite appetizing in Kaffe Fassett colours. This block is Coverlet Collection Mary Koval reproduction from 1820-1850.

Then I thought I could do it the simple way using a fusible and machine appliqueing the raw edges.
After that, I pulled out the bin of reproduction fabrics from the 1830's and 1840's. And I had enough Kona Snow to do it several times. But there is the time word again.

But when Gay posted the first blocks last week and I saw up close the simplicity of some of the blocks, I jumped right in. There will be lots of Broderie Perse bits and pieces through out the quilt.

I have 12 yards of a Sturbridge Village reproduction blue and white floral I decided to use for the sashing. The original has blue and red but do not want another red quilt,  so  I am using more white.
When I started cutting the strips, I goofed. I wanted them a bit smaller than the original. So instead of cutting them 2 inches wide to finish 1 1/2 for a 4 1/2 inch sashing, I cut them 1 1/2 and now the sashing will be 3 inches and I like it.

Call me crazy, but I have prepped more than the 3 donuts for this month. I also bought the extra patterns since there will be at least 11 donuts. I cannot just start one block and finish it. I have all these prepped ready to pick up whenever I want to do some hand work.

Then I went right off the rails and started cutting out lots and lots of bits for the abundance of Broderie Perse applique that prevails in this amazing quilt. Why? Because it was easy and I had a lot of print fabric with the right sized motifs.

And why do I have 2 pair of Dear Jane scissors in the box? They are on a time out. I bought a pair for each of my granddaughters since they have very long thin fingers. Mine are fat and awkward so I prefer to use the larger hole stork scissors. I have several pair in case I have to give them up at airports.  All the grand children were here for a few days this past week since it was March Break  and I could not let the little boys see the girls using them because I have not yet taught them how to use razor sharp little scissors. They saw the girls using the white board markers last time and we know what David did with the red one.

Blessings,
Chris

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