To-Do Tuesday for All of September

Since my OMG for September is to complete the wedding quilt, I have broken the process into steps and written them down. This for To-Do Tuesday. There are 10 steps. Sort of.

1. Complete the Center Medallion. It does not have to be perfect, just done. There are 2 borders in the medallion that include no less than 12 mitered corners. I have unstitched and corrected at least 4 of these already. 
2. Make 10 more nine-inch blocks. Remove the papers. The foundation patterns have been ready and waiting since April. 
3. Decide on placement and sew them to the setting triangles. Sew these into 4 strips and attach them to the medallion. This is border number 3. Once this is off the design wall, it will not go back up again. That will free up the wall for other projects. 
4. Figure out the placement and sew border number 4 onto the center. This is a fancy-dancy Jinny Beyer border print with mitered corners to match to perfection. 
5. Calculate border number 5, the Rose of Sharon appliques, by centering it to the quilt, sew it on, and miter the corners. The goal here is to do it without any meltdowns. 
6.  Center and place the already prepped applique leaves and flowers that have been patiently waiting in the project box since about 2005. Sew them in place. I had sewn all the earlier ones by hand. But all that glue. Might do this by machine. 
7. Center and attached the final border. Miter those corners to perfection. You would think that by the time I get here, I will know what I am doing. We shall see. 
8. Book the longarm again. 
9. Prep the backing and press the top, removing stray threads.
10. Prep and sew on the binding. 

If I aim for 2 steps per week. I should have this put together by the end of the month. I will book the longarm when I am on the last border. 

Wish me luck,

Chris

The Girls

 Devan is building a doll house out of cardboard boxes. This girl should really consider becoming an architect or engineer. She needed pillows for the beds so made 4 blues ones and 4 pink ones using some 2 1/2-inch pre-cuts. She is 9 now. So, it was time for her to learn how to wind the bobbin. She had to use some of the new coloured Aurifil threads I won here last year. And, had to have matching thread in the bobbin. I wonder where she learned that from? She also learned how to put the bobbin case in and out as well as thread the machine. She is using the Bernina because it has a 1/4-inch seam guide. The Jazz does also, but the Bernina is better. And besides, I was busy jamming up the Jazz. She is now using the iron and rotary cutters by herself. She tends to complete projects she starts. She goes into grade 4 next week.

Ellyse and I made a trip to the UK to support my sister whose husband of nearly 51 years passed away last month. We survived sharing a double bed for 8 days. She claims I pushed her out one night, but I don't remember doing that. She put in a few stitches on a cross-stitch bookmark. She got to play with newborn puppies and she went to London to visit the Queen, who was up north that week. So she petted the horse and went on a boat ride on the River  Thames. She is a great travel companion. She goes into grade 5.

I took Ava to several nurseries to locate a few things for the patio. She said it was the best shopping trip EVER. She found fancy teas, like Matcha green tea and grapefruit, sparkly earrings, a scrub brush as well as various kitchen gadgets. She plans to start making dinner at least once a week for us. Looking forward to that. She also discovered tiny succulent plants including a Venus Flytrap. She now has a grow-op in her room. I told her she would have to take the blanket off the window and let the light in for the plants. She goes into grade 10.

I have 9 complete Lucy crosses so far. If I behave myself, I could have the next 3 done by Wed. I corrected the offending corner units on the blue stripe block. I had sewn the pairs together wrong. My summer goal was to have 12 of these done. But then, summer is not officially over until Sept 21. I plan to focus on stitching together as many sashing strips and cornerstones as I have white hexies basted for my Sept Lucy goal. I caved and am using glue for the 1-inch squares. 

Blessings,

Chris

The Boys

 The little boys have been getting quite the education at the farm. They are learning how to drive the golf cart. Bandage bruised knuckles. Smack flies. Put them in water to make sure they are really dead. Collect eggs and leaving one for tomorrow marking it with a face or some such artwork. Sleeping in the same bed. Two blankets work better than one. Eating vegetables with Grampa and ice cream with Gramma. Going on adventures like mini golfing, shopping for new sandals, and taking the garbage out to the end of the road on the golf cart. 

No cows to milk and frequent rain keeping Grampa off the tractor, making more time to play Settlers of Catan and UNO. Watching movies after bedtime and making business propositions to earn some real moneys. A dime for sweeping the kitchen floor and another for straightening all the shoes. And then he discovered that the cleaning lady gets sixty dollars for doing that again. He can count money. 

And didn't one of them ask when they were going to learn how to sew. Sigh. I am not ready for that part of their education. Not yet anyway. 

The boys are now on a cruise ship in the Atlantic going to Bermuda. They return sometime this week. David is going into grade1 and Jonathan into grade 3. Where has the time gone? They were just here 4 days a week while mom went back to school for a year and I changed diapers and snuggled them at the same time. But that was 4 years ago and they are too big to sit on my lap. I tell them that it will soon be my turn to sit on their laps. For snuggles. 

I have 25 Churn Dash SAL blocks made. I think they will look just fine alternating the mirror images. 

Blessings,

Chris 

OMG Completion August 2022

 My OMG goal for August was, again, just having fun and enjoying my stitching without deadlines and pressure. And I succeeded!! 

The Churn Dash SAL asked for 8 blocks for the month. To date, I have completed 16. I used the 8 HST method and had enough to make 2 of each fabric. So I decided to do one mirror image. Will they both be in the same quilt? Who knows! 

I have 10 more ready to sew together. I hope to have them done by the end of the month.

I had an oops moment (for 2 days) when the presser foot on the Jazz slipped so that I could not lift it to put my blocks under to sew them, and I did not know how to fix that. So, today I found the manual and fixed it. I will have to wind bobbins again very soon. This time I plan to do several. 

Last night I found an email from Chooky inviting us to an impromptu zoom party just minutes after it started. So, I quickly got my Lucy stitching box and spent the next 2 hours happily stitching together hexies.

I stitched these hexies together in England last week. Ellyse went with me. We went to the local quilt shop twice, and I bought a bit of yardage. Some I bought 3 years ago and was glad to find more. It is a border print that I plan to use for a border. On some yet to be dreamed up quilt. A small one. 

I still have those 4 corner units to stitch on. Some of the blue balls go up, and some go down. Will I let it bother me? And now to get the dark lines to line up when sewn together without puckering. 

I did baste a whole lot of other hexies that I had cut out last winter. Lots of basic filler colours. Now to find some show-stoppers. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: smallquiltsanddollquilts.design-wall-monday-

To-Do Tuesday

 My Sweetie and I celebrated 51 years of marriage with family last week. The girls are at camp. Everyone else has returned to their normal lives while we are here with just the 2 little boys.

This week's list is simple:

1. Babysit little boys while mom and dad are on their 25th-anniversary Alaskan cruise.
2. Pack my bags for a quick trip to England to support my sister who recently lost her husband of more than 50 years.
   
   
   
3. I have my hand stitching prepped and ready to pack. But wait! I gave 3 carry-on bags to my daughter for her cruise so am now borrowing another sister's bag. It is amazing with its versatility and lighter weight. You only need a carry-on for a trip in summer anyway. 

I have so many pieces for Lucy that I finally organized things in two of those large see-through veggie trays. Well, I only had two, I have lots of other parts in 3-4 other see-through project boxes and cookie trays. If I do not see it - it does not exist. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with texasquiltgal.to-do-tuesday 

August OMG Goal

I met my July goal by having fun working on a variety of projects. We have been celebrating family this week. My children were all born in July, and so was I. We have family dinners. Usually pizza and cake but this year we went to a restaurant. Not once. But twice. Really radical, I know. There were about 14 of us at the most amazing Chinese buffet with countless options for everyone. The little boys were given chopsticks to alleviate boredom. How could a 6-year-old be bored when he could eat his chocolate-coated strawberries and then his ice cream with chopsticks? 

Although I have had 25,567 days to prepare for my 70th birthday, it still took me by surprise. Well, maybe more like a shock. I think I may start eating my ice cream with chopsticks. I was given a couple of sets. 

We had postponed celebrating our 50th-anniversary last year and decided to not do anything spectacular this year. Maybe next year we can have a 50+2 thing. We did have a wonderful family-filled day, beginning with mini-golf, pancake brunch, games, and barbeque, then more games and hanging out until dark. All this outside on the most amazing summer day ever. Grandchildren running around outside playing, eating, four-wheeling, golf carting, eating, and general chaotic movement, while the adults of 3 older generations sat back and enjoyed it all. 

The contractors have arrived to transform the backyard of this 1840's farmhouse.   

The view from the west.

From the north.

From the south.

So back to my August OMG quilting goal. I will continue the enjoying of the process for the month. There are several projects I am working on. Yesterday I reported for jury selection duty. Last time I was the second fourth juror for the third trial. I was excused. This time I was excused because of a conflict of interest. 

Until next time,

blessings,

Chris

Churn Dash SAL

 I succumbed to Chooky's SAL along with 41 other quilters around the world. What fun. We are making 8 blocks a month for 4 months. A good pace if you are organized. 

A few false starts had me paying attention better. I am using several old collections by Robyn Pandolph from many years ago.

These are my 8 July Churn Dash blocks.

Add them to the 6 I made in June.

 I am using a variety of solid creamy fabrics. This is a bit of a challenge to keep them all straight. I do not want to mix up the backgrounds. I have all the coloured fabrics cut already waiting and as I cut the backgrounds, I put them into nice, neat, organized file folders. Because I can. I have several other projects on the go and want to keep things in order. It is more fun that way, in my head, and definitely more productive. My OMG goal for July was to have fun working on several quilts, and I have done that. 

I have an invitation (summons) for jury duty on Tues. Who knows what I will be up to next week. 

I even got most of my To-To Tuesday goals accomplished in the past 2 weeks. We have a big family event on this weekend so my quilting goals will be minimal this week. 

1. Sew something.
2. Cut a few hexies for Lucy since I finally found the elusive fabric I have been searching for this month.
3. Baste the hexies already clipped and clip some more. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with myquiltinfatuation. wendysquiltsandmore. 

ninamariesayre.off-wall-friday.