Baltimore or Bust

 I went to a quilt show 2 weeks ago. There was the most incredible Little Brown Bird quilt hand appliqued, embroidered and quilted. I got the book a lot of years ago and read it. The same maker had donated a hand appliqued and hand quilted sampler quilt for the draw prize. I did not win that. 

What I did was buy this hand appliqued, hand embroidered and machine quilted wall hanging. It measures 62 inches square. When I first saw it, I drooled and walked on by. Then a second look showed that it was for sale. The cost (cash) was about what I would pay to buy all the fabric and have it machine quilted by my long arm girl. 

The hand work is beyond exquisite.

So fine and delicate. The details.

Those red circles are tiny then get tinier. The custom machine quilting is breathtakingly detailed. 

 This is the stuff in my dreams. One thing on my bucket list over the years had been to exhibit one of  my quilts in a national show. Well, that is never going to happen since you have to actally finish one and enter it. 

Well, this quilter not only finished it, she entered it, had it juried, judged and exhibited at 4 big quilt shows. I did not realize this until I had paid for it and the label showed where it hung back in 2018 in Grand Rapids, Paducah, Virginia Beach and in 2019 Lancaster. 

So I am the proud owner of a quilt that had not only realized one of my dreams, I did not have to do any of  the work.  

There was an ATM at the venue. 

blessings,

Chris

September Just Disappeared

I finally got to cross Alaskan Inland Passage Cruise off my bucket list from 1990. My daughter Melanie in the middle, Devan on the left and Ellyse on the right. They are really tall. The girls knew about the train ride but the puppies was a surprise. They knew about zip lining but the helicopter ride up 5000 ft to Herbert Glacier was a surprise. They found out as we were walking to the shuttle bus to the airport. Otherwise, they may have mutineed. It was amazing. Elly made snow angels and Devan lay face down beside the 30 foot deep crevice lapping icy cold clear glacier water. 

Our ship was rather small as cruise ships go so it could navigate all the small islands and the Dawes Glacier Inlet. The first 2 days at sea were cloudy and rain but then the sky cleared and the sun came out to give us the most amazing setting.

The verse my  Sweetie prayed over us before we left was: 

From the rising of the sun (at Dawes Glacier) to the going down of the same (Herbert Glacier near Juneau) may the name of the Lord be prasied.

Next cruise is booked for end of Jan with almost 19 year old Ava to Nassau. She is a full time working girl and January the bake shop is closed. So perfect. Melanie and 12 year old Jonathan are coming. Poor David gets left behind that trip because he is off to Barcelona next week for soccer camp. That's Barcelona Spain. Our David. His mom and dad are taking him.

Jonathan will be here next weekend then Grampa will stay with him and the cat for a week. Grampa is having carpal tunnel surgery next week so will be healing. Jonathan will take care of him. 

The Chookshed number was 4. Mine was to work on something on the list. So I had to check the list. Last month I worked on something not on the list, which now is on the list, so I have been working on Stonefields (by Susan Smith). I have been machine appliqueing the hexie flowers around the outside borders. It is going well when I actually work on it. The last number on the list is to start a new quilt. Who'd have thought? I might wait a bit before commiting to that.

It is now October. When did that happen? We do not have signs of frost coming anytime soon. 

I have Wensleydale spread out all over tables in the SonRoom. Trying to get all the pieces for 60 blocks organized, ready to take to retreat next month. 

I am going to the Jane Stickle Quilt Retreat in Shipshewana Indiana. I have my Civil War Dear Jane quilt complete, quilted and bound ready for show and tell.

I plan to take some Omigosh to work on. I still have to cut the yellows and the purples. This months colour is neutrals. Not sure what that means for this project. My goal is to have the Shoo Fly blocks all made before the end of this year then figure out the double nine patch colors later. My OMG will be to get those yellow and purple Shoo Fly pieces cut out. 

Also, I finally got a shot of cortisone in my right hand and the pain has calmed down a lot. Still pretty stiff, but I will try some hand applique to see if I can still do that. I have several blocks from Ella in a bag I have dragged all over the world in the past few years trying to get them done.  

I went to a quilt show last week. Bought a quilt. Yup. I did. I will write about it next time. 

blessings,

Chris

Late August Reflections

My Chookshed Challenge was to work on something  not on my list. I spent a good amount of time with Stonefields this month. 

I started machine appliqueing on the hexie flowers. Since the glue I used will never come off, it has been easy to manipulate everything around and through the opening. 

My OMG challenge was to make progress on Tumbling Blocks.  I started connecting the units together to  make horizontal rows. After I got 2 rows made, I sewed those together. I am sewing through the EPP papers. Crazy, I know. They do not fold over easily to run through the opening on the Bernina. I can switch to using the Jazz, which has 12 generous inches, but it is upstairs and there are a gzillion things piled on the glass table beside it.

I am now using a size 90 needle instead the 80. The bigger hole allows me to tear out the papers easily.

 I have been cutting small pieces for Omigosh and more for Wensleydale. 

The nights are cooler these days of late August. I heard a cricket the other day and saw some crows. These are signs of autumn coming soon. We had been having lots of rain. Too bad we cannot share it with other parts of the country that are so dry.

I read a very interesting novel called The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules. A totally ridiculous who-dunnit starring a bunch of geriatric residents of a nursing home in Sweden. 

We are all checked in for our trip to Alaska. The temperature in Skagway next week will be 9 C or 48 F and rain. Low of 5 C or 41 F at night. And that is why we are taking our winter coats. I have not yet started to pack, but I do have a Go-Bag on standby with tavel documents, earbuds, neck pillow, etc. Too bad I broke my MP3 player. It had 6 hours of my fav travel music. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: Small Quilts and Doll Quilts: Design Wall Monday - August 24, 2026

Not All My Scathingly Brilliant Ideas Are So Brilliant

I may have an earned doctorate, but that does not necessarily make me the sharpest pair of scissors in my sewing kit. Just sayin'.

Stonefields (designed by Susan Smith) has seen some action this week. I had a lot more glue basted hexies  using Sew Line glue sticks. Then I sewed together more hexie flowers. 

Initially, I tried pinning the flowers onto the outer borders. It was easy when I just stabbed a pin to hold them on the big design wall. But had to remove all that to actually secure them. Pinning them on was too hard and they were puckered.

I glue basted 25 flowers onto each of the first 2 outer borders. Now I realise that the Quilters Stitching glue I used will NEVER release. Maybe heat will work?

This time I removed the center paper. That was not too difficult. I switched to using a size 90 needle after using a size 80. This is supposed to enable tearing off the papers. We shall see. I also switched to a different glue. One of the flowers fell off when I put the borders on the wall.

I am carefully positioning and measuring each flower so we stand a chance of having them evenly spaced apart. Eventually, after machine quilting and washing, the whole thing will be sort of scrunched up that it will not be so obvious if they are not even. At least that is what I am telling myself. 

I bought a new wool mat. Saw one at a farm picnic last month that the quilter's husband bought for her and fastened to a big board with bolts to hold it steady forever.  I got the 22x60 size. 

It is too wide for my large pressing board, but it sits on the table beautifully and does not squirm. It has a felt carrying case in case I decide to take it to a quilt retreat somewhere. But retreats often allocate 6 feet or 4 feet of table space, so will have to give that some thought. 

The border fabric stayed perfectly in place and did not wiggle. This was really satisfying after my previous experiences. 

Next, I started to machine applique the first hexie flower down. I was eager to see how that would work. I am using a 60wt poly that sort of disappears with a narrow zig zag stitch. There are 18 sides to each flower, so turning the corner 18 times. For each hexie flower.

There are, so far, 25 flowers on each of the first 2 outer borders. There will be 4 outer borders. You can do the math. There will be more flowers in the corners. Eventually. 

Time to let this project marinate for now. 

Blessings,

Chris

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Stonefield's Update

 

Stonefields (by susan Smith) has been sadly neglected for way too long. The last time I had it out to look at was the end of March. I 'd had great intentions and then did nothing for the next few months. 

I tried scattering the hexie flowers on these outer borders after I cut another wider set, but had to figure out the spacing and then fasten them on to do the machine applique. I stabbed them onto the design wall. Then had to fugure how to connect them off the wall. But pinning them was really hard on my hands. 

So, I took everything down and lay them out on a table after I cleared away my papers and icecream bowls. I discovered Kawartha Dockside Cappochino ice cream. And I thought they did not get any better than Salted Caramel Truffle.

This actually is easier to space them. I am using that Quilter's Choice basting glue. It is hard to squeeze and will never let go of the fabric. I only put on a few tiny dots to the turned over seam allowance not onto the papers which I still have to remove. Someday. 

The Chookshed Challenge  number for August is 6 so I get to work on somehting not on my list. I guess that can be Stonefields since it is not on the list and it is on my table. 

blessings,

Chris

linking with: smallquiltsanddollquilts.design-wall-monday-

August Quilting Goals

I turned 74 the other day. No less than 3 cakes showed up at the local Legion fish fry that my older brother organized. It was really nice. All my kids and their kids and my local siblings were there. 

I had not set any OMG goals for July but intend to for August. But what will it be? I have so many options and decision making has been a challenge. It is a part of the neurodivergent thing and being a bit ADHD. Not to belabour talking about this, but I have been fascinated with some of the characteristics. 

I had one of the boys put the Tumbling Blocks up on the big design wall. 

That colourful fabric will be the backing and a border.

I am using 3 Stonehenge Gradation layer cakes with 3 inch 6 point diamond papers and machine zig zag top stitching. 

I sewed up a lot more of the Tumbling Blocks and my sister started playing with them.

Not all the blocks have the same orientation of colour value. Will it bother me? 

I thought about taking it down and getting the girls to play with them after they come home from camp. One is at bi-lingual camp in Quebec with her father and step mother. Another is at Circle Square Ranch with horses and other 13 year olds. The oldest one is working full time at the bakery and loving it. She has been learning how to make home made pies by the hundreds. Now she will soon master butter tarts and cookies by the thousands.  Then I reconsidered and have decided to sew it together just like it is. I still have to prep 2 half hexies to smooth out the sides. That will be my OMG goal for August.  

I have been writing. I printed off all the chapters and arranged them in aphabetical order. This helped me see what I was missing since it is an ABC look at how we stayed married for 50 years. 

And I have discovered Google Docs! Now don't laugh. I had no idea. My editor has been returning each chapter with her many recommendations and I had been moving them over to Word where I have been working for nearly 30 years. But now Google Docs. My sister visiting earlier this summer, showed me how to locate and access all those pages. And then, I learned how to create a new document and finally save it and name it. This is pretty radical learning for an old gramma who resisted getting a cell phone until our landline cables were severed 4 years ago. 

My highschool quilting friend Barb will be visiting here later in the month for a couple of days of stitching. I plan to invite a few others to join us. I think I will start sewing up the Wensleydale blocks then. In the meantime, I have been playing with the outer hexie border of Stonefields (from Susan Smith). 

I cut a few pink pieces for Omigosh. I had not done that colour back in April. The August RSC colour is yellow. I have some scraps ready to cut. I am having difficulty locating my reproduction purples. I know I have lots but where?  I have another month for those.  No progress to report on Wreath of Roses. But I have a plan. I always have a plan. 

blessings,

Chris

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Half Year Reflections

It is hard to believe that 2026 is more than half gone. I find that, as I get older, time seems to whiz by faster than ever. Part of that is forgetting what has been going on most days. Every night, as I get ready for bed and am taking out my dentures, (yes got those), it seems that I was just there a few minutes ago. And as I climb into bed, I lay on my back and do some simple stretches before laying awake for a couple of hours reflecting on what I did not get done through the day and what I want to be doing for the next decade or two. I doubt anyone else has these reflections. 

I posted a list in January of some Plans, Goals and Dreams for 2026. Last night I was reading back through all my blog post for this year. I doubt anyone else does that either. I was reminded of some of the blog intentions I had considered. Our summer house guests are gone home for now and I have 6 weeks of space in my days to complete a few things. Then I go on an epic Alaskan cruise with my duaghter and 2 younger granddaughters. I have not told them all the plans. Need to have some surprise adventures. 

Here is an recap of my plans and goals and dreams so far for 2026. I may have more as I start writing, because I usually write whatever comes to mind. But I did make a list of things to consider. I really did. Does anyone else do that before writing up their blog post?

Quilting

I started 4 new quilts for the Choodshed Challenge. I have one more new potential start on the list. I started Omigosh, Wreath of Roses, Tumbling Blocks and Wensleydale. I think I only bought fabric once back in April when we went to a quilt show. I bought 4 layer cakes. Two of them are reproduction shirtings for more variety for OMIGOSH backgrounds. I made progress on Bricks and Mortar. And I put in a few hand stitches to a couple of TOMDO blocks. Not much visible progress on Stonefields, but I have 1 outer border laid out for positioning the many hexie flowers. This is tricky since I have all the papers still in them. 

Finishes

I finished one top Churn Dash but I may still add a border. I have been wanting to get back into machine quilting. My skills are really rusty. But I need a few finished tops to practice on. I consider the possibilites often then turn around and forget.

Travel

We went to India in March. My Sweetie and I. It was an impulsive decision and we told no one until we were leaving. It was wonderful to make that trip with him along. We were there together in 2008 and I had been there12 times without him. Trips planned for later this year are Alaska with my daughter and 2 younger granddaughters and England to celebrate my sister there turning 80. 

Health

I turn 74 next week. I had a goal and dream of losing 26 lbs. I have lost some of that several times and found most of it again. Two more of the female massage therapists I have been seeing left the local place I go to. I have some issue with my upper right arm. Not sure what is going on, but it has been for at least 6 months. Will be getting some imaging done to see. I have been doing lots of rotary cutting and machine sewing but try to not do too much at a time. Had a bulging disc in my lower back in Feb but that has settled down nicely and I see a chiropractor routinely.  

I moved the recumbant bike into the SonRoom and it sits behind one of the tables. I thought if it was here I might remember to use it. But, alas, I cannot see it so will move it front and center so I am almost tripping over it to remember to use it. I got into the hot tub regularly to soak and do stretching exercises, since I have the scoliosis thing and cannot walk far without assistance. 

Blogging 

I do want to be blogging more often, but not a recap of my everyday life. I do a lot of that in my journals and morning pages when I actually write them. I had been keeping track of my 15 minutes daily stitching and have 91/161 days for the first 6 months of this year. But I forgot to link up. And the To-Do Tuesday. I keep writing to-do lists but not written up any blog posts. And OMG. I think I posted 2 times. I kept up with the RSC colour of the month 5/6 months with OMIGOSH.

Reading 

I have read a lot about adult ADHD and forgetting is a huge part and avoidance is another as well as distraction. I re-read the entire Anne of Green Gables series this month. I have a boxed set that was sitting on a shelf in the SonRoom out of reach but moved it when many of the house plants went outside. And didn't I buy not just a few new books. Maybe I will write up some insights on some of them. They are not all fiction novels. I read 66 books. This includes individual book of the Bible that I read often. I also have read through most of the journals I have kept over the past 30 years looking for insights for my memoir books. 

Leading 

I have been leading a monthly writing group. We met 5 times and have taken a break until Sept. I keep getting scathingly brilliant ideas but then forget unless I write them down. My Sweetie and I lead and host a bi-weekly small group from our church. Two of our members died in the spring. We are taking a summer break and will resume in Sept. 

Writing

I submitted 16 chapters to my editor for my book in progress called How We Stayed Married for 50 Years.  A month of house guests put a stop to that. However, I have since learned how to locate all my edit recommendations in Google Docs. Who knew? And how to save all the changes with just a click of a key. Who knew? I hope I can remember how. I continue to write morning pages and journal, but not everyday. 

Gardening

I contune to amaze myself with how ever year I buy lots of flowering plants and forget to actually plant them. And why? I cannot make up my mind where to put them. But I must have flowers. 

Enough reminiscing for now. Now to remember to follow through on the plans and goals and dreams for the rest of the year. We decided to take a quick trip to Pennsylvania next week to visit farming friends. 

blessings,

Chris