Decisions Decisions

Since completing the rest of the Beyond the Cherry Trees borders, I have been trying to decide what my Feb OMG will be. Will I assemble all 25 blocks and add the borders for a flimsy?
I can't do that yet. After it is assembled, I still have to finish the corners with a few more cherries and leaves. But before I can do any of that, I want to add a few more birds. At least 4. Oh, and I wanted to write where I was when I was stitching on the blocks. Five continents, three provinces, and countless states.

And, I also want to add the date and maybe my initials. I told 6-year od Devan that I wanted to put the date 2020 on to the red bowl with the fruit in it. She suggested the big green bowl.

 When I asked why she said the red bowl block already has a lot in it and the green bowl did not. She had added extra grapes on it a couple of years ago.


Then there is the case of hand quilting. Do I want to assemble the completed thing and hand quilt it that way? It turns out that way back on Christmas Day I trimmed all 25 blocks to 16 1/2 inches ready to assemble them. Then I realized that the finished blocks are supposed to be 16 1/2 inches making the center 3 inches shorter. The borders would have to be shortened to fit. I left on extra bias vine to blend the corners and did not stitch quite to the end of the pattern. Speaking of pattern, I dropped all the pattern pieces into the recycle bin back in December when I put the final cherries in place. Oops. I will have to figure out the corners from a picture of the original. I like doing that sort of thing. Then it was suggested that I hand quilt each block individually and assemble them later. I have researched the Potholder Method.

I think it is fun now to post a few pictures with borders showing. You will have to wait until later to see what I end up doing. In the meantime, I submitted another course and have writing to do. My goal of 2000 words today is a tad short with 2000 still to go.

Blessings,
Chris
frombolttobeauty. off-wall-friday.

June OMG 2019 Finish

My one-monthly-goal for June was to complete the last BTCT block.
I have been hand appliqueing these blocks on and off for 5 years.
Kathy at slow-sunday-stitching is celebrating 7 years sharing what others are slow stitching.   
This is where you can find my first post.

This is what all 25 Beyond the Cherry Trees blocks look like in the original setting.
Now to prep the 4 borders.
I think I will prep all 4 at the same time when I have the long tables set up.

Also,
I need something to obsess about.
I really, really want to hand quilt this one.
I have a really ancient frame that my husband's paternal grandmother used here a hundred years ago.
I have considered sewing the whole 100 inches by 100 inches together and
 getting someone else to hand quilt it.
I have considered quilt as you go.
I do have an oval rotating frame that I have never used, yet.
It's not that I do not know how to quilt by hand.
it's just that it is hard on arthritic hands.
But,
I do not have to worry about this right now.
In the meantime,
I will again be taking a summer blogging break.
I will have family visiting and little girls will be here for weeks at a time.
I will be back in Sept with my next OMG.

Blessings,

Chris

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Slow Sunday Stitching

June Dear Daughter Blocks 

Photocopied the patterns onto heavy freezer paper 

 ironed them onto the reproduction fabrics

 sprayed Best Press on 

before pressing the seam allowance 

to the back

Now the hand stitching fun begins.

Blessings,

Chris

How In The World Am I To Quilt This Thing ???

My Feb one-monthly-goal was to get my first Dear Jane quilt 

layered and ready for quilting. 

Done.

From the beginning

I wanted to put on the scalloped border

in blue 

like the original.

Using  the scallop tutorial from Linda Franz for guidance,

I marked 5 inch scallops onto the 

 border before layering. 

I just used a pencil to mark what will eventually be the cutting line.

I hunted for years

then found this mini scallop ruler.

I do not remember where. 

It was easy to line up the 5 inch width on the inside curve

and 1/2 inch seam allowance. 

Then I looked at pictures of the original-jane-stickle-quilt

for quilting inspiration.  

I obsessed for  years about how to quilt this thing. 

At first, I was going to hand quilt it. 

I tried a sample but changed my mind since the background fabric 

is a high thread count with fine threads

and nearly impossible for my arthritic hands to push a needle through in a tight hoop.

Then I planned to machine quilt it 

but my machine quilting skills do not compare to some I have seen on-line

done to perfection  

quilted to death

 some quilt-as-you-go

and some 

well, a lot less than perfect. 

I want to be able to look at it in years to come and 

see the joy and satisfaction of the journey

not all the errors. 

Then I planned to quilt using Perle Cotton and 

big stitches and no hoop.

That was a disaster.

I could not push or pull the needle and thicker thread 

through with any ease. 

As I looked more closely at the original,

I see that Jane Stickle did not have perfect half inch

sashing strips framing each of the 169 

four and a half inch blocks in her quilt 

like mine do.

She ran her hand

 quilting stitches 

right through the middle of many of the

coping strips she used to make many of her blocks

finish at the 5 inches needed to make everything fit.

So, I pulled out the Brother and set up the big tables

in an L-shape with the craft table nestled in nicely. 

Took time to clean out the bit of lint,

put in a new needle, 

then tested the thread tension. 

For the life of me,

 I cannot remember the details of tread tension, 

so I pull out one of Harriet Hargrave's books 

and check one more time,

every time. 

Turns out that my top tension was too loose,

again. 

Something about little boys turning nobs.

Then the little girl grand children showed up for a sleepover 

and the little boys came the next day

and we celebrated a 6th birthday with 

pizza and cake. 

(To be continued)

Blessings,

Chris 

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February Quilting Goals

I had a dream last night that I was binding a quilt

!!! . . . by hand . . . !!!

Haven't done that in so many years

I forget how far back. 

My Feb one-monthly-goal-february-goal-setting

plan

is to finally sandwich my first 

Dear Jane Quilt

and get it ready to hand quilt.

The patchworktimes 2018-ufo-challenge

number for Feb is 1 which is Serendipity

but I am working on that one monthly for the RSC.

So my focus will be to sandwich and

machine quilt the 1857 Album Quilt 

which is #2 on the list.

No promises that I will bind it by hand or machine.

This months RSC colour is purple

so Bright Jane might come out to play since

it is Feb and winter is half over. 

I am going away again this weekend 

so have 3 BTCT blocks prepped with more buds

and leaves

and 2 textbooks this time.

Blessings,

Chris

Reality Check

I have had the most amazing adventures this year but it is mid November and the year is fast coming to an end. I have been invited to jury duty this coming week and do not yet know what time lines that might encompass. Last time, 25 years ago, I had to report daily for 2 weeks. We shall see on Monday.

Two days ago lost internet access and wondered how I ever managed to get through a day without being on the computer and on line. I should do it more often. The desk top is still out. Something about an IP address? The laptop works. But the big desk top is more fun and it has a touch screen. So much easier to see and to play  . . . uh . . . never mind.

The little boys keep coming for 4 days a week and we are having a lot of fun. Well, until little David keeps climbing onto my lap and pushing buttons, hence the internet issue. Also, some of the house phones do not ring. Something about pushing buttons. And Jonathan glued everything in his room at home with a jar of vaseline. Glad it was there so I did not have to clean it up here. Dawn dish soap helps.

This year I completely completed, including quilting and binding and gifting, 5 whole quilts. I started 3 new ones which is the norm for me. So actually, I am ahead in the numbers game. No, I guess I started 4. Not much work done on any of those at this point.

I worked on 11 of the 17 ufos for 2017. I have one more to post about that but I will save it for December. I did do a bit of work on that one at the retreat last week.

I am clearing the tables and decluttering some of the many project boxes that I pulled out and the new ones I started so there is room in the quilt room for the Q@F retreat here the first 2 days of December. My intent then is, while I have both 8 foot tables clear, to stretch out and layer the Dear Jane quilt and get it ready to big stitch hand quilt. It was suggested to quilt for just 20 minutes each day. I could do that. Maybe.

I have also been pre-washing the new fabrics I brought home so I can get at those broderie perse birds and flowers. 

I got the oil changed in my car before driving 7 hours to Shipshewana, but now have to find time to get my snow tires put on since winter is coming. And I have registered for the April retreat and booked not one, but two rooms.

The potted geraniums finally made it into the house for the winter last week when I was away. Now to clean up the wilted leaves and spent blossoms. Five down 12 to go.

The cows are all settled in the barns for the winter and we passed the bi-annual quality  milk inspection so we can carry on dairy farming for 2 more years.

The corn is not  yet combined nor is the high moisture corn in the small silo. Next week some time I hear.

So some of the amazing adventures were a trip to Poland with my now 10 year old Ava. A short term mission trip to Rwanda Africa. I have yet to post my Rwanda Reflections. And a quilt retreat and workshops with the Australian Di Ford-Hall. But the most amazing adventure of them all has to be publishing my first book. The temporary web site is up for proofing.

I have also been doing a bit of house work (yes really) and laundry. How come I do little boy laundry every week? Oh yes, on Thurs nights they get supper, a bath and clean pjs then I load them in their van and meet Mommy, who has my car, at the university so she can drive them home after her last class. They get home around 9:30-10 pm. We swap cars and I come home after picking up a few groceries since I am in town.

So the reality check is realizing that I will never complete the course work for my doctorate at the pace I am going and the procrastinating attitude I have had towards it. I have typed out exactly 3 pages in the past year. One of my OMG goals for November is to complete and submit one course. The text book has been on my desk for the past 2 months. That's when I typed out those pages. And I remembered to save them. I dropped all the hand written notes behind the desk just before I left for the retreat and now I have to figure out how to retrieve them.

Elly came over for a visit today and she offered  to help, until she saw how many spider webs there were back there after we got a light to look down. So we got out the spider web catcher and got rid of them. She could not fit down under the side of the desk to get them and I could not reach that far down from the top. There is a big book shelf beside the really heavy desk. Grampa had the outrageously creative idea to get a broom and weep them out. What a smart fella I am married to. Now I have all the notes and a cleared off desk. And fewer spider webs.

My OMG and slow sunday stitching project is to complete this 1857 block. I have been fiddling around with it this month. You have to figure out what you want and what leaves to cut out, them what order to stitch them down. I thought I had the first set of leaves placed equidistant on the circle I drew in the middle, until I got to the last triplet of leaves. I don't care that they are not straight and even, they are almost done. I kinda like the dark around those leaves. I get to do a tad bit more of this in the Bally Hall Birds Quilt. I have decided to do some of it by machine so I stand a chance to get it done before the end of this century.

And I found a whole bunch more of the Only2 red and white blocks and nicely organized bits for many more blocks as I was tidying up the quilt closet so I have somewhere to put away the project boxes.

But in reality, I was looking for the heat-n-bond lite to fuse to the new fabric. I cannot believe I used more than 80 yards of the stuff. There has to be some more here somewhere. I will keep looking.

blessings,
Chris

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Several More 17 ufos for 2017

The initial goal of the 17 ufos for 2017 was to revisit 17 unfinished projects and add a few stitches to progress them along. If a completion took place than that is a bonus. I completed 4 ufos and made substantial progress on several others. However, there are a few on the list that I have no intention of trying to move forward at this time.

For example, on my list were a disappearing 9-patch that only needs a border and to be quilted and a disappearing 4-patch that is so simple but I will have to find it, organize it and figure out how to complete it. The plan was to practice my machine quilting skills and I have started playing with rulers. But not right now. There are, after all, only 24 hours in each day and little boys occupy a lot of those.

This red and white sampler will remain in the project box for a while longer. There are more blocks made than show in the picture but not sure where they are. In a box somewhere. I did an amazing feathered star with embroidery but it is hiding. I will let it stay hidden for now.

This $10 sampler will remain in its box for now also. I cannot decide how to complete that center so will not fret about it for now. I need a deadline and a purpose for my quilts.

My completed Civil War Dear Jane quilt has been kicking around since I completed the top three years ago. I have finally decided to hand quilt it with big stitches using Perle Cotton and a wool batting. But I have not yet stretched it out and layered it. I need to clear off some of the paper work that is scattered all over my quilt room tables. I am, after all, still working on my doctorate if way too slowly.

In two weeks I drive out to Shipshewana for the fall retreat where I will be starting not one, not two but possibly 3 new quilts. I am taking workshops with the infamous Di Ford-Hall from Australia. I met her when I visited there two and a half years ago and have been waiting for an opportunity to learn from her. Do I need to start more quilts? NO. Of course not. Do I want to start more quilts? NO. Not exactly. But I love every quilt of hers I have ever seen. And I have already paid for the classes and the kits.

In the meantime, I have injured my right wrist and will have to let it rest up for the next couple of weeks so I can go the distance at the retreat where all three workshops will be focusing on hand work. I should probably stay off the computer, but I still have to change diapers on two little boys who were not exactly thrilled when I presented them both with big boy underwear this week. The first term is half over and my daughter just got her placement. She has so much reading to do for this intense one year masters program and now she begins her 500 placement hours.

I have been thinking about goals for next year. Crazy things like completing one block per week for each of the ones I am presently working on. That would add up to completing a block a day. So that is not practical. But what about a block per month? That would have me complete the BTCT, Morrell and Antique Wedding Sampler by July 2019. Doable. But what about the Di Ford new blocks? And Bright Jane and  . . .

Wait I hear a boy crying so I get to grand parent some more. In the meantime, I did complete one more BTCT block. This will satisfy my one-monthly-goal-for-october .

BTCT  Block # 14

Blessings,
Chris
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31 Day Blogging Challenge Day 2

It 's Day 2 of the 31 day blogging challenge and I might already have writer's block. Seriously. Last night  I had a hundred ideas floating through my brain and this morning, after sleeping in until a normal 8.30, I have no idea what to write. But that has never stopped me before. I have a couple of keys sticking in my laptop. Makes it a challenge to log in with a password that has an "a" and no semi colons or colons are to be use for now. Mary of Quilting through rose colored tri focals   used an expression called at 6's and 7's. Her post got me thinking.

I posted this picture of my quilt room/office last winter. Some readers are interested in how you organize your stuff, but I will share what I am doing with some of my stuff. 

Here are some of the things I am working on this week. I had to check some cow information on line for my Farmer who does very little on the computer, except to check for  emails and facebook postings when I am away. This is the five year old net book I take with me when I travel so I can keep in touch and do some work. I had to get a new battery when I was in India.  Last night I was backing up five years of files so I could transfer India pictures to my lap top where I am trying to put together a power point presentation I will be doing in January at our son-in-law's church.

 Next to that is my journal, daytimer, Bible and pen. I try to do a bit of journaling often but it seems that I write more to-do lists than reflecting on my Bible reading. Beside that is the project box I took on our weekend away. I stitched for about twenty minutes total.  

 Behind me is one of my craft tables. The Bernina is in for servicing so I put the Featherweight in 

and have everything ready to do one more Bright Jane block. This was all sitting on another table 

since I got home from Shipshewana three weeks ago. The intent is to make one block. 

I will not be using that yellow thread on that fabric.

 Beside that is the other craft table with the Brother. I am working on a Simple Simon reproduction quilt from the retreat. I have quite a few very expensive mugs that I was unwilling to throw out when they got cracked or lost a handle so I use them to hold pens, pencils, pencil crayons, markers, etc.

If I do not see things, they do not exist.

 On the table in front of the design wall, I have the first blocks up. Lots of four patch units made and sewn to back ground squares waiting to be sewn into the next blocks. There is also some of the clutter I dumped out after the retreat. I put away most everything when I have the Quilting at the Farm girls come over but that will be mid January sometime. I usually put something different up on the wall then.

 Beside that, I have some project boxes for my grand daughters. They each have their own pair of razor sharp Dear Jane scissors that are too small for my large fingers but perfect for theirs. The two younger ones are still cutting thread and scraps but the older one is using the real machine. I had to eat a lot of cookies over the years to get those empty containers. They are about eight inches square. Again, I have to see things or they do not exist. I later discovered that those cookies are what had been poisoning  my body.

 One of my quilting friends loves to do laundry so she took home three fat quarter bundles of Moda French General fabrics to pre-wash 120 fat quarters for me. What a Blessing! I will be using some of these for a new GORF quilt this winter. The fabric has to be pre-washed before the heat-n-bond lite is ironed on.

 I want it to stay on forever.

 These fabrics have been pre-washed in preparation for Stonefields. I bought the entire pattern when I was in Australia last year and have been waiting for a good time to start. They are available over at Sentimental Stitches.   There is a facebook group and the first month patterns are going out this month.

 At the retreat, I got a tutorial on big stitch quilting without a hoop. It took me a couple of weeks, but I tracked down some creamy coloured Valdani pearl cotton 12 and some size 24 chenille needles. I plan to do a small sample piece of my Dear Jane fabrics with the wool batting I bought last summer to see if my hands can handle this. If they do, I was thinking that I could quilt one block a day (so not to overdo it) and have it done in 225 days. No wait - there are 56 border triangles, so 281 days. Maybe.

In the meantime, I have these to keep my busy. I had each course in its own box, but wanted the boxes for other projects. 

 My self paced online doctoral course with no deadlines is sitting on the desk in front of the desk top computer waiting for me to stay home for a few days. I have filed three out of twelve courses and these five are each half done. They are not hard. I just need to spend more time there than here.

Blessings,
Chris

AQS QuiltWeek Grand Rapids 2014 Part 2

This first quilt was the best of show. 

This one caught my attention with is vibrancy. I am planning to do my next Dear Jane quilt bright. 

I love the colour play in this one. I did not get who made it. Here in Canada, a red ribbon is first prize.

It is called Complex Irish Chain and is done in solids.

 This is the quilt that made me stop and take out my camera for the first time. As I was taking the picture, a voice behind me asked if I would like to talk to his wife who made it. I turned in my walker where I was sitting taking a closer look and met Leslie Stevenson sitting in a wheel chair.

 

She calls it The Fabric of our Lives. When asked how many hours it took doing the work, she replies "it is more like how  many innings". She took several Baltimore classes with Elly Sienkiewicz and over 20 years did all the hand applique and embroidery, often at her sons' baseball games. She was unable to complete the hand quilting so got someone to help.  

She designed the quilted leaf sashing around each block. AND that IS no less than 1/4 inch cross hatching stitched throughout the inside of the blocks.  Each block has a Bible verse written on it somewhere. She explained how she used her light box to find a spot suitable for some of the writing and practiced on paper before using pen and ink.

This has me thinking about pulling out the Baltimore quilt I started 4 1/2 years ago with Kathy Dunigan when she lived in Oakville Ontario. The project was a bit out of my skills level then, but she did teach me how to needle turn applique and introduced me to #10 milliners needles. You can check out her new venture in Rockwall, Texas.   TKDAA

Blessings,
Chris