OMG May

Here is something that has my attention. Barbara Brackman's newest BOW  hexathon.
Now I cannot promise that I will actually do any of the hexies but I can follow along and enjoy the read each week. I have been wanting to do some hexagons for the past year or so and have collected some papers for the EPP technique. I even did a class when I was in Australia last year, just for the fun of it.

I sometimes I feel like a one armed paper hanger juggling all the things I have to do right now and quilting is high on that list, but I often get stuck and accomplish very little. However, I did finally submit my edited, revised and corrected manuscript to the publishers, and the back page info and the forward and the photos were found, scanned and submitted this morning. I feel so free and ready to start complete yet another project.

My One Monthly quilting Goal for May will be one simple 1857 block since I cannot blog about the other things I am working on.

1857 Block # 17 back basted ready to go

1857 Block # 17 ready to needle turn the edges of that stem.

Another goal for this month will be to complete one of the 3 courses I have been neglecting for  my doctorate. I figure 3 days of concentration and I should have the Intro to Psychology and Counseling done. The hard work is done, now to write a book report and a 3 page paper either agreeing with or disagreeing with an article that I both agree with and disagree with so it should be interesting to see what I finally come up with.

And because it is springtime and the grass is growing, I bought a new lawnmower today. Yesterday we took all 22 geranium plants outside to catch the rain. I fertilized them and will get them into their summer places. I have been overwintering some of them for 4-5 years and others for 8-10 and two for 20. What can I say? I love plants.

Blessings,
Chris

1857 Blocks

The May 1857 Album blocks were released late last night. I cheated. I had block 16 done a couple of months ago. I stitched up the other while babysitting tonight.

1857 Blocks 15 & 16

I am on call to babysit 2 nights a week for the next few months. I should get lots of hand stitching done. I have a couple of intense machined quilts in process right now so look forward to the slower pace.

Blessings,
Chris

OMG April Results

So my April One Monthly Goal was to complete the 5 Ben Biggs blocks that I had not completed last month. I did get all the corner buds and leaves prepped and placed in the corners of the blocks.

Then I started the machine applique and this is what I got. Sigh. So, the blocks are almost compete with just the corners still left to applique down. I will take this machine in for servicing this week. It was working perfectly last week for some machine quilting.

 There is a lot of pressure to focus on completing just one specific goal in a lifestyle that just does what it feels like when I feel like it. Maybe this being retired thing is not as productive as it could be.
Blessings,
Chris

$10 Quilts

Our local quilt shop, The Quilt Rack in ancaster, has what is called A Ten Dollar Quilt class.
The rules are simple:

• you sign up for a given day and time of the month
• you show up every month on time and sit through a half hour of promo stuff for the shop
• you are given the pattern and fabric to make one 12 inch quilt block
• you get to chose the easy or more difficult pattern and one of the colourways offered

But where does the ten dollars come in?

• to join  - you pay ten dollars
• if you miss a month - you pay ten dollars
• if your block is not complete - you pay ten dollars
• if you are late (arrive after Lucy takes the floor and says welcome) - you pay ten dollars

Get the point?

The fun part of the game is to collect all 12 blocks for the original ten dollars you pay to join. I always looked at my calendar for the whole year and chose a monthly date and time that would work. It was so popular that often there were 30-40 of us in 6 or more classes.

The best I ever did was $20 and the worst was $30. Once I took the completed block in my bag with me to India and planned to stop in at the shop  - on time - on my way home from the airport. I could have done the whole thing for $10 that year, but, alas, I was on day two of food poisoning I got on a very long train ride and flight home from India and reaching home safely was more important at the moment than getting to the class on time. I would have made it, but, you know, nature was calling.



$10 Quilt 2010 in progress

The shop also offered finishing classes the following year and we were not allowed to purchase any of the designated fabrics until after the finishing classes. But I was always on the lookout for fabrics to complete my blocks on many of the road trips I was taking and collected enough extras to complete the things twice over. And mostly on sale because that is more fun.

$10 Quilt 2007 in progress 

In the past few months I have had camera and internet issues and more recently I had the Blue Roses spread out across all the tables as I was quilting it. But not now. Everything is now in place and I can start to look at and plan what to do to complete  some of them. That does not mean I will actually complete the things, but will start to plan.

It was back during the winter of 2008-09 that I sat in the shop right beside a completed Dear Jane quilt and had the opportunity to have a close up look at some of the blocks and this for several months. I could not join the scheduled classes because they were the same days I had school, so I eventually decided to start my own class and I did later that year.

$10 Quilt 2011 in progress

I joined the class for 5 years and decided that I had lots of other things I was working on and I was not finishing the quilts. But it was only one block each month.
  

Finishing fabrics

I realize now, that one of the things holding me back was how to quilt them. Last night I had a machine quilting workshop here with my GORF girls and introduced them to the importance of tension and how to get it right. I am so clever. I need to listen to what I am teaching them and then do it myself.

Blessings,
Chris

1857 Prepped Blocks

I have not babysat on a Sunday night for a few months because I was away so much and the other Grandma stepped in. But the girls are at her house for the weekend so I am babysitting tonight. Hurray. Actually, I have been babysitting on Thurs nights and that is now over. Next month it switches to Wed nights. Mommy will be refereeing hockey this summer. Daddy has been reffing for years. That's how he keeps in shape and pays for the girls to do their sporting things.  I digress. I seldom got much stitching done on Thurs because Mommy and Daddy's French classes were over and they were home by 8 pm. When you have your children in French Immersion school, it is helpful to be able to read the homework instructions. Just saying.

1857 Block #12

I prepped some blocks to work on tonight. These two were started a while ago but now I will take the time to stitch them up. It was about finding a suitable fabric for the saw and drill. I finally found a gray/purple Jinny Beyer pallet to use.

1857 Block #8

I tried several yellows for the next flower but finally went with an egg yolk yellow Kona solid. I just cannot make myself like the chrome yellow reproduction prints. Not here anyway.

1857 Block # 14

I am trying something new with the buds in these flowers. I have done lots of reverse applique, but very little with a coloured piece inside. I back basted the bud with the basting stitches half way between the stitching lines for the green leaves to go around it. This is to hold it in place and yet not have to find the basting stitches to remove later. We shall see how it goes. Stay tuned .

1857 Block # 14

Wed nights this summer will be late nights so this Gramma will have to get a few more applique blocks prepped and ready. I should be able to get all the 1857 blocks up to date and then pull out the Cherry Trees blocks. I have not done anything on them since Poland in December. I have 8 of them in various stages of progress. Maybe that can be my goal for this summer season. Get those 8 blocks completed. Spring finally arrived again and the snow and ice are gone and it is a balmy plus 18 C out there. That's a bit warmer than I the house since the furnace quit in the night.

Blessings,
Chris

A Bit of Applique

American Idol had a three night finale as they ended the 15 year series this past week.

 I got to sit and watch all 3 nights and get some hand stitching done. Yea me!

1857 Block 13

1857 Block 11

1857 Block4

1857 Block 8 in process

1857 Block 14 in process. I do not like that yellow and will try to find something a bit more cheerful

Blessings,
Chris

Prepping Area

I was asked if I had a prepping area in my quilt room. Well, yes and no. I have so much room in my quilt room. It is the "parlour" in our 1842 farm house and measures 14 by 14 feet with a 9 foot ceiling and 3 large windows facing south and west so lots of sunlight when the sun shines.

I had been machine quilting the Blue roses quilt and it took up the better part of two 8 foot tables set at right angles with the machine in the center in a craft table so the it was the same height as the tables. I found this a bit claustrophobic, so I took out one of the tables and slid over the glass top table I use for a light table.
When I finished, I had the long table folded up and moved out to the hall also, so I could photograph the quilt on the 96x96 inch design wall. Then I set up a folding card table for my other computer and printer as I was doing some editing. Now it is just holding more clutter.

 I got a treadmill this winter so had it set up in the hall just outside the quilt room so I can look out the windows through the ginormous geranium plants when I go walking. This meant moving the elevated 6 foot cutting table into the quilt room. So I ended up having 4 tables, 2 craft tables with machines, a desk and no less than 7 shelving units, my comfy office chair, a less comfy student chair and 2-3 other chairs for students, 4 table lamps and 10 geranium plants on the windows, a card table and a partridge in a pear tree. Now, with the warm weather last week, I was host to some visiting ants. And I took down the ironing board and it is leaning on the wall in the hall.

 I have been trying to do some de-clutter and created a lot more clutter as I have cleared off some of the book shelves. This is also my office and computer workplace. I work better in a cleared organized space, but do not have really good skills to accomplish that. My best clear out times have happened in years past when I got stinkin' mad after kittens had peed on stuff, or, like last week, when there was a dead mouse somewhere in here and I tore the place apart trying to find it. It was not too cold outside and I opened windows to clear the air but found nothing. Well, actually, I found some photos I was looking for.

 So, where do I do my prep work? I usually slide a bunch of stuff over and just do the prep work. But that sounds so, so unorganized. I like the back basting method now that I know how to do it and find that it is now a part of the relaxing handwork that I have come to love so much. I prep parts of several blocks and then have them ready to pick up whenever I am avoiding doing any work, or when I am traveling or babysitting or sitting in long meetings. It is fun to put the blocks up on the design wall to see my progress, photograph or to have them all up so I can make informed colour choices for new blocks.

A quick look in here today would have observers wondering how I ever get any work done in this clutter and I wonder the same thing. I plan to have a machine quilting workshop here for my GORF girls (well, it was supposed to be last week until the mouse thing) and I have to make room for the girls to set up their machines. It will work. Maybe I will even take pictures to remind me how nice and organized it can be.

Blessings,
Chris