Daily Blogging Challenge Day 7

Okay. So I missed two days. There is no guilt allowed in this challenge. So no guilt received. What I did receive today is my first parking ticket in about 40 years. Dang. And I have an access pass that allows me to park for free. But it was a designated no parking on that side of the street starting Dec to Mar. To my defense, I could not read the sign. To my guilt. I knew the sign was there. It is a snow clearing zone.

We got home from our daughters mid afternoon to receive a phone call reminding me that I was to babysit little girls tonight. Oops! I thought it was tomorrow night. Brought the precious three and a half year old home for a sleepover and all day tomorrow. That will be fun. My sister from China is here for the week and we can make hot chocolate and Rice Crispy squares. I bought fresh marshmallows.

I stitched for about an hour over the weekend. Babysat both little boys last night while the rest went to see that new Rogue One movie and again this morning. I watched no less than six episodes of Star Wars on the flights to and from India in October and that was enough.  One hour of hand applique in four days. And I took the stitching bag with me tonight. But, alas, I had started reading a book. A novel no less. When was the last time I read a novel Oh yes. April 2012. I had just finished my masters and read Gone With the Wind on the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. It took me five days. And that is pretty much all I did that week.

I wrote lists to remind me what to do and what to pack for a couple of days before we left. IN the end, I forgot to pack an extra pair of jeans or sweatpants. I only had the ones I wore that day. I did pack pajamas. Good thing. I share a room with the little girls. Well, almost. The three and a half  year old did not want to go to sleep so relocated. I did pack my camera and charger. I forgot the memory card so no pictures of the most amazing family house party ever with the greatest ever impromptu Christmas pageant.

So what novel did I start reading? You will have to wait until tomorrow when I finish it because now I must go to bed so I can be up really early to spend the day with a three and a half year old.

Blessings,
Chris 

Day 4 Daily Blogging Challenge

This will be quick. We have a fresh covering of fluffy white snow and  are driving to Lindsay to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ with our children and grand children in our daughter's new home. It will be an amazing house party since we are picking up my little sister at the airport on the way and our son will be there with his wife and all the little girls after hockey. My Sweet Farmer has a plan for a simple Christmas pageant with the little ones. Good thing I have several pairs of scissors packed and a pack of new flashlights. I have my stitching box, camera and laptop so I will have something to do with my hands.

Blessings,
Chris

Day 3 Blogging Daily Challenge

Winter has arrived fast and furious. It is not too warm in this big old farm house, even though the furnace is running most of the day and we got nice new airtight windows. I was upstairs in the guest rooms above the kitchen yesterday gathering the bedding to get it washed up nice and fresh for my little sister arriving from China tomorrow. It is f.r.e.e.z.i.n.g up there. I turned up the heat in both rooms and the bathroom too. But I discovered that the light bulbs in the bathroom need to be replaced. Good thing I bought 21 boxes at the local TSC stores Christmas sale for 90% off. Hope they work. I bought some on sale a month earlier to replace the expensive ones in the quilt room that only  last a few months here. Sigh.

Now, I did not start out to write about light bulbs or snow, but I forget what I was thinking ten minutes ago. Story of my life. So I make notes and write lists and schedule things on my day timer. Even with all that, I did arrive on time for a massage appointment I had cancelled a couple of months ago. I was early for the double massage on Wednesday and it was wonderful. I did a 35 minute waterfit workout first so I was warmed up and my muscles were a bit relaxed. I was supposed to take a hot shower and a nap when I got home, but ended up going to Canadian Tire to buy a new mat for in front of the kitchen door, then Walmart next door for some orange juice but they had no low acid juice so I bought a new shirt and two new project boxes and ended up here at the computer until 1:30 in the morning. Oops. That's when I discovered the challenge.

I usually like to post pictures of quilting projects I am working on. However, I only did 20 minutes of applique in the past week so nothing to show.  We are driving to our daughters for Christmas dinner tomorrow and picking my sister up at the airport in the way. There is a winter storm watch out, but we are Canadians and winter is a way of life. There is a story that goes:
Canada has four seasons - almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction.
I hope we do not run into any road construction.

Blessings,
Chris

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

the-2016-31-day-blog-writing-challenge

Here is something I came across today. It sounds interesting.  A challenge. I like a challenge. The challenge is to post once a day for 31 days. I thought I could start Jan 1, but that is in 2017 and this challenge is 2016. It is Dec 14. We are almost half way through the month of December. I could post twice a day to catch up. Or, I could post once a day and carry it over through January. I don't have enough to do so I think I will stick with once a day. I have been away again; took my Sweet Farmer away from the Farm for 4 days and we went to Chester County Pennsylvania to visit a farmer friend. She took us to Longwood Gardens . Oh My Goodness!!! I was in tropical plant heaven!! And it was all decked out for Christmas and the lights -  how does one describe lights decorating a 40 foot high oak tree or whatever kind of deciduous tree it was?

It was a pretty cold out since winter has arrived.
Blessings,
Chris

150 Canadian Women Quilt-a-long

I discovered this Canadian Quilt-a-long because I was reading blogs instead of doing homework. It sounds intriguing and I have signed up here for the patterns. They are free for 2 weeks then have to be purchased. I am already 2 weeks behind but that is normal for me. Three six inch patterns and a story about a Canadian woman each week. What a wonderful history lesson this can be for my granddaughters this winter! I think I will start in January since it runs for 50 weeks. That will make it an all year kind of project.

In the meantime, my slow stitching is back basting a few more layers on some applique blocks.

Oops. I guess I need to pay attention better. Linking with https://kathysquilts.blogspot.ca/  Esther's WOW
needle and thread network
Blessings,
Chris

One Monthly Quilting Goal December 2016

I have been out of the loop for the past few months and this site changed and I missed that. So here I am.
I completed my November goals even though they did not get posted. I completed 5 BTCT blocks. Yea me. Not that I started and completed them, but I completed 5 that I had started. That's 5 more than I have completed in a year. So again, yea me. But now to get moving on to the next thing.

My OMG for December is to complete a Linda Collins reproduction quilt I started at the Shipshewana retreat last month. Not get it quilted, but that would be a bonus. Just get the top to flimsy stage from this

and this

 and this

 to this 35 more times

My little helper

I am linking toOne Monthly Goal
Blessings,
Chris