OMG May 2019

A year ago I was challenged to set a 90 Day One Big Thing goal. My first one was to survive baby sitting the little boy grand children 4 days a week. They are both potty trained now so no more diapers. I set goals all the time and do not always meet them. I have come to realize that my goal setting is more dreaming than actual planning. But I do get lots done. Just not the things on my list.
I have little girl grand children living here at the Farm half time since last September. I like it. I get to see them a lot. Because they are all school age, I do not have to hover over them all the time. Just be near by. After all, their Dad lives here too and they are his kids. He does pretty good. He packs their lunches, gets them on the bus on time and does their laundry. He also makes their breakfast and supper the nights they are here. I cannot complain. I do the dishes. My choice. And, I have a cleaning lady. I love her.

But I have a degree to complete. And a book to write. I have progressed on both this past month. Now to keep on keeping on. My OMG is quilting related most months. My 90 Day One Big Thing is not. Last fall my big thing was to complete the Dear Daughter Quilt. And I did. This spring the Big Thing has been to write my book.Surviving Menopause: One Woman's Journey. SMOWJ for short.
I have 8500 words written. I am aiming for 40,000. So one fifth of the way there. My 90 Days is up on May 22. Then I will reevaluate and set a new 90 Day One Big Thing goal. It will not be quilting related.

So what will my May one-monthly-goal be? I started to put away some of the stuff left over from a quilt finish and found lots to distract me. Shiny New Object Syndrome they call it. But I must keep writing. And not so much about quilting. And I must keep reading. Still, not so much about quilting. I had a blast at the retreat and said it was my one last quilting hurrah until I finished the writing. But I have been home for 2 weeks now and I really like the hand applique. I had done almost none of it in the past 4 months until I was completing the BTCT blocks. How I love that quilt. Completing it is not on any of my ufo lists for this year. I stitched while listening to lectures on line the past few days. I guess that is my answer. Prep all the little bits for the next BTCT block so I can stitch to my hearts content this month.

This is what it looks like so far. I dare not press out those wrinkles because the pattern is drawn on the back with a Frixion pen and it would disappear. I do this so I can back baste. That background is a Kona Snow.

The goal is not to complete the stitching, but that would be nice and could happen. Just prep all the applique bits. The fabric box is still sitting on the table here so I better get busy.

Blessings,

Chris

Completed OMG April 2019

I had 4 goals for my one-monthly-goal.

1.

I completed 2 Beyond the Cherry Trees blocks. 

These blocks were mostly needle-turned hand appliqued a long time ago

but now they are both complete. 

This flower had to wait until the end before it could go on since there are  many layers of stems and leaves and buds and it had to cover all of them at the same time. I re did some of the stems because they were too short to fit. First I appliqued on the red flower

Then I appliqued on the cream center. I stitched around the outside 

then did a reverse applique to expose the red center.

This next step was a bit tricky. 

I did a wavy cut in the middle of the cream

so I could do some more reverse applique.I have discovered the trick to a tiny seam allowance is to 

clip a very tiny cut into the concave curve. I used to cut them too deep and had trouble turning it smoothly. Practice.  

Okay. I admit. Those curves are not that great, but have you ever seen a perfect flower?
I have to remember that this is a reproduction of a red and green quilt from the 1850's
and there are a lot of wonky, ripply and less than perfect flowers and stems
that are amazing and I love every one of them.  

Another BTCT block. 

Again, practice and I got those green circles pretty smooth. 

I still have about 200 cherries to stitch onto the borders. 

2.

Six Morrell blocks finally got machine appliqued down. 

There will be lots more of these in the future. 

3.

The Almost Amish Double Irish Chain will finish at just over 100 inches square. 

Good thing I decided to not add the extra 2 rows of blocks.

It will go back into the quilt cupboard to be quilted some other time. 

4.

Also, I added 3200 words to SMOWJ, which should be at least the equivalent of 2 chapters.

and I have been reading and watching on-line lectures for one of my courses. 

So a very productive month. I have been trying to get to the local pool 2-3 times a week 

for waterfit. I managed to go 4 times a week back in March after all the little 

kidos stopped being sick and the snow went away.

Now to decide what my OMG will be for May. 

It will be small and simple. I hope. 

Blessings,

Chris

Slow Stitching Frenzy

I have been stitching like mad the past few days to get my OMG goal met. I still have to sew a border onto the Almost Amish Double Irish Chain and I have been reading and doing course work.

This Beyond the Cherry Trees block has traveled around with me over the years. It was in Benington with me to see the original Jane Stickle quilt in Oct 2015 and appeared at the Shipshewana Retreat 2 weeks ago.
Not much left to complete it. There will be a bit of embroidery to connect those top flowers to the stem. There are yet 2 buds missing, but I think they may be missing permanently. Still have to stitch down the white center. Check back later to see what it will look like. 

This was one of the first blocks I started nearly 5 years ago but it kept hiding at the bottom of the block pile waiting for me to figure out those tulips. I think I might just leave them simple as they are. After all, there are other simple blocks in the pattern.
Still have the white centers to complete and there will be tiny green circles. Just a warm-up for the 200 cherries that will be in the border. Only 2 more blocks to go to complete all 25 blocks.







Blessings,
Chris

Everyone Needs a Week at a Quilt Retreat

It is hard to believe that the Shipshewana Quilt Retreat was a whole week ago. Where does the time go?  I had taken 5 projects to work on. I worked on 4 of them. I am such a dreamer and maybe a bit lacking in time management skills but we won't go there. At least not for now.

I took Almost Amish Irish Chain an old ufo to work on. It was supposed to be simple. I thought maybe 2 days to sew it together. But on day 3, Saturday, I realized that I was short on the tone on tone white background fabric so bought something similar and cut out the strips only to realize that I need yet more strips so back to the quilt shop. When I got home and continued to work on it, I found that I had cut many of the strips 3 x 7 instead of the required 3 x 8. So, I decided the finished size would be 84 x 84 before borders instead of 84 x 108. Now to sew all those blocks together before they fall off the wall or get mixed up.

I did get a bit of hand work done on one Beyond the Cherry Trees Block. I don't know why I did not do more hand work. The fact that I went shopping 5 times, had three 3 hour naps, went to the pool 4 times and talked half the night with my roommates, has nothing to do with that. At least I don't think it does.

I have yet to complete the insides of those 3 flowers and create 2 more. They will be challenging. But then, I always liked a challenged. At least that is what I have often said.

I will be working on this block and prepping the next one as my Slow Sunday Stitching project.


I used some of the red and white bits I had cut out with the GO Baby 2 years ago for the 150 Canadian Women BOW as leaders and enders. I did get 6 Morrell blocks machine appliqued. That was easy once I found the missing presser feet and bobbins. What I did not pull out to work on is the machine applique Huguenot Friendship Quilt Blocks. Maybe next retreat.

Oh, I also wrote a couple of chapters for SMOWJ. So the retreat was quite successful after all.

Blessings,
Chris

Cross Stitch

Our elefantz reading this week from Jane Brocket's book The Gentle Art of  Domesticity focuses on beginning and not following through on crafts. That is me. I tried so many different crafts over the years. I took up counted cross stitch way back in the day when my kids were pre-schoolers. Not sure if I took a work shop or just started. I bought patterns and floss and more patterns. I had baskets and bags of books and frames and rolls of fabric and I was going to make every one of them. I even started teaching it at our local school. We made little framed Christmas ornaments. After all, it had to be something doable for the 10-11 year olds.

 Problem for me was, I wanted to have a completed something right away. I had not yet learned the art of slowing down and just stitching for the sake of enjoying stitching. Taking one stitch then another.

I even sold stitchery kits at home parties for a while. I probably bought more kits than I sold or so it seemed. I did, however, complete this one. I recall redoing that top right corner several times until I had it perfect. It had to be perfect. I operate out of left brain function and cross stitch was invented for people like me. I loved following the straight rows and columns and the counting. The colours were already selected so I did not have to pick and choose.
But I did change the colour of the cows. They had to be brown. And I did change the style of the house so it is my house. And I did change the verse because I could.

Most patterns have a floss list so you can purchase all the recommended colours. I bought lots and lots of floss. And containers to store them in.

The dates on these two samplers say I completed them in 1990. But when did I start them? I recall starting this while working as a poll clerk at a federal election. I had to sit there all day and people came in to vote sporadically. I thought it would be easy enough to do that outline border. My goodness, I had to stop and start counting so many times before I had it right. Then I stitched in all the little frames for each section. I loved it.

And why did I stop stitching samplers? Because I started not finish quilts!

Blessings,
Chris

Guess What I Found

And I still love the little person who hid them so nicely.

Now for my sister to find her passport so we can cross the border 

to go to the retreat in Shipshewana. 

.
Blessings,
Chris

April 2019 OMG

My April one-monthly-goal will be

• to complete the Almost Amish Irish Chain to a flimsy
• to complete 2 BTCT hand applique blocks
• to complete the machine applique on 6 Morrell blocks
• to complete at least 2 more chapters on SMOWJ

And this is not an April Fools joke. 

I will be taking all this to the Shipshewana retreat next week.

I almost added complete the machine applique on the rest of 36 Huguenot Friendship Quilt but that would be a joke. But I might get it done also. 

Now to finish packing the project boxes. I need to find some thread to machine applique the hearts and the cone of Vanilla Milkshake thread for the Morrell blocks and a seam ripper. I have several. I should be able to locate one to take along. And travel insurance and US cash. I better get busy. 

Blessings,

Chris