December 2019 OMG Goal

My December one-monthly-goal will be to complete one more border with the appliqued cherries and the embroidered stems. I realized that the 4 borders are the equivalence of 10 blocks. Maybe that is why it has been taking me longer than I had anticipated.

Who knows, maybe I could get all 3 done. 
Blessings, 
Chris


linking with: slow-sunday-stitching. one-monthly-goal.  quiltingismorefunthanhousework.  design-wall-monday.  whatahootquilts.  wednesday-wait-loss.  myquiltinfatuation.  off-wall-friday.  peacock-party.  confessionsofafabricaddict.  frombolttobeauty.

November 2019 OMG Completion

I did meet my November one-monthly goal of embroidering the stems onto one BTCT border. It took about 2 hours while visiting my daughter one day as I sat at the dining room table in the warmth of the sun as it lit up my workspace and reflected off the newly fallen snow on the deck outside. 

I had forgotten how much I enjoy hand embroidery. Now to do this 3 more times. 
Blessings,
Chris
linking to: one-monthly-goal-november-finish. oh-scrap,
slow-sunday-stitching.  design-wall  monday.  needleandthreadnetwork. wednesday-wait-loss. peacock-party.

Strawberry Season is Finally Done

In the spring our son invested a lot of time and resources in planting 500 strawberry plants. There are at least 5 varieties. One of them is called Day Neutral, not to be confused with everbearing. We had a hot wet summer and keeping the plants from getting washed away from the sandy slope behind our old farmhouse was the goal. Pulling weeds and grass was a challenge also.

These berries were picked last week, Nov 5 just before our first snowfall of the season.

Blessings,
Chris

November 2019 OMG Goal

November's one-monthly-goal. will be to complete the embroidery on one of the borders for BTCT. It will be a nice change from stitching circles.

Bottom border. I left extra fabric and bias stem to join to the sides. I will add a few more leaves after the corners are all connected. 

I took one border to England with me a few weeks ago and happily stitched away in my sister's conservatory - a lovely sunroom. I enjoyed watching the weather change from fog to rain to sun to rain to sun then more rain. I have dreamed of having one on the back of my old farmhouse for years and years. Maybe one day. But in the meantime, it is November and the leaves are falling off the trees and the rest of the airconditioning units must come out of the windows. This year we had 5 going. No wonder our hydro bill was up from last year.

The oil got changed in my car and the snow tires will go on soon. I actually bought new socks and wore them the other day. Last week I had the little boys here for 4 whole days. They had a 4 day weekend from school so to the farm they wanted to come. Grampa had 2 large dump trucks of dirt deposited in the yard so the boys each had their own mountain to climb and excavate. One was a volcano I was told. And they asked to put blocks on the design wall. How could I say no?

Dear Jane 2 and Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks. I did get the brown and beigey squares cut out with the GO cutter.

November is also NaNoWriMo month. National Novel Writing Month. I anticipate completing my first draft this month. I have so far resisted starting on the Ella Maria Deacon Quilt, even though I read about it, write about it, dream about it, talk about it and drool over the picture of it. I have a project box filled with Jane Austin reproduction fabrics and 10 yards of a yummy tone on tone creamy fabric I found in the cupboard. I brought home some fabric from England that will be perfect for a bit of Broderie Perse applique. I really like doing that. But I will control myself and wait until January. It might be 12:01 am, but it will be next year.

The cleaning lady is here doing her magic on the dirt that accumulated since her last visit. On her last visit, we had a new toilet installed. How nice to be able to flush with only one flick of the wrist.

I will be back at the end of the month to share how much embroidery gets done.
Blessings,
Chris

linking with: needleandthreadnetwork. one-monthly-goal-november. peacock-party. off the wall Friday.  confessionsofafabricaddict. tgiff.  needle-and-thread-thursday.  frombolttobeauty.
slow-sunday-stitching.  quiltingismorefunthanhousework.  design-wall-monday. monday-making.  wednesday-wait-loss.

Learning to Knit

Almost 12-year-old Ava won 3 door prizes at the Sunday Slow Stitching Retreat a few week. Two of the prizes included yarn as well as her goodie bag. I found a pair of knitting needles among the stuff when I was looking for the red thread to continue needle turn appliqueing red circles on Beyond The Cherry Trees borders. It was in a box of scraps from my Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. Now how did it get in there? But I digress.

The other night I told Ava I was going to teach her to knit. The first thing was to roll a ball of purple yarn. She whined and complained but did it. It is more like a pear or pomegranate than a ball but she did it. Next, I showed her how to cast on. I was her age when I learned to do that with 2 needles. I had to remember how since I have not knitted anything in some 20 years, and that when I was teaching 10 year olds how to knit.

She shrieked, "I don't know how to do that!!" Well of course not. That is what I was going to teach her to do. After a few tries, she got it. Then she was eager to learn to do the first stitches. I told her it was bedtime and she would have to wait until Friday for her next lesson. "Can I take it to school to work on?"

"No. But, if you want to practice, you can do that with a pencil and some string." So she got some string and a pencil. I think we have a convert.

I won one door prize and 6 year old Devan claimed it as well as what was left in my goodie bag that I had not traded with Ava. There was a pretty purple and green charm pack. I have ideas. But I had a plane to catch on Sat and was out of the country visiting a sister. I took one BTCT border to stitch on cherries. There will be at least 167 by the time I finish all 4 borders so only about 110 to go.

When all is said and done, I said more than I did. I did not complete my OMG for October. I did get one border filled with appliqued cherries but not the second one. That will have to be next month's goal. But for now, I need to keep writing.

Blessings,
Chrislinking up with: needleandthreadnetwork 

First Annual Slow Sunday Stitching Retreat

What a wonderful day to get together and stitch slowly. 

Really slowly since we were having so much fun. 

Ava joined me and what a great day it was for her.

 First of all, she got to spend the day with Gramma. 

Then she learned how to embroider. 

Well, the backstitch so far. 

After that, she won not one, not two
but three door prizes. 

Guess she is going to learn how to knit. 

Good thing I found a pair of knitting needles 

when I was looking for the missing red thread.

About 28 quilters and knitters and embroiderers came out 

to a lovely retreat center just outside the city of Guelph

 about 45 minutes from our place. 

Can hardly wait until we do it again next year. 

Blessings,
Chris
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 emsscrapbag. peacock-party. finished or not friday  off-wall-friday.

Throwback Thursday

This is a quilt I made for my daughter when she was about 8. The center is a very faded Care Bear Cousins panel. That pink poly-cotton will never fade or shrink. It is tied. She used this one for years as a take-along and on the couch. One of her cats persisted in sucking on one of the ties. Silly cat.

When she was about 13 I found a quilt shop that was selling out and I bought some fabric for half price. She chose the colours. We were told that if we turned some of the fabrics over, we would get yet another colour. Who knew. I cut out all those squares and hand-pieced them. It is also tied and has a flannel backing. Many of the squares are falling apart and I have patched it.





Blessings,
Chris