August OMG Completion

 I love doing the monthly OMG. It is one thing I try to accomplish each month. I do not always succeed, but that is usually because I stop trying to meet it. Let's face it, we all have 744 hours in this month of August to do what we do. I often spend at least 100 of those hours playing games and at least 90 hours napping. And there is eating. I do a lot of that. And sleeping. I usually get at least 200 hours a month. Then there is talking. The number of times someone walks into my quilt room/office and engages me in conversation. Hours each day.  One time I had stopped playing games for several months and turned off the computer for part of the day. I got a lot of stitching done that month. A lot. I have been working on a couple of courses this past month. I am trying to get the course work complete before the end of the year. However, family has been taking up much of my time. We are having a Christmas dinner here this weekend. Some of the family will be here for the fresh turkey on Sat. Others will come for leftovers on Sunday. 

I am taking part in a Virtual Wrirtring retreat this weekend also. Well, today. There is a turkey to cook up tomorrow after I remember to thaw it and chop up the celery and bread. I will have help for that part. I think we will be eating outside. There are thunderstorms in the forecast for the morning. But if not, I will have to find room for 17 people in here. 

My goal for August was to complete 3 blocks and possibly more. I did complete one and stitched on a few others. So without further ado, here are my completed blocks for August:

Blessings,

Chris

linking with midweek-makers-  wednesday-wait-loss-

Emily's Quilt

My sister Emily has been here since Easter. She lives and works in Pakistan as a teacher and has been sheltering or in lockdown or whatever you want to call that she could not go home. She taught her grade two kids on zoom here at midnight for a couple of months and now she is gearing up to teach her grade one class for five hours a day on zoom. What did we ever do before computers and zoom? She found a pattern then she rummaged through my fabric until she found colours she liked. Finding enough was a bit of a challenge, but she did that. She decided on the scale she wanted the proceeded to cut out about 2000 two-inch squares. Eventually, I put a new blade in the cutter for her. 

She started out on the small design wall, but that was not going to be big enough.

so she moved it all over to the big design wall. She had a bit of help from the girls. 

Then she started to sew up units. Two opposite corners. Then the center.

It became a bit of a challenge to make all the units fit together,  

but she did it.

Then auditioning borders.

And the quilting. It is crazy timing, but the girl that did my longarm quilting last winter just happened to send me an email the day we were talking about her and wondering where her contact info was. 

She did an amazing job and quickly. And, she also did the binding. 

So Emily had the daily progress visible as the backdrop for her class zoom meetings involving her class. Now she is using leftover squares to make cushions that each of my grandkids designed. I wonder what she will do when she comes back to visit next year? 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: midweek-makers-  needle-and-thread-thursday-  wendysquiltsandmore.

frombolttobeauty.

To-Do Tuesday

 Last week's list:

1. Be productive for 7 whole days in a row with no children. I ended up resting and watched  The Crown on Netflix because the remote was not lost or being used or being fought over. 
2. Two more lessons on Healing Power. nope
3. Find a new internet provider. yup will be installed tomorrow
4. Continue clearing inbox. a work in progress
5. Hand applique because I love doing it again. yes
6. Write one page for SMOWJ. nope
7. Write another page. nada
8. Make jam. the day is not over yet
9. Make corn relish. done
10. Stop reading blogs for at least 3 days. the problem with not reading blogs every day is I missed the Friday Night with Friends last week. 

This week's list:

1. Complete this 3030 block for my OMG goal for August. 
2. Turkey dinner on Sat. I will have help.
3. Complete one Ella Block. Any block. 
4. Write up a blog post for OMG. 
5. Get my teeth cleaned.
6. Two more lessons for the small group I lead at church. It is the first in-person group since lockdown in March. We are live streaming from one room of in-person people to another room where the on-line people are zooming in. It is interesting. We have an amazing techie just graduated from college with all the qualifications to set up a mini tv studio. 
7. Participate in a virtual writing retreat Fri. I can only join in for one day since Sat we are having a family Christmas dinner and farewell party for my sister who is going home next week. 
8. Write up a blog post about her finished quilt. 

That's enough for this week. I don't think I will do this every week, but it has been interesting. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: to-do-tuesday  needleandthreadnetwork.  wednesday-wait-loss-  midweek-makers-  needle-and-thread-thursday-

Really Slow Stitching

 Linking with Kathy at Slow Sunday Stitching. and Cynthia at quiltingismorefunthanhousework.

To Do Tuesday

I hadn't posted a to-do list for a long time until last week. This is how I did:

1. Listen to the rest of the 8 lectures for my current course and do the test. done
2. Hand applique while listening. done
3. Change the throat plate on the Bernina so we can do some zig-zag stitching. done
4. Bring the step stool in from the trampoline so I can put Serendipity on the design wall. done
5. Take the step stool back out to the trampoline. oops
6. Clear out my inbox. A work in progress since I have about 1500 unopened emails
7. Pre-wash more background fabric for the 3030 Quilt center. done
8. Draw the design onto the BACK of the 27-inch center medallion for back basting. drew it on the front instead since I have decided to do this by machine applique and fusible
9. Begin to prep a few of the applique shapes.  turns out I have to trace the shapes backwards in order to get the design on the top frontwards. I can do this
10. Make jam. 
11. Make relish. my son made some green tomato relish but still want to make corn relish
12. Finish this Ella block. done  
    

This week's list:

1. Be productive for 7 whole days in a row with no children. 
2. Two more lessons on Healing Power.
3. Find a new internet provider.
4. Continue clearing inbox.
5. Hand applique because I love doing it again. 
6. Write one page for SMOWJ. 
7. Write another page. 
8. Make jam.
9. Make corn relish.
10. Stop reading blogs for at least 3 days. 

The girls are learning to whistle. I heard Jingle Bells tweeting out in the kitchen as the 8-year old was drying supper dishes the other night. The 7-year-old has finally figured out how to get that first tweet out and that is all we hear from her right now. All. The. Time. I love it! 

Blessings,

Chris

Stitching With Friends

I finally completed this block! Yay me! I listened to eleven hours of lectures this past week and stitched on many of these arrowhead shapes. Glad this one is done. Not doing it again any time soon. Gay has released a few more doozies for us to make. I can hardly wait. 

This is another of the Ella blocks I am hand appliqueing. This one was a piece of cake with only 4 points to turn compared to 108 in the previous block.

These are more blocks I am working on this week. Some back-basting. Some layering. Some unpicking. Some redoing.

Chooky did it again. She hosted a zoom meeting to stitch with friends around the world. I love it. There were 4 of us Canadians this time.  A few Americans. A few Australians. And a Kiwi or 2. 

The new blogger continues to challenge me. I got the comment in my inbox thing fixed. But how do I remove a photo once I upload it? It cannot be that hard to figure out since blogger is telling us they are improving their service. I can do this. 

Blessings, 

Chris

linking with: slow-sunday-stitching.  design-wall monday-   katiemaequilts.  put-your-foot-down-

To-Do Tuesday

I posted a few times on To-Do Tuesday but often forgot or was too busy to take the time. Other times, I only posted a couple of times a month. And yet, I write up to-do lists all the time. Do I follow them? Sometimes. It is more of a brain dump with all the things I think I should be doing rather than what I actually intend to do. So here we go:

1. Listen to the rest of the 8 lectures for my current course and do the test.
2. Hand applique while listening.
3. Change the throat plate on the Bernina so we can do some zig-zag stitching. 
4. Bring the step stool in from the trampoline so I can put Serendipity on the design wall.
5. Take the step stool back out to the trampoline. 
6. Clear out my inbox. 
7. Pre-wash more background fabric for the 3030 Quilt center.
8. Draw the design onto the BACK of the 27-inch center medallion for back basting.
9. Begin to prep a few of the applique shapes. 
10. Make jam. 
11. Make relish.
12. Finish this Ella block. 

That should be enough to remember for one week. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: to-do Tuesday  needleandthreadnetwork.