October 2021 OMG Goal

 My OMG goal for October will be to Quilt for 15 minutes almost every day. I have to leave a bit of leeway. This way I can work on several projects at a time without the pressure to actually complete any specific one. I only missed 2 days from Jan-Apr, then I fell off the wagon for May-Aug. Time to get back in the game. Included will be actual hand stitching, machine sewing and quilting, block prepping, pressing, putting blocks on the wall, printing patterns, 

Some of the things I want to work on.

50th Anniversary Quilt aka Ella. I have 6 foundation blocks prepped and 9 applique blocks half done. There seems to be no rush since we postponed the anniversary celebration until next year. But that might come sooner than I think if I keep procrastinating. 

Poppy's Garden. I woke up from a nap dreaming of a creative way to make a lot of circles. This included stretching out a metal tape measure while applying tape to it until it was long enough, then tracing circles using a wine cork onto the tape and cutting them out. I do not drink wine and I just ordered an Accuquilt circle die. I have some of the most interesting dreams. I changed the background colour to a crisp white and the colors now look good. I also found the rest of the purple/green/paisley fabric I bought some years ago. It will be the focus fabric. I get to add orange and turquoise. 

Macaron Mystery. I haven't actually started working on this yet. I was waiting for a few more clues before dive-bombing in. I want to do some of the cutting prep work.

Summer QAL. Jonathan told me he liked the colours in this when the blocks were on the design wall. I have yet to assemble them and add borders. 

Machine Quilting something. Anything. I finally set up the new Jazz that I bought 6 months ago.

I am considering quilting goals for 2022 already. Seriously. It has something to do with delaying and sabotaging my writing goals. It was while I was doing this that I had the impulsive idea to donate a dozen ufos. Also, I have already given brain activity to projects to take along to the Shipshewana Retreat in April. We registered back in April in faith that we could cross the border into the USA next April. We have our rooms booked.  

The cleaning lady has finally been able to come back and we are doing decluttering. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: wendysquiltsandmore. 

alyciaquilts.finished-or-not.friday

ninamariesayre.off-wall-friday.

link-party-patchwork-quilts-

katiemaequilts.boms-away- 

End of September

I want to say this month flew by, but it didn't really. I was in not one but two covid isolations. It visited our family last month. Our son got it first and was mildly sick. He did not think it was covid so did not get tested immediately. But the damage was done and we all got tested over the next week and again a week later. In the end, I had a positive test but was not sick nor was my Sweetie nor was Jonathan. So, all in all, I had 20 days in a row with the younger grandchildren here at the farm then 11 days without any children.  Do you think I got any work done? 

Some. I made 4 Ella blocks in the foundation piecing method. I love the accuracy off this, but do not like removing the papers. I sat in a zoom meeting with Chooky and friends the other night and removed papers from 7 blocks. Also, this past week the online writing group I belong to, Christian Book Academy, had a week long writing conference. Messages were posted on our facebook group and I have been so blessed to learn from other Christian writers who are way ahead of me in writing, publishing, launching and marketing their books. 

I have been writing. I have new accountability partners and that is very helpful. So far, I have a rough draft for 20 chapters for The ABCs of  How to Stay Married for 50 Years. My ultimate goal is to have a final draft by December. I keep reminding myself that I completed 5 courses for my doctorate back in the spring in just 3 months. I put aside quilting, went to bed early, got up early and even took time for a nap most days. I read blogs and facebook but did not comment or interact. All this to say, I accomplished a great big goal because I made a decision to focus and get the job done. And I had a deadline and accountability partners. 

Being in 2 isolations, I had to reschedule appoints twice. So the first thing I did was have a pedicure. My feet are happy. Next was to go to the chiropractor and get a massage. 

I continue to work at decluttering my old sewing spaces. I made the impulsive decision to donate a dozen old ufos that do not bring me joy. Perhaps that is why they have languished in the quilting cupboard. I posted pictures in our Quilting at the Farm facebook group and several have been spoken for. The rest will be donated to either a local guild for charity quilts or to a local missions donation center where my niece works. 

My 13  year old granddaughter, Ava, is now in high school. She has to do 40 hours of volunteer work and got a position at a hair salon close to her mom's so she can walk. And it is beside the local Tim Horton's coffee shop. She is a bit OCD, so will do very well in doing cleanup stuff.  

Five year old David got to ride a school bus for the very first time ever. He liked it so much, he forgot to get off at his stop. Mom had to flag the bus down to locate him in the very back seat. To his defense, he had just moved into the new house the day before and did not know the routine. The driver was new too and did not know the routine either.

My OMG goals for Sept were to try out some of the new Aurifil thread I won. There are no less than 36 different colours and not one of them matches any of my Ella block fabrics. I did not achieve my goal for Sept.

I also finally set up the new Jazz 2 machine I bought 6 months ago for machine quilting. It took me about an hour to figure out how to thread it, remove the thread and take out a bobbin, wind the bobbin and thread the machine again, then pull up the bobbin thread. All this to discover it was set in basting mode and had to figure out how to change the stitch length. I have not yet actually sewn anything on it, but am ready.

Blessings,

Chris

Sept 2021 OMG Goal

My goodness! How can it be September already? I guess time flies when you are having fun. And fun we have had this summer. It was a time filled with family and rain and people and Covid. Our son tested positive last week and so did 7-year-old Jonathan. His parents were moving so he and David came to the farm for a few days. David was negative so he is isolated at the trailer with Mom. 

Dad is in the new house alone and Jonathan is asymptomatic (not sick) and is isolating here at the farm. He finally has 10 whole days where his little brother is not picking a fight and trying to beat him up all the time. He says he misses that. He has been busy helping Grampa around the farm. The rains finally stopped and we have had a whole week of sunshine so now we can bale dry hay.

Aug 7 was our 50th anniversary. We had a simple family BBQ. It was great. The weather was amazing until we cut the brownie cake that the grandchildren had made, and dished out the ice cream, then the skies opened and we got dumped with about 2 inches of rain. This would have been okay, except that all we adults were outside in the dining tent. The children all had the good sense to run into the house. 

Chooky has hosted several zoom parties this summer. Last night I joined some of the girls from Australia, the USA, New Zealand, and Germany for a few hours to stitch and catch up with what is going on in our parts of the world. 

This is what I worked on. I did so little quilting this summer. This is as far as I got on the Summer QAL from Quilting Gail. I had lots of the smaller units sewn up in July and put them all together last night. I still have to sew all 35 blocks together and add a few borders. It is a bit smaller than I want. I think a half-inch dark brown framing the center, then each of the 3 colours around that. 

Today is my 8th Anniversary of blogging. What a ride it has been! I have met quilters and farmers who quilt all over the world. I even went to Australia in 2015 and met some in person. I definitely want to go back. 

It is time to choose an OMG quilting goal for Sept. It has to be simple this time because  . . . 

drum roll please . . . 

 

I have 36 thousand yards of the most amazing colours of thread that I won for the May Aurifil Thread prize from OMG. I think there might have been an oops because there should have been a 3-pack. So, thank you Patty from Elm Street Quilts. 

My OMG for Sept will be to crack open a few of these threads and give them a try. I will use some for hand applique for slow-sunday-stitching on the 50th Anniversary aka Ella blocks 

and others for machine quilting on the Disappearing 9-Patch that I will be using as a sample for a new quilting class starting here at Quilting @ the Farm in 2 weeks. 

That should keep me out of trouble for this month. 

Blessings,

Chris 

Linking with: katiemaequilts.boms-away 

alyciaquilts.finished-or-not.

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fortheloveofgeese.com/put-your-foot-down 

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 wendysquiltsandmore

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August 2021 OMG Goal

 You've heard the expression "Go big or Go home"? I made a preliminary list of 10 things to consider for my Aug OMG goal. I had not yet decided which of the options to choose. I then figured I would probably try to do all of them. Not necessarily for the OMG goal, but just to do all of them. There is something about writing them all down to give a reality check. Planning 10 goals for the month is daunting. But if those same goals are broken down into 2-3 goals per week like for the To-Do Tuesday, then it might be doable. Hmm . . . food for thought. 

1. 50th Anniversary Quilt aka Ella - This came to a screeching halt when we made the decision back in  April to postpone our 50th-anniversary celebration until next year.  Actually, it came to a halt when I set aside everything to finish the doctorate. But I completed that 2 months ago! The anniversary is on Aug 7 and we will have a small family get-together. My Slow Sunday Stitching project could be to continue hand appliqueing on one of the Ella blocks. But which one? There are 12 more to go. 

2. Macaron Mystery QAL - Clue #2 will be posted on Thurs. 

3. Summer 2021 QAL - We are on Clue # 8 and I have been working on that this week. 

4. Poppy's Polka Dot Garden - In order to continue on this new start from last month, I want to either choose a new background or chose a new colour palette or both and start again. 

5. Bright Jane - Depending on the RSC color for August, I could resume making the remaining blocks. I had moved away from doing the original blocks a long time ago and have been making other simple two-coloured blocks to add to the ones already made. As it turns out, the colour is aqua and I have all that colour done. 

6. 3030 Quilt - This was a BOM from last year and I got about halfway before starting the Ella BOM. The plan is to take inventory of what is made and what still needs to be made including the incredible center medallion applique and make a plan to continue. 

7. Ben Biggs - The bin has been retrieved from the back hall where it was tucked away with 22 other bins of projects and fabrics 3 years ago when our son and his girls moved in. These were not accessible so got forgotten. The plan is to resume the prep work on the remaining blocks for machine applique and put them up on the design wall.

8. Jazz II - I bought a new sewing machine back in March and have yet to set it up and start playing with it. I ordered $400 of additional presser feet that did not come with it. No wonder the machine was so inexpensive even on sale. It has 12 inches of throat space and I plan to do machine quilting on it. Eventually. The intent is to set it up and practice machine quilting on something. 

9. Little girls cross-stitch - The girls are learning to cross-stitch. They both picked it up quickly and are stitching words onto bookmarks. 

10. BTCT - clean it up and layer ready for big stitch hand quilting. I have been doing some research (aka reading blogs endlessly) and found this series of posts by Wendy from The Peacock Party on hand quilting. 

I have been settling into my new quilt room. Okay. I have been taking up more and more quilting stuff. The room is looking quite cluttered now. Just the way I tend to make all my rooms. I want to get rid of a lot of my fabric but first want to revisit a few projects and make sure I have everything needed to complete them. In order to do this, I have to pull them out, one by one, and make sure. I do not have bins of neatly organized scraps. What I do have, is many well-organized project boxes containing everything needed to make and complete each quilt. The problem is, I am not completing them. And I did start 3 new ones in July. 

My Aug OMG will be to complete # 3 the Summer QAL Mystery to a flimsy. The Linky Party is Aug 24. I should be able to have a flimsy for then.

Until then blessings, 

Chris

Linking with:

party-patchworkquilts    quiltingismorefunthanhousework.

smallquiltsanddollquilts.  boms-away-  .myquiltinfatuation.

July 2021 OMG Completion

 My OMG goal was to start 3 new quilts not finish anything.

#1. Macaron Mystery QAL. It appears that the July clue was to collect the fabrics. I had that all done months ago when I first saw the link. So all that was left to do for the first month is to take a picture. 

#2. Summer QAL. This was a bit more challenging. Not only did I

have to choose my fabrics, but I also had to actually start it. Clues are posted twice a week. We are up to Clue # 7. This is my focus fabric and I am using a Kona Snow for the background. 

There are so many colour options to pull from this print. I had a half meter and just enough to cut out all the required size pieces including a few random butterflies. 

Clues # 4 and 6.

                             Clue # 2.

Clue # 5 

Clue # 7. This is when I realized I had cut the focus fabric the wrong size. Silly me. I thought I was so clever using the Dear Jane square-up ruler. I have some recutting to do before the next clue is out on Sat. 

#3. Poppy's Polka Dot Garden. I collected patterns for this free QAL

since they started last year. They will continue until about Dec 2022 so lots of time. I wanted to do this one by machine applique and thought of using some leftovers from fused green and purple leaves and scraps from the sampler I made several years ago. I chose a background fabric. My first thought was to use a variety of different backgrounds but ended up cutting out all the squares and borders from one beigey burlappy fabric. Then I promptly prepped the first block in orange  cheddar. My plan was to prep a lot of

blocks now and do the machine applique later. Then I prepped a couple more in purple and green. But the pieces did not adhere to the fabric nicely.  And the colours did not look right. I guess the bright colours do not look so good on the neutral background. I probably could use reproduction fabrics since many of them have a softer washed out look. Decisions. Decisions. But I have made a start and that was my intent. 

Blessings,

Chris

Linking with:meadowmistdesigns   Oh Scrap  wednesday-wait-loss  patchwork-quilts  midweek-makers  myquiltinfatuation.  wendysquiltsandmore.

finish-and-finished-or-not

Sunday Slow Stitching

 I have not done any significant work on the 50th Anniversary Quilt for 2 whole months. So much for 15 minutes of stitching a day. Time to rectify that. For Slow Sunday Stitching I continue to work on the applique blocks. There seems to be a problem with my camera. The memory card is locked whatever that means, so I cannot take pictures of my progress right now. No problem. I can write up posts quicker without having to do the picture editing thing. So here is a recent picture of my house. 

Perhaps I could do some stitching outside today since the rains have stopped for a few days. 

Blessings,

Chris

looking with: quiltingismorefunthanhousework,  quiltingpatch.

July 2021 OMG Goal

I know this is a crazy monthly Goal but I plan to start no less than 3, that's THREE new quilts this month. Do I need more projects? No. Do I want more projects? Yes. I did, after all, complete a doctorate a month ago and have been moping around not getting into anything or being productive in the sewing room. 

Project # 1

 meadowmistdesigns - macaron-mystery-quilt. 

The name and the colours of this one caught my attention a few months ago. I have some delicious fat quarters I bought back in the winter I think will work. We shall see as the clues are posted monthly. Not too fast a pace so doable. 

Project # 2 

quiltinggail - summer-2021-mystery-quilt-introduction.

I have no idea what this one will look like, but the button shows flowers so maybe there will be applique, but I doubt it. It is a mystery. Clues will be posted twice a week so I will have to be attentive.

Project # 3

sentimentalstitches - poppy's-polka-dot-garden-quilt. 

I have been collecting the free patterns for nine months waiting until I decided if I was going to make it or not. I did not want to start yet another hand applique sampler, but I really love them. And this one has a unique layout. So, I plan to do this one by machine applique. Not sure yet what format I will use. Possibly raw-edged with a fusible on the back. And, I might use different background colours. This will be different for me since I have always had this attitude that the background had to be the same fabric all the way. Now to decide the colour scheme. The last thing I need is to start yet another red and green reproductive quilt. I have several on the go. I probably should finish them, but starting something new is in my wheelhouse right now.

So the official OMG goal will be to start the 3 quilts and have something to show at the end of the month for each one. 

Blessings,

Chris