To-Do Tuesday

 Last week's list:

• ALL the prep work for a turkey dinner for 15-20 people. With head colds and double shifts, we ended up with 10. Let the left-over eating begin! Well, we did that already.
• Shopping for some of that dinner. I forgot the cornstarch. 
• Not whining about the work it takes to do this. I did not whine. Neither did I do a lot of housework. That is what the cleaning lady does.
• I have a cleaning lady coming in Thurs to do the cleaning so I do not have to do it. Canceled her because one of the girls got sent home from school with a positive covid in her class. She ended up going to mom's for the weekend and miss the dinner but not the leftovers.
• Make sure the clean-up gets done after the party. I just went into the other room and visited with those who had come early and helped with preparations. 
• No stress here since the guests usually roll up their sleeves and clear away everything and wash up the dishes. 
• I could use paper plates like we did for the anniversary. I bought Christmas paper plates but forgot to check to see if we still had plastic forks. Nada. We used stainless.
• Print off all the rest of the invoices in my inbox for the bookkeeper.  We are doing taxes after Christmas. Nope. Not one.
• Remember to do a blog post every day. Done.
• I am scheduling posts so should have that under control. Am writing them up daily now.
• Virtual Writing Retreat Friday before the dinner. I could write up blog posts since I can write on whichever project I want. I did not log in but read another Elm Creek Novel.
• Finish cutting out the rest of the fabrics for the Macaron Mystery. I cut out the focus fabric squares and put everything away for now to make room for people. 
• Do 15 minutes of stitching each day. You know that is not likely. I did manage this twice.

This weeks list:

1. Daily blog posts
2. Morning Pages
3. Print off invoices
4. Pay CPP and WSIB
5. Cut more pieces for the Macaron Mystery. 
6. Stitch 15 Minutes a day.
7. Make turkey soup. 
8. Buy some more vegetables for the soup. 
9. Freeze the extra soup. 
10. Get a pedicure. Made an appointment for tomorrow. 
11. Attend the boys' Christmas presentation.
12. Sleepover at the boys' house. 

That should be enough accountability for this week. I do meet with two accountability partners every Wed for my online writing group. My goal, for now, is daily blog posts.  

More Ella Blocks

 I had intended to sew up the last of the foundation pieced Ella blocks way back in June. 

I copied the foundation patterns from the downloads that I purchased monthly for half price. Four blocks a month for 21 months at $2.50 USD. But I am only making 50 of them.

And Yes, I made a royal mess more than once choosing fabrics for these blocks. I was determined to not use turkey red, chrome yellow, and poison gree. I chose my pallet from the Sussanah Scraps collection by Betsy Cutchian from Moda. 

I redrafted a few on EQ7 and was able to save and print them before whatever happened happened that I cannot find my files. 

During some of the online quilt meetings I took part in, I cut out the units and the fabrics. I decided that saving them into individual file folders would keep them together and save losing them like I am prone to do. 

I even tried sewing some of the units together, but realize that I cannot talk and sew at the same time and not make mistakes. Speaking of sewing mistakes, 8-year-old Elly has learned to use the seam ripper very well without even being told she has a mistake or crooked seam. Got to love OCD grandchildren. More on her new quilt another day. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: smallquiltsanddollquilts.design-wall-monday

Hand Stitching for Today

 It is Sunday and very quiet here this morning so far. I have been up for about an hour and a half and wrote my Morning pages. What is that you may ask? Come back later this week and I will tell you. 

I was looking through my Ella project box looking for something to stitch by hand since it is the day we slow down and do Slow Stitching. 

Here is what I found. 

 Five blocks started and not completed. Three of them were partly stitched back in the spring and are just waiting for me to do some more back basting. Somewhere along the line, I placed each of the blocks and the extra fabrics in file folders to keep them nice and flat and together. One of the things that slow me down is continual rummaging through the fabrics and creating a mess. Now I know how to make a mess, but I am trying to get more organized so I can be more productive. 

I wonder how much progress I will make today?

Blessings,

Chris

EQ7 and Reading

 Years ago I invested in my first Electric Quilt software. I could not believe the price but bought it anyway and took time to learn how to use it. I often drafted layouts from quilt pictures I found online. In my head, I was thinking I would make every one of them someday, but in the real world, I just had a lot of files. I even designed some original, at least to me they were original, blocks and colored them up filing them to make someday. Nearly 10 years ago, just after I finished my masters, I did a lot of playing in there and drafted out all the blocks for the Farmer's Wife Sampler and printed off the foundation patterns for those 6 inch blocks because I did not want to make them the way the book suggested. Then my laptop screen went lights out. There were still 2 weeks of warrantee so, I got new lights for the screen and a new hard drive. But, in the process, I lost every document that I had not backed up. I did, fortunately back up everything three months earlier so I had all my research papers and school files. But, I lost all the EQ files. 

Now fast forward nearly 10 years and I am trying to download the EQ7 updates and cannot. But, the computer keeps trying and does not let me into the program easily. I want to call the number on the box, but you have to remember to do that during business hours. In the meantime, a window keeps opening and I cannot get rid of it. Eventually, after pressing cancel a dozen times, QE7 opens up. But, there are no saved files. Where did they go? Even before I tried the update, I could only find a few saved projects. And all those gorgeous layouts I drafted up? Missing. 

I am on the third computer since purchasing the first program. Not sure how often I can load the program into new computers. Come to think of it, when I was drafting up some blocks for the Biblical Blocks quilt last month to make by foundation piecing, it never asked me if I wanted to save the document before closing. HM.

I have somewhere around 14 people coming for a turkey dinner tomorrow. The numbers keep changing depending on who has been exposed and who has a head cold and who has to work. It all comes down to how many potatoes go into the pot. 

And what have I been doing all day? Reading of course. A book. A really paper pages book. I carried up all the Benni Harper books today and started re-reading the Elm Creek Series starting with the Christmas Quilt then the Quilter's Apprentice. What a great storyteller she is. 

Blessings,

Chris 

Quilting Goals for 2022

No, I am not going to try to complete 22 quilts this year. I plan to complete 47. Just kidding. I moved a lot of my quilting stuff over to the new quilt room back in the summer and had an idea to revisit several quilt projects and aim for some completions. 

The shelving unit was already in the corner of the new bedroom, so I just filled it up with project boxes from the endless quilting cupboard in my old bedroom. Don't tell my husband of 50 years. I don't think he has noticed them yet. The boxes are 2 rows deep. Not all of them have projects. Some projects are sorted into 3-4 boxes. Those in the top right have completed squares. The thin ones are blocks in progress. The deeper ones have all the rest of the fabric. And the really big ones have fabric collections. On the very top, out of sight, are packages of batting. 

Some of the boxes have fabrics and patterns and are labeled but not yet started so they do not count. There are a few more under the table I use as a desk in my bedroom where I try to write every day. 

Remember the 23 large bins in the back of the hall? They are in the closet now. And they have already multiplied. 

And then there will be the month of May. Time for a challenge of, say, complete a block a day for the month of May. Or, more realistically, complete 31 blocks for May. I did that one year. 

This could be an interesting list of quilts to attempt to complete. After all, I completed 5 courses for my doctorate in 3 months. I can do anything. More realistically would be to choose one closest to completion and complete it.

One of the hindrances to completing my quilts, besides starting more new ones, is that I have chosen some complex, rather large projects. Like the 100 x100 inch Beyond the Cherry Trees. This one was a hand applique project I carted along with me on many trips around the world including India, Australia, Rwanda, England, Poland, and at least 7 different States, and airports in France, Dubai, Hong Kong, and Adis Abba over 6 years. I have yet to quilt it. Another is the 100x100 Ben Biggs Wedding Quilt. I started this one before the BTCT and have been doing it by machine applique but not in recent years. 

Back in 2017 (was that really 5 years ago?) there was a 17 for 2017 Challenge, to revisit 17 ufos and progress them by a few stitches and if a completion took place, well that was a bonus. Well, I spent more time putting them up on the big design wall, taking pictures, and writing about them than actually working on some.

I like the idea of revisiting ufos. But completions would be nice also. Usually, having a deadline or purpose like a wedding or graduation inspires completion. But my projects are so big, broken down into smaller doable units. I just keep making blocks. Maybe I am in denial and don't really know how to complete them. But I still struggle to finish the dishes every day. 

I have looked at the criteria for Quilting Gail's PhD program. But the rules state that there be one completion each month and a new start must be finished in the same year. 

I have finally, after a few tries, decided on 12 ufos to complete. Will I get each of them quilted? And why wouldn't I? Could I? Should I? And Quilting Jetgirl's  2022 Planning Party kicks off on Mon Dec 13. That gives me a few more days to finalize and post my list. 

Blessings,

Chris

No New Quilt Starts (Maybe)

 I am seriously considering no new quilt starts for 2022. I managed to go 2 whole years between starts back in 2018-2020. I was determined to complete the Cherries Quilt. In that time I also completed the 1857 Album and the Dear Daugther Sampler. 

Well, that is not entirely true. I started Dear Daughter in March of 2018. Then nothing new until Ella Maria Deacon in April 2020. So I actually went only a whole year without starting something. 

But what if Gay at Sentimental Stitches comes out with the reproduction of a certain applique quilt she showed us at one of the Shipshewana Retreats? I will have to decide. She has revealed 2 new quilt-a-longs so far in 2022.

potluck-block-of-the-week

This one has many blocks that I have already made in other samplers. But it is in 30s fabrics and I have so many. But then, I still have The 3030 Sampler on the go.  

little-blocks-365

She is offering a repeat of The Little Blocks 365. I did not start that one. I am already making some of those patterns in 4.5 inches to complete the Bright Jane quilt that has been languishing in a project box for years. I started that one in Sept 2014. That will be on my ufo completion list for the coming year. 

 uptown-applique-block-of-the-month

This one is truly unique. 

I don't have to decide today now do I?  

AND, bless her heart, Gay is considering extending the retreat for 2 more days !!!!! So, a whole WEEK of retreat quilting. I'd better get planning.

Blessings,

Chris

15 Minutes Stitching Daily

 I started out the year faithfully stitching at least 15 minutes every day for 3 months. Then I got side-tracked with completing my doctorate and did not get back into the routine again. Not at all. My stitching for the rest of the year was rather sporadic or nonexistent altogether. I have been dealing with a lot of pain in my right hand from the arthritis and then in the wrist. There was quite a bit of discussion about hand pain and carpal tunnel syndrome in blogland recently. My Sweetie is facing surgery on both of his wrists. Not sure of the timelines yet. 

But it is only 15 minutes. And that can include hand or machine stitching, prepping, cutting fabric, even just pressing, and printing off patterns, etc. I do draw the line at reading quilt blogs and quilt books. 

I have finally started doing all the precuts for the Macaron Mystery Quilt from Quilting Gail. I changed my plan for the focus colour after the measurements came out and my original plan would not work. I know I have way too many different solid colours to use, but it is a mystery after all. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: inquiringquilter.wednesday-wait-loss-