June Goals

Now with the wedding behind us and the workbook completed and printed, I am setting my sights on some serious quilting progress for the month of June. I had joined the PHD program back at the beginning of the year. I have not actually completed any of my ufos or much of anything else I have been working on in the quilting area. I had an elaborate plan back in February to work on 5 small ufos and had everything organized and ready to go. But, as often happens, life gets in the way of my goals. 

Some of the fun things were 7 overnight guests for a family Easter celebration so I bought a queen-sized futon. It now resides in my old quilt room. This will now be the guest room. The folding tables all got moved out of the way and then were in use for the garden party wedding of our son on our front lawn. It was quite cold and windy so we had to close the curtains on it. Did I mention the massive storm that came up suddenly the day before the wedding? 

I taught the girls and their dad how to play Settler's of Catan and we ended up having 2 massive games going on in different rooms at Easter. We have now moved on to Seafarers. it is more challenging, but my girls love a challenge. 

I had to move my computer out of the quilt room as the desk was once again set up as a window box to start vegetables. I had made cuttings of several split-leaf philodendrons back in the fall and I finally potted them up into 3 very large pots.

They are presently sitting on the desk totally in my way. I get to see the new leaves emerge daily. 

 My move to the Blue Room is almost complete. Just need the double bed removed and the 8-foot tables brought up. After that, I will have no excuses to not get into some serious quilting. Oh yes. Time to put air conditioners into windows. This week I hope. It is supposed to go up to 30 today. In my world, that is hot. 

We are into the haying season here at the farm where we sold the cows last fall and why are we doing hay anyway? Because that is what farmers do at this time of year. We cut, baled and wrapped 30 acres then planted more corn. Today we are baling small square bales. All of our hay is spoken so cannot complain. Although, I do like to complain. 

So what does this all have to do with my June Goals?

Since it is Tuesday, I will make a To-Do Tuesday quilting goals list. 

1. Set up both long tables in the Blue Room. 
2. Fill them with all sorts of quilty things so it looks like I am seriously working on several quilts. 
3. Actually work on several quilts.
4. Take pictures of any progress. 
5. Make progress on something so I can take pictures. 
6. Chooky has a Churn Dash SAL and I must decide on what fabrics I will be using and make at least 8 blocks. I will soon have 2 long tables to spread things out on. 

That's enough goals for one month. My official OMG goal will be to complete the Biblical Blocks Wedding Quilt for my son and his wife. 

blessings,

Chris

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End of May

I did not complete the wedding quilt. I had taken the blocks to work on at the quilt retreat in Shipshewana last month, but only got 3 blocks made. When I got started on them, I realized that I had not brought enough background fabric so went shopping for something new. I got 2 yards of beigey grunge which is a bit quieter than the brocade I had used in the borders and the center medallion. And, speaking of the center medallion, there are no less than 12  mitered corners in there and I messed up most of the ones I sewed together. You have to have good light and glasses and a sharp seam ripper and a steady hand to fix them. I had most of those things but not all. Needless to say, I still have to fix them before continuing. I had more unstitching to do when I accidentally used the wrong border strip for the tree trunk. For now, the sections are all just sitting on the design wall. Completing this will once again be my OMG this time for June.

And why did I not get it done, other than playing a million Candy Crush games between editing and formatting the workbook I am writing for the summer small group I will be leading starting next week? I actually got a lot of work done on that the week before the wedding. Also, I had to give up not one not two but all four of my folding tables for the wedding. 

The wedding you say? Yes, the wedding of our son and new daughter on our front lawn. It was amazing. My only responsibility was the outside flowers most of which I had planted back in November. I bought several gorgeous window boxes and planters. Do I have photos of them? Somewhere, but not in my camera. Maybe on my iPad if I can figure out how to export them.

I had given 9-year-old Devan my camera with instructions to take a thousand pictures. She set the camera down when she had to join the bridal procession and did not pick it up again. And, I had given 10-year-old Ellsye the iPad with instructions to tape the ceremony. She set it down when she joined the procession, So, I picked it up myself and videotaped the whole ceremony. Except that since I had never used the thing before, I forgot to press the red record button. 

But just for the procession. I did get the entire ceremony taped. I had a front-row center seat so got it good and clear. But, when I tried to play it back I could not figure out the sound. So many things to learn. I handed off my iPad to one of the guests when we had to do the family pictures. He got some good ones. But they are on the iPad. Yes, I bought an iPad. I have no other Apple products and things are different than the Microsoft devices I have used for the past 25 years. So many things to learn.  

blessings,

Chris

May 2022 OMG Goal

 I did not meet my April OMG goal so I will move that over to the May OMG. And what will that be? The Biblical Blocks Sampler I am completing for my son's wedding later this month.

And the wedding is where? Here at the Farm, where else. In our front yard. And the side yard and the back yard. It is going to be glorious! All I have to do is provide the outside flowers, and we planted them back in November and the apple blossoms will be out and the lilacs and the horse chestnuts will be blooming. It will be spectacular! And I am sure the bees will be buzzing in full concert as well. 

I got my dress last month. It took me a whole 10 minutes. Where do you find fancy dresses for overweight, crippled-up senior women these days? Well, I'm glad you asked. I went to a tiny dress shop in my town and walked out of there with a $400 purple dress for 70% off and a killer turquoise/purple/gold scarf. In just 10 minutes! Then I found some amazing Vionic fancy sandals in my size 11 wide in Shipshewana Indiana when I was at the quilt retreat last week. And I was not even looking for shoes! I bought myself 3 different pairs and a pair of running shoes for my Sweetie who is on a diet and does all the cooking here now. Life is good. I found a fancy turquoise shirt for him at a truck stop and I wasn't even looking for that either. 

I will be back at the end of the month with more pictures. 

Blessings,

Chris 

Goals for April 2022

 I often set lofty goals for myself. Not just in the quilt room. In every place in my life. Do I accomplish them? Sometimes. After all, this senior citizen completed a doctorate last year. But in order to do that, I had to lay aside some of the more fun things like quilting. 

My goals for this April include:

1. Complete the Biblical Blocks Ufo. I completed one back in November. I actually spend a whole 4 days finishing it. This time, I have a few more blocks to make and the center medallion is not complete. Ten years ago, I loaned the pattern book to a friend who has moved several times. I have a picture of the completed top and a lot of the hard work is already done. For example, in the class I took when I made my first one 20 years ago, she had us cut ALL the borders and setting triangles first, then we used the rest of the fabric for the blocks. I have most of the borders hand applique done and I have most of the rest of the block foundation patterns drafted up and printed off ready to start the sewing marathon. 
2. Blog my book ABCs of How to Stay Married for 50 Years. I had intended to join up with the A-Z Challenge but just realized that registrations closed last week. Oops. I guess I will just have to blog each of the 26 chapters here. It should be fun. No. It will be fun to read some of the perspectives we old folk have on a long life together. Stay tuned. Not sure just when they will begin or if they will be every day. But, HARK! I have started a brand new blog just for this. 
3. Family coming for Easter dinner at the Farm. There may be up to 25 of us. It will be simple. I like simple. The grand thing will be the outdoor garden wedding here at the Farm later in May. My responsibility is the flowers outside. I planted hundreds of bulbs back in October. But first, we have a gazillion pine cones to rake off the lawn as soon as the rains this week warm up the ground. 
4. Learn to chew again. I finally bit the bullet and got partial dentures. Actually, I bit a piece of hard bacon and a front tooth broke off. Completely. But a year before that, I foolishly tried to open a marker with my teeth. The dentist put in a new tooth, but it only lasted a year, just as we went into a 4-month lockdown. So I finally found a denturist and a new dentist who is next door to him, and last week I got the things. I have been pureeing soups and eating mush as chewing is not happening just yet. No hot drinks or hot food. No eating junk since that has to be chewed. I am down 6 lbs. Wonder why? 
5. Shipshewana Quilt Retreat. It has been 3 years since we last went. I am only taking one project box and it is packed already. It has 4 projects in it. I have taken along Bright Jane and some Morrell blocks to every one of the 5 retreats I went to in the past. Why stop now? I plan to take along the Macaron Mystery to complete also. I had all the cutting done a couple of months ago but did not get the pieces sewn together. And the whole thing packs quite compactly. There are 3 of us going. Want to make sure we have enough room. I will pack Lucy to go with us. I am thinking about taking all the small squares I cut and getting them hand-basted. That should fill in a lot of the time cracks and keep me from doing too much shopping, as well as packing very compactly. 
6. Virtual Writing Retreat. What about doing a retreat at the retreat? The Virtual Writing Retreat I often join is at the end of the month. I plan to take along my laptop and join in online. It should be easy to find a quiet spot and plug in my earbuds. I am writing the curriculum for the Mentoring at the Farm small group I will be leading this summer. It was suggested that I get it done ahead of time and publish a pdf file and print off copies instead of handing out sheets each week. I like the idea. I have it outlined already. It will be exactly 80 pages long since the summer group will run for 80 days. One page a day for homework. I like that. 

So my April OMG goal will be completing the Biblical Blocks top and booking the longarm for early May. The rest is just stuff I will be doing. I suppose I could add spring cleaning but that will be a goal for May. 

Blessings,

Chris

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OMG March 2022 Completion

 My OMG goal for March was to hand-stitch together several 

Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses crosses. 

 I have 4 complete so far. Only 52 more to go. Maybe. 

I went with the third option for the block above because I already had the turquoise cross in the center of the next one.

I have many hexies basted ready for the next bunch of center blocks.

I will be putting the whole thing aside for now, 

because

I have a wedding quilt to complete. 

I pulled out one of my ufos and put it up on the big design wall. 

It is yet another of Rosemary Makhan's Biblical Blocks.

It will be my goal for next month. 

The wedding is here at the Farm in May. 

I have exactly 54 days. No pressure. 

I also will be going to the Shipshewana Retreat at the end of April. 

I have my project box already packed. 

Blessings,

Chris

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Decisions Decisions

 There are at least 4 possible ways to put these pieces together.

 And this after I settled on these 4 colours. 

The options are endless.

I keep second-guessing my choices.

It isn't any wonder that I procrastinate.

I would rather be my usual impulsive self. 

You will have to come back to see which way I hand stitch these together. This is what I am doing on this snowy blowy March Break Slow Sunday Stitching day.   

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March 2022 OMG Goal

February was an interesting month. I had set what I thought was a reasonable goal to layer and baste and begin machine quilting on 4-5 small quilts. And it was. I just did not get any of it done. The girls came home from school on the Friday morning of a long weekend and took over my space. So, I put my stuff away and have not pulled it out since. Instead, I worked on Lucy Boston's Patchwork of the Crosses. Aka Lucy. They went back to school 4 days later and we have had a week of house guests. So I puttered some more on Lucy.

Have I mentioned lately that I love fussy cutting? 

Well, I do. I really do. This so satisfies my left-brain creativity with matching quadrants. My Sweetie says this looks to be my most creative project so far. I better not let him down. 

I got one cross hand-stitched together. The rest is just on the design wall. I was so proud of my colour choices until I stood back a few feet and realized that the colour value made those medium fabrics a bit mussy. Oh well. I have another 55 chances to get it right. Assuming, that is, that I will make 56 blocks like the original. 

I cut lots of background Kona Snow into 2 1/2 inch strips on the GO cutter.

 Then sub-cut more elongated hexies and continued to baste. I am using stash fabrics from my many reproduction collections.

So now I have both big tables covered in my Lucy stuff. My March OMG goal will be to confirm some of the options and stitch together a few more crosses. I will be whip stitching a few more hexies together for Slow Sunday Stitching. 

February also saw us say goodbye to My Sweetie's Mother who quietly passed away a week short of her 93rd birthday. She will be fondly remembered for the legacy she left her large family and many friends in the Guernsey community around the world. 

Blessings,

Chris 

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