To-Do Tuesday for the End of June

 1. Make progress on the Biblical Blocks Wedding Quilt.

2. Pull out Ben Biggs. 

3. Make a plan to work on Just one block. 

4. Complete the 8 Churn Dash SAL blocks. 

5. Stitch together a few Lucy hexies. 

6. Figure out how to get the date off the pictures on my camera. 

This should keep me busy for the week. We are considering a road trip to Chester County Pennsylvania just have to decide what days would be best. The little boys will be here with their mom for a couple of days this week to celebrate the end of the school year. Six-year-old David wants to run on top of the big bales and visit Great-Grandma's grave. Our daughter-in-law will be here with two 10-year-old boys for a week and the girls are off to camp next week. Basically, it will be a busy family month. The kind I love best. People in and people out. Then more people. By mid-August everyone will be back to their regular lives and ours will calm down a bit. 

I might even get some writing and quilting done. Linking with Linda at to-do-tuesday.

Blessings,

Chris

I Love Blogging

I was reading blogs the other day and Carole from my Carolina home  had some comments about blogging. Which blog platforms are working. Which ones are not. Which ones are user-friendly and which ones are free. Do people still read blogs? Do people still blog and why. And how frequently. 

This all got me thinking. 

I  love blogging. I love reading blogs and seeing what my blogging friends are up to and getting a glimpse into their daily lives. I have blogging friends all around the world. Did I say I love reading blogs? I do. 

I love writing up blog posts. But it takes time. and I have to have something to say. Silly me I always have something to say. And I love saying it with words on a page. And if others read my words that is wonderful. And if they comment on my words, that is icing on the cake. I must remember to respond to all comments. I don't always. I do have ongoing conversations with quite a few bloggers. I did, after all, fly all the way to Australia one time and met a blogging friend.

I love joining my new blogging friends through Chooky's  monthly zoom parties. We are doing a Churn Dash SAL this summer (winter there). Do I need to start a new quilt when I have so many on the go? Absolutely YES I DO.

I have revisited 2 bins of what I call Moda Scraps and have started the cutting process to make however many blocks I need to. I started sewing the first few together on the new Jazz machine I bought in March of last year and this is the first time to use it. I jammed it up pretty good and will need to sit with it for a bit to figure out how to get it going. 

I love just plain talking. I love using words And blogging gives me a place to use words without actually talking out loud. And people read them! And comment. We have great discussions.  

I set up a whole new blog to share my insights on How to Stay Married for 50 Years. I did that back in April but have yet to get the page set up to make me happy. A family wedding here at the farm last month sort of slowed down most everything I was doing. 

I am taking part in a monthly Virtual Writing Retreat this weekend and plan to use all that time on blog post writing and editing and revamping. 

Revamping? you ask. Yes. Carole commented that she edited her blog list and removed the names of people who no longer blog. So this morning I went in and removed about 40 names, leaving me 80 blogs that I follow. Not every one of those 80 posts all the time, but I want access to their old posts about techniques that I want to revisit. 

And pictures. We must have pictures.

I cannot physically tie on my running shoes and go for a hike in the woods or climb a mountain or walk to the end of my lane. But the golf cart has been taken out of winter storage and I can drive that all over the farm if I just get out of the house and do it. That is a great idea. I should do it at least once a day. 

What I especially like reading about is the process of how things are planned and organized and executed. I am a process person rather than a product person. It is nice to see pictures of finished quilts, but I would rather read about how they did what they did. In making the 8 at a time HST, I drew the pencil line diagonally across the background square and then used the 1/4 inch seam guide to follow the pencil line to sew the seam. First time I ever did it this way and I like it. It is more accurate. 

I like linky parties. I like to link my posts so more people will see them and read them. It is all about numbers for me sometimes. Well, most times. I do not like navigating through blogs that have so many ads dancing in and out as I try to read what they are working on, so I don't go there. It is too confusing and too easy to accidentally activate an ad when I try to scroll on down to keep reading. 

So. a few random thoughts. It rained last night so today is a good day to go outside and pull weeds before they realize it rained and start growing again. 

Blessings,

Chris

UFO link

 

I was playing around with my ufo list for the PHD challenge and ended up adding a lot more ufos to the list. Then I was asked about linking the names to the blog posts. SO, last night I had 3 extra hours before heading to the airport to pick up my sister whose flight was 3 hours delayed. It took me a bit, but I discovered how to add a list of links on the sidebar of my blog. Ya me. So I linked most of those ufos to older blog posts. I realized that I do not have a picture of everyone. That can be a goal for another day.

I got to the airport on time, but not until after having to go to the next exit off the 407 because my exit was closed and then I turned off onto the wrong exit not once but twice but eventually got into the traffic jam at the airport only to discover that only passengers are allowed into the airport and there was no access for the people picking up passengers. Good thing I remembered to take along my cell phone. I even grabbed the charge cord and charged it in the car as I drove. I did get into the parking lot and phoned my Sweetie who located my sister by messenger at the airport. Her phone would not let her call or text me. Anyway, she found me in the parking garage. She was 2 hours clearing customs and collecting her bags. That is usually an hour adventure. So she is here for a few weeks. 

About the ufo list of links. Now I can look them up really quickly.

blessings,

Chris

To-Do Tuesday in Mid June

 Last week's list looked like this:

To-Do Tuesday 

1. I packed a box of Lucy stuff so anticipate making some progress on this handwork. I tried to sew baste and join a few 1-inch squares but that is awkward for my arthritic hands so I may end up using glue on those. Sew basting the hexies works just fine. 
   
   
   
2. Download the pictures I took and post them. Downloaded but not posted.
3. Do a post about the wedding. Soon. 

This week's list will be simpler:

Continue the Biblical Blocks Wedding Quilt.

Cut out the fabric for the Churn Dash SAL. 

I decided to go with 2 bins of Moda scraps from a challenge project about 20 years ago. These are soft colours from some old Robyn Pandolph collections.  

Sew for 15 minutes a day. 

I was dawdling and decided to update my ufo list on the sidebar. Why? Who knows. It was not on my to-do list so I did it. I joined the PHD Challenge at the beginning of the year, but have not done much on any of those quilts. I have, however, been working on a different ufo,  Biblical Blocks as a wedding gift for my son and his wife. I wanted to add it to the list, so I just added it and 19 others. Last fall I donated and gave away quite a few unfinished quilt projects. I might do that again but not too fast. I have wanted to work on a few different quilts than the ones on the list. Am I the only one who does this? Linking with Linda texasquiltgal.to-do-tuesday

myquiltinfatuation.  party-patchwork-quilts- 

Blessings,

Chris

More Slow Stitching

 A few stitches on Lucy every day should get the 2688 hexies sewn together. Then I can get started on the one-inch squares. 

Linking with Kathy at slow-sunday-stitching.

quiltingismorefunthanhousework.

smallquiltsanddollquilts.design-wall-monday-

blessings,

Chris

To-Do Tuesday

 

I made amazing progress on last week's goals. 

1. Set up both long tables in the Blue Room. done and bed is out
2. Fill them with all sorts of quilty things so it looks like I am seriously working on several quilts. done
3. Actually work on several quilts. not yet
4. Take pictures of any progress. done but no progress
5. Make progress on something so I can take pictures. soon
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. too many options to make a decision quickly but the 2 long tables are ready for me to spill a whole lot of fabrics onto so I can see what I have. 

And we are off to an 8th birthday party then a few days visiting friends in the States. I even got the arriveCAN app loaded on my cell phone so we can get back home. It would not acknowledge my email address so had to use my other one. 

To-Do Tuesday 

1. I packed a box of Lucy stuff so anticipate making some progress on this handwork.
2. Download the pictures I took and post them.
3. Do a post about the wedding. 

 This should keep me busy for this week.

Blessings,

Chris

Sunday Slow Stitching

 

Stitching is very slow these days on Lucy. My hands do not work as good as they used to so manipulating these tiny squares is slow going. But it is going. 

Linking with Kathy at Sunday Slow Stitching. 

Blessings,

Chris