Still Here

 

So I was looking through some papers on the bookshelf and found this container of stuff. It had, among other things, some corroded batteries that I thought I should discard. Then, I started to rewind the spools of thread and decided to put them into their proper storage containers. 

Guess I should be careful disposing batteries. The local expressway was closed yesterday for hours when a garbage truck's load caught on fire and he dumped it on the side of the road. My Sweetie was stuck in the traffic diversion.

The next thing I knew, I was sorting other stuff and putting them into their containers. And the containers just sort of landed on the table, which I had just spent the morning clearing off so I could lay out the long borders of the Wedding Quilt.

Well, there has been no progress on the Wedding Quilt of late. I have all those mitered corners to redo and struggling to see clearly with one good eye and one not so good eye. I had the second surgery this week and my sight is improving daily. I just have to wear sunglasses for a while to deal with the glare. 

So how many containers are enough for all the stuff I have accumulated over the years so I could quilt? And how does Lucy rate so many? 

I made a few new labels so I could read them easily. 

And I have windows open throughout the house to - you know - air it out, except they decided to spread liquid manure onto the worm field outside my bedroom window. Gotta love springtime. 

Blessings,

Chris

How Am I Doing on My 2023 Goals List?

 

1. Revisit 23 ufos in 2023. I have 33 on the list on my sidebar. More on this later. Pulled out and put in a few stitches on 7 so far. 
2. Build a Son Room onto the house. It has been a dream of mine for like most of my life. Waiting for the contractor to bring the blue prints for approval. 
3. Take part in To-Do Tuesday because I have to be writing to-do lists. Not every week but regularly.
   
4. Stitch for at least 15 Minutes a Day. Keeping track and doing about 78%.
5. Blog weekly. I have so many ideas. More like bi-monthly. Took a break while I was away and doing jet-lag recovery.
6. Meet with my writing accountability partner. This time remember to pray for each other as we share our writing goals each week. We took a pause end of Feb because we were both going to be away so often. And we both had the same health issues at the same time and she lives 2 time aones away.
7. Take part in monthly Virtual Writing Retreats with Christian Book Academy. Two out of four.
8. Write some simple words (profound eludes me most times I try). Maybe the most profound words really are the simple ones. I have 3 unfinished manuscripts. Not much progress yet but I have joined a new writing accountability group and it is amazing how I am now progressing. We meet daily for 2 intense weeks of prayer and writing. Working through some forgiveness issues.
9. Launch the How to Stay Married for 50 Years blog. It is set up and ready to go but I still have to finish editing the posts. Cannot do that with a house full of guests and while I am on an airplane. Maybe for April? But then what do I do about comments while out of the country? This for Inklings group of 11 Christian writers meeting for 11 days to write with God. Progress is happening.
10. Lead my Women's Small Group well. We will be doing a workbook called Hearing God this winter. Done and planning the summer book study.
11. Keep a Gratitude Journal. This will be the homework for my women. I wrote in this often in the winter, but for some reason, forgot for a couple of months. I need to be more grateful on a daily basis. 
12. Participate in an online 34 Day Rhema and Movement Challenge from Rhythms of Colour in January. Totally out of my physical abilities so was dropped from the group. 
13. Take Ava to Garmisch Germany for a Christian Women's ReAlign Retreat in March. How exciting that it is during her spring break. Still have to book the plane tickets. This was so exciting! My daughter joined us for an amazing week. 
14. Go to Scrub Stitching in Baradine Australia with my Sweetie in April. Still have to book plane tickets. This was another amazing trip. This time with my Sweetie. Will have a proper post written up for next week. 
15. Visit the Royal Easter Show in Sydney as guests of the Guernsey Cattle Society of Australia. My Sweetie agreed to go to the quilt retreat after he had been invited to judge the cattle. I plan to find some quilts to look at. Was disappointed by the number of quilts on display but overwhelmed by the artwork. 
16. Cataract surgery in May. Have to wait until after our flights. Then cannot fly for 2-3 months after. Right Eye done May 9. Healing rapidly and wonderful to be able to see distances clearer and colours are more vibrant. Can hardly wait for the left eye to be done in 2 weeks. I did get out and drive yesterday and bought a gazebo and flowers.  
17. Women's Retreat in June on the shores of Lake Erie. I am the group leader and organizer. I have ideas and plans. It is going to be amazing. I anticipate using ideas from the Retreat in March. Still working on the details. Looks like there will be 10 of us.  
18. Vermont Quilt Festival in June. That will be a road trip with sisters, meeting friends, workshops, and shopping. We decided we were too busy to go then it was cancelled. Maybe next year. 
19. Take 3 for our 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration. The date is set for July 1-4, 2023 long weekend. The venue is here at the Farm. We are planning a tent, a bouncy castle, a live band, an open house for neighbour's and friends, a BBQ for family, games and adventures. The plans are in process. 
20. Launch Bertha's Flowerpots SAL possibly in July after the houseguests are gone.
21. Take Devan to visit family in Poland in August when it is safe to fly again after my eye surgery.
22. Shipshewana Quilt Retreat in November. Booked 4 spots and a big room. 
23. Ministry trip to India for Christmas. Have to wait until after the party before I can make plans. 

So looks like a lot of progress on goals for this year so far. That makes me happy

My To-Do Tuesday list is short:

1. Get a quote from the plumber for adding a 2-piece bathroom in the closet that used to hold my quilt stuff. Ingenious idea to put it there in the hall. It will be easily accessible from the sunroom that we are waiting for just outside that hall door. Today sometime.
2. Sit outside and stich a few more Lucy bits. The summer heat has arrived.
3. Continue to clean up the geraniums that I over winter every year. Next winter they will all live in the sunroom. I cannot carry anything heavy so will need help to move and place them throughout the flower beds.
   
4. Write everyday. 
5. Write up a blog post about my trip to Australia. It is half written. I did not take my camera because I could not find the battery charger and I took very few photos with my phone. I cannot seem to figure out how to move photos from my phone to my computer. I need a 10 year old. 

This should keep me out of trouble for a few days. 

Blessings,

Chris

Overwhelm

Overwhelm is what my life has been filled with this spring. Trying to complete 2 quilts. An amazing trip to Australia. An incredible trip to Germany. Jet lag recovery. Celebrating grandchildren birthdays. Cataract surgery on my right eye. Three weeks of rainy days and clouds.

I went downstairs this morning looking for some colourful card stock to make a few posters to put up on my quilt room walls. 

• be AWARE
• be HONEST
• be INTENTIONAL
• be STRATEGIC
• be FOCUSED

So I started systematically sorting through the papers in the cubicles under the printer and found 5 colours. Great. But I also found, among other things like construction paper, copy paper, A4 copy paper, lined school note paper, colouring books, bright coloured paper, pastel paper, fancy dancy writing paper, quilting paper including newsprint, wash-away interfacing, round sticky labels for jam, full page sticky labels for needle-turn applique, dust bunnies galore as well as manuals for each of the 3 printers that sat on top, and countless other stuff, I found the knee lift for the Bernina and the draft copy of the manuscript for the book I am writing about my adventures in India. So, I picked up only a few papers since I am not to lift or carry anything heavy after the eye surgery and headed to the kitchen to have some breakfast. I got a sink full of dishes soaking and scrambled some eggs that I eat with salsa and washed all the plates then filled the sink with more dishes and headed upstairs to look through the papers I brought up. Then I pulled out the project box with all the rest of the India book  notes and found - drumroll please- the Plan-It curriculum that I had not seen in 3 years, so I kept looking through notes and discovered the 23 suggestions to taking control of your stuff and time so you can be more productive.

I like the number 23 this year. Among other things on the list is to complete the task at hand so I went back downstairs and put away the clean  plates and filled the sink with more dishes to soak. I last washed them Monday night after I had the call telling me the eye surgery was moved up 3 days. With the eye surgery behind me, I spent 2 days napping and watching movies with my sunglasses covering one eye since it was blurry and the lights were too bright and it felt all scratchy and I am not allowed to rub or scratch just put 3 different kinds of eye drops in 4 times a day. I was not able to read nor write but I did manage to post a couple of selfies and glue baste a few Lucy hexies. And now there are chainsaws buzzing outside my window as they are cutting down yet another tree. My brain has been composing countless blog posts and all I really want to do is rub my eyes.

Some of the 23 things are suggestions like make a to-do list and keep it visible, de-clutter on a regular basis, write things down and listen to music. I do all of the above except maybe not declutter so often. And I do make my bed every day. Another item on the list is to simplify my life. And this is where I am today. I am not allowed to drive until the surgeon gives me permission which may not be for a couple of weeks and then the left eyes is scheduled for May 29 and so another 2 weeks after that. This simply means, stay home girl - you are going nowhere for a while. Stay home? I like that. But I also have to stay out of the hot tub. 

So the moral of the story is - in my present state of overwhelm, I have been given the gift of time. Of staying home and that with a purpose. I have committed to a writing group of 11 Christian writers for 11 days writing together with God on one specific project. My goal is to get all the How We Stayed Married for 50 Years blog posts completed, edited, and printed off ready for proofing. I started a new blog a year ago for this and plan to begin releasing weekly posts July 2 after our Big 50+2 Anniversary Celebration. We begin meeting on Monday so that gives me 4 more days to declutter my desk and finish those dishes. I plan to resume regular blog posting next week with highlights of my trips. There will be only the 2 of us here for the next few days and, now that 3 weeks of rain has come to an end, my Sweetie has been out on his tractor most of this week already. Getting ready to plant corn. And he gets his own meals. 

Now, where are those eye drops? 

Blessings,

Chris

Off the Grid for a Few Weeks

This morning I woke up dreaming that I was giving a trunk show talk about some of my quilts. Were they finished ones or in process ones? I do not recall, other than, after a quick bathroom trip, I crawled back into bed expecting to fall asleep right away, but, alas, the trunk show carried on with specific quilts, their journeys and timelines and progression  of skills and techniques learned, as well a life happenings along the journey, so I tried other let's get back to sleep habits that just took on more random rabbit trails of memories and reflections, since I just got back from an amazing ladies retreat in the Bavarian Alps in Germany with my daughter and granddaughter who were wonderful travel companions where my daughter got us organized and onto the correct trains and connections and my granddaughter kept me going in the right direction and kept us on time even though we missed not one but 2 trains but the next ones were better connections, so I finally got up and wrote my morning pages and a to-do list that would make my To-Do Tuesday group proud since we are doing taxes today and my cleaning lady is moving so I have to do the housework myself after all the grandchildren were here while we were away and they sort of spread a lot of toys and stuffies and papers all over the living room as they were creating and shooting a movie including taking some of the stuffies out to the back kitchen for auditions where they left a sheet with the credits written out and how they missed a whole box of ice cream bars is beyond me since I found them first try as we were creating space for the meat that arrived from the butcher where we had sent 2 of the pigs since they had to be sent out before we leave for Australia next week where we will be gone for 3 weeks visiting friends, Scrub Stitching quilt retreat and judging cows at the Sydney Easter Show, so I watered the plants taking care to count how many are in each room since Ava will be watering them when we are gone and that took a good half hour since there are 57, unless I miscounted but I will probably count them again before we go and I did the laundry from my trip and plan to just repack the bags now instead of waiting until the last minute like I did last time and I have to bake an apple pie before the grandkids show up for lunch and I had to replace the batteries in my mouse yet again.

So, I don't think I will be doing that trunk show anytime soon. 

Blessings,

Chris

What Will My Next Impulse Project Be?

I am an impulsive type who obsesses ad nauseatum about the next project I want to work on. I see so many fun creative quilt projects and quilt-a-longs that are so tempting, but reality tells me I need to take that time and energy to finish off a few of the ones I so loved when I started and I still love them as I pull them out, put them on the design wall and drool over their beauty. Then I walk out of the room and totally forget their existence. 

So, here are a few future possibilities.

The Storyteller's Sampler Quilt.
Only 369 two and a quarter inch hexagons. Will I make them all? Of course not. But I would like to make a few. At least 7 to make one collection. But then, as I keep reading through the book, she increased the size of some of the blocks by 141% to make something bigger. Now there is an idea. 

Then there is Cadence Court. 

This was a BOM from Sassafras Lane Designs. Where did I find it? Don't remember. But thought it might be a fun Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. But then, I do not want to begin another until my Bright Jane blocks are done. Also, it is mostly foundation pieced and I have been doing FPP for quite a few blocks and am sort of tired of it. 

Then I bought Wandering Geese from Canuk Quilt. This also looks to be a RSC possibility. But then, Bright Jane might be offended. 

Whatever happened to the hand applique quilts that I so love to work on? Oh yeah. I am still working on a couple. 

And then, I was talking to a friend I hadn't seen since covid lockdown. She reminded me that we both bought Jinny Beyer's BOM from Craftsy way back when and do I want to join her in making it? Sure, since I have the patterns and she does not. but where is the kit? Wait! I bought 2 kits. They are here somewhere. This is in the most vibrant turquoise and gold and blacks. But, now that I recall, I do not like sewing with black. Alas, I will have cataract surgery in May so my opinion might change. 

I have not forgotten Windermere. I bought the book when it came out. I bought the papers back in the winter. I have most of the fabrics in one or 2 of the collection boxes. I do like the purple sashing she used, but cannot find that in any of my searches. I have another that might work. 

So as I parade my thoughts upon the page, I am reminded that Lucy is hovering nearby wanting to play and Ella is begging to go to Australia with me. And Bright Jane has quite the rejection complex. But then, March is green month and her green blocks are all done. Of course, Sarah Morrell cannot complain since she decorated the big design wall for more than a month this winter. Shades of Pemberley got some focused attention for the Dust Off a Quilt Book blog-hop. TOMDO (Think of Me Dear One a Baltimore Album Quilt) got a few hand stitches one night because pouty Lucy was in time out. 

For the first 3 months of 2023, I have pulled out and added a few stitches to 7 of  my 23ufo  quilts. Not nearly as much as I would have liked, because I have been diligently progressing on the Wedding Quilt. This is what it looked like the last time it was up on the wall. Now to get assembling those blocks and triangles. 

Not to mention that I was in Germany last week for a women's retreat with my daughter and oldest granddaughter. 

I will be off the grid for most of April having fun with my Sweetie and Scrub Stitching. I have booked a few days at a Farm Stay just because I could.  And I will have so much more room in my carry-on bag without the winter coat and boots. Three flights down and only 8 more planes to get on and off.

Blessings,

Chris 

OMG and To-Do Tuesday for all of March

 I have been so taken up with working on the Shade's of Pemberley ufo for Dust Off a Book Blog Hop. It will be going on all week. You can find links here to see what other quilters have been inspired by old quilt books. I also have been slowly but diligently working on the Wedding Quilt. I made almost as many mistakes as I did correct seams. It was quite discouraging to keep unstitching. I don't know about a lot of other quilters, but I find that working at my machine for any length of time exhausting. I have dealt with low back pain most of my adult life and trying to do the finish-it-up-marathon was very painful. Hense, the hot tub. I was up and down to clip, cut, sew, press, line up, etc.

I thought I was getting quite a good workout, but not so. I have spent a small fortune over the years on physio, massage, chiro, osteo, and pain killers. The hot tub is the best treatment. Even in the snow. 

Now to change focus for this month. 

I am going away next week and again for most of the month of April. I plan to take along a few hand applique blocks for Ella aka the Anniversary Quilt.

I have not done any significant work on it for 2 years and it is time to finish it up. And why? Because we have set a date for the 50+2 Anniversary Celebration. It will be the weekend of July 1-4. That is a long weekend here in Canada and in America where some of our family live. We have booked a tent and a bouncy castle and a roaster for a pig roast. It is going to be spectacular. 

But I still have to finish the quilt. So, my goals this month will be to complete these 3 foundation pieced blocks that are already prepped and on the go. I also want to make significant progress on the applique blocks. That is it for my quilty goals. 

My 40 Bags are filling up. I have about 7 right now and time this week to fill a whole lot more. Mostly outgrown clothes and empty yogurt containers I use for freezing meals. I will be dropping off the clothes on Thurs. 

Linking with Carol at To-Do Tuesday and Patty at One Monthly Goal. Now to get busy.

Blessings,

Chris

Dust Off a Book

 

I have hundreds of quilting books. Many were purchased new, signed by the authors. Many were bought on discount during countless quilt shop hops over the years. Many were purchased impulsively on line. How did we ever shop before amazon? Many of them were purchased used from vendors at quilt shows and antique shops. I really need to keep away from those. Many were gifts. The oldest book I have is the very first one I bought back in 1974. It has been the inspiration for a lot of my quilting over the years. I wrote about it here. 

For this challenge I decided to go with the second oldest book I bought used on line a few years ago. It was published in 1958. My copy is from 1964. 

How delightful to find a picture of the Austin Coverlet in it.

Barbara Brackman did a BOM a few years ago about the life and culture of the Austin family in early 1800's.  You can read about it  here and here.  

This is the book that Esther Aliu used to recreate the epic Love Entwined: A marriage coverlet from 1790. 

I collected all the patterns when they were free back in 2013. This inspired me to start blogging that year. 

I could not decide what colour to make that center so never actually started it. 

Averil Colby published this quilting book in 1958.

I was trying to decide if I had enough time (whatever that is) to participate this year. 

As it turns out, I have a ufo based on the Austin Coverlet. It is called Shades of Pemberley. I figured I was in good company with this unfinished project since neither Jane nor her sister Cassandra nor their mother completed theirs 200 years ago. 

I started mine in 2007, a mere 16 years ago. It was a 3 week class at my local quilt shop. I decided to use black for the sashing just to be different. It does make the colours pop doesn't it. 

I had all the black sashing strips cut. I do not like sewing with black. I cannot see it to be accurate. I used gray thread. 

And I had the instructions. It has serious flaws. Like how they said to cut the fabrics on the straight of grain. yes, between the outermost diamond points not along the edge. 

First I laid out all the rows of diamonds. 

They were in order on the fuzzy back of a purple table cloth. My Sweetie wants me to make the border that colour. I was thinking about the puke green on a cream ground from this Austin Collection from Makower in UK. It is called Darcy. Great choice thinks I for a pattern called Shades of Pemberley. 

Jane and Cassandra did not have access to Wonder Clips 200 years ago, or they might have completed theirs. Well, I did not complete mine either. Not that I have not had enough time. But, I had set aside the last 3 days to work on it.

 It was a snow day with little girls here. And lots of snow. The power went out for 15 hours. Turns out a tree branch had fallen on the power lines next door, but they were not home to discover that. So, I spent time in the hot tub since that was the warmest place on the farm. That is me in there somewhere. And I did walk barefoot out there. 

There is a new movie out on netflix based on Jane's book Persuasion. I love it. It is funny and informative. The heroine, Anne Elliot, narrates the story and identifies who all the characters are for those who have not read the book a thousand times trying to figure out who Mrs. Clay is and her significance to the story. 

This is as far as I got. That center does not line up with the rest of the diamonds and sashing and I need to think about how to fix it to make it fit. I could take another 16 years to do that. I have a plane to catch next week. The first of 10 over the next few weeks. Better publish this so I can visit all the other bloggers and see what they have been reading. 

Blessings, Chris

You can visit all the other Dust Off a Book bloggers here: 

March 6th

Quilting at the Farm (that's me)

Lemon Tree Snippets

Creatin in the sticks

Natalie (on Beaquilter)

March 7th

Quilting Gail

Thrift Shop Commando

High Road Quilter

Moosestashquilting

The Morning Latte

March 8th

Kathleen McMusing

Words & Stitches

 Isabella's Whimsy

DesertSky Quilting

 

March 9th

LC's Cottage

Cynthia's Ark

Ms P Designs USA

Just Let Me Quilt

 

March 10th

Beaquilter

Karrin's Crazy World

Quilting Patchwork Applique