Spring Has Arrived

 So what has Chris been doing for the past month? 

My Sweetie and I went to India for 2 weeks. That was a lot of fun. Long flights and lots of hot food. We visited our school and got to speak at 2 pastor's conferences about how we stayed married for 54 years. 

I have been working on the book and getting closer. I hired a Canadian editor and have received back more than half of the chapters with comments and recommendations. I have a lot of work to do. Now to figure out how to save the applied changes. Steep learning curve for this Gramma. 

And guess what?? I had to give up yet another pair of scissors! You would think I would learn. They actually made it through 2 airports in my carry on. But not the third. Dang. That was the same ariport last time. They were not really good ones. The scissors not the airports. 

The RSC colour for March was red. I pulled out lots of reproduction red scraps and cut and cut and cut. Then I sewed and sewed and sewed.  There is a lot more work to these tiny blocks than meets the eye. I joined the Chookshed a couple of times to zoom with friends, but this is as far as I got for OMIGOSH. The Chookshed Challenge number for April is  10 so I get to prewash fabric for a New Quilt. I can handle that. 

April's RSC colour is pink so I got started with that by pulling out some scraps. Now to cut and cut some more. 

We are doing year end books and getting ready to file our taxes next week. That means I had to go through my inbox and delete 3600 unopened emails in the hunt for the few invoices I missed through the year. I hope I got them all. 

We have booked the Alaskan Cruise for end of summer with Elly and Devan. And the flights to Vancouver. The girls are mentally packing their bags. Only 5 months to go. Elly asked if there will be a washing machine available. This girl is addicted to doing her laundry. And they have been told it is carry on only including winter coats and hats. Yes, we will be swimming on the cruise ship. Not in the icy glacier waters. She knows how to do her laundry by hand. 

My men have collaborated, not only on doing the books, but prepping the barns for new baby pigs (arriving today), but also ordering baby beef animals.  

Easter is coming and so are my relatives for dinner on Sat. My neice the massage therapist arrives tomorrow!  But first, tonight, we have our church Small Group meeting here so I had to pack away all my quilting toys for another day.  

Blessings,

Chris

Stonefields

I started this quilt back in June along with Gretchen and Rebecca. We are all working at our own pace.  

Stonefields was designed by Susan Smith.                                                                                   

I am using soft colours that I collected more than 20 years ago. 

September I had this much done. Enough to fill the small design wall. It helped me to keep track of how many blocks, hexie flowers and flying geese units I was making and it was easy to store this way. My goal that month was to fill the wall.      

This is what I had completed last time I had it up on the big design wall in October. 

 I cut out 4 ouside borders at 10 inches wide by mistake. So it sat for most of the winter. 

Now to cut 4 more borders that are 13 inches wide. Good thing I have lots of the designated fabric. Otherwise it may wait a couple  more years to get back on track. I do want to have 3 rows of the hexie flowers because to me, that is what makes it so special. 

After that, I cut out a lot of hexies and took them on a cruise where I spent time daily glue basting them as well as more Lucy honeycombs.

After we got home, I sewed up each of the 4 flying geese borders and lined up 9 of the 6 inch blocks to see how it was going to look since I plan to make it smaller than the original. I am in love. 

I sewed the rest of the hexie flowers together by machine. Then everything got put in a box.  Sigh.

Because for the Chookeshed Challenge in January, I started OMIGOSH.

And for February, I pulled out an old ufo Bricks and Mortar. Then I hired an editor and flew off to India.

Now we are doing taxes.

So here I am. 

blessings,

Chris

OMIGOSH Progress

 

Green has been the RSC for Feb.

I had a lot of fun revisiting many of the reproduction greens I had collected over the years. I did not realize how many there were until I started cutting strips and pieces for the Shoo Fly blocks and then the 9-Patches. I also had lots more shirting fabrics to use for backgrounds. Some have a white ground. Some have cream and some have gray? Where did I ever find gray? I have a layer cake in one of my future  project boxes and borrowed a few. Now that I have a few blocks made, I can see what it is going to look like. I am not sure I want to make all those Double 9-Patches all green. I might just mix up all the colours for those. Something to think about. And, yes, there is an oops block. I have enough bits prepped to make another 7-8 green Shoo Fly blocks. 

It took me a couple of days to get into the rythym of making these. I have so many takeout containers filled with each different size and shape and colour. My organizing skills had quite the work out. This was a lot of fun but I had to force myself to stop because I have other things to do, like pack my bags for a trip to India with my Sweetie. We leave tomorrow for 2 weeks. The colour for March is red. That will have to wait a few weeks.

I have some hand applique ready to work on, a couple of journals, a new novel, and a fancy gel cushion to sit on during the 15 hour flights. But before that, I had my writing group in today for an all day writing retreat and Thursday some women came to sew. It was their idea to start an ourtreach to women and I said I would host and hover but I no longer teach quilting or sewing and I am not organizing it this time. 

The Chookshed Challenge number for March is 2 so that means I get to work on an old quilt. That is an easy decision. I will continue working on Bricks and Mortar.   

I have hired an editor. We have communicated back and forth a bit and I finally submitted several chapters of my book on how we stayed married for 50 years. There are lots of edits to apply. Now to proof the rest of the chapters and send her the next bunch. Publishing blog posts and publishing a real book are not the same thing. 

blessings,

Chris

Bricks and Mortar for David.

The Chookshed Challenge number for February is 8 and that is Complete a Quilt. Anyone I want. And I want to finish Bricks and Mortar. That will also be my OMG goal this month. 

I pulled this out of the cupboard of endless possibilities to see if David would like it. It had to "feel" right. And it does. Now to feel it for myself for a few days as I finish it. It was back in 1998 when I bought this kit thinking I might finish it since it had everything in it, including the receipt. I even bought some yardage for backing. And you know what? After that many years everything was in the same bag. Now that is amazing considering my misplacing tendencies. 

 I have 12 blocks sewn up. Now to cut the sashing strips and cornerstones. But I have to take it easy these days. I have a bulging disc in my back. Yay me. It is improving, but I cannot stand at the cutting table for long. So, easy does it.

We welcome February here mid winter in Canada with bated breath to see if the groundhog will or will not see his shadow on the 2nd. That is why it is called Ground Hog Day. If he sees his shadow, he will be scared and hide away and winter will continue for another 6 weeks. If he does not see his shadow, he will stay out and Spring will arrive in 6 weeks. The forecast for the next few days is sunny and cold. I am not holding my breath. The sun warms up the SonRoom very nicely now that the winds have stopped blowing.  

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: ninamariesayre.-off-wall-friday

Rainbow Scrap Challenge

 

Block 1 of the Shoo Fly blocks for OMIGISH. And yes. It really needs to be all caps when you identify this. This block will finish at 4 1/2 inches. Its like doing Dear Jane all over again but I get to do the same block each time like 110 times. In different colours of course. For RSC. 

I found lots of shirting fabrics. But may have to hunt up more to get it more scrappy looking. I am using only stash fabrics these days.  

I did find an oops in the pattern. It has us cutting the squares for the 4-patch unit bigger than it needs to be. So, I started cutting them smaller and it works nicely and lots less waste. 

This is an awful lot of bits and pieces to keep track of and this is only the first month. This is my Chookshed Challenge for January. Start a new quilt.

I am still trying to figure out the rythym of doing this. It was easy to sew up a lot of HST but each Shoo Fly block needs 4 of the 4-Patch units and those have to be framed with triangles and pressed and trimmed. Doing that 110 times. This is going to be fun she says.  

I wonder what the Chookshed Callenge number will be tomorrow? 

Blessings, Chris

linking with: quiltingpatch.link-party 

quiltinglearningcombo.

alyciaquilts.finished-or-not-friday

Handstitching and Some Progress on Stonefileds

I recently pulled out TOMDO and have been putting in a few hand stitches. I had put the whole thing on the small design wall so I could look at it. Then it occured to me that I could add a few stitches on this block. This was the first inlaid or reverse applique I had ever tried. It wasn't "perfect" so I set it aside to work on something else. 

This was early 2010. In 2013 I started CCCQ and in 2014 BTCT. I cannot believe how much hand applique I've done since then!  

But in reality, I have a writing deadline next week and I am distracted and procrastinating in true Chris fashion. 

This is the potential for Stonefields for now (designed by Susan Smith). I oopsed and cut out all 4 outer borders 10 in wide. It is supposed to be 13 inches. So now I need to decide if I will be okay with only 2 rows of hexie flowers instead of 3. I have lots of the fabric but do I want to do that? Too many decisions. I have more than enough hexie flowers made. A decision for another day. I have put this away for now. I will not be meeting my OMG goal this month. 

I did cut more blue strips for Omigosh since it is awkward doing scrappy with only 5 prints. I have decided that, for now, doing this as a leader ender is not going to work. I will just blitz it once in a while for the RSC.

In the meantime, I did something to my back the other day and mobility is limited. The hot tub sure feels good on a mid wintery day.

Blessings, Chris

linking with: Fredrique at quiltingpatch.

alyciaquilts.finished-or-not-friday. 

ninamariesayre.off-wall-friday. 

kathy's  slow-sunday-stitching

melvalovesscraps-sew-tell

smallquiltsanddollquilts.  design-wall-monday  

Bit of Work on Some UFOs

 

Beyond the Cherry Trees is one of the Sentimental Stitches BOM. This was free monthly back in 2010-2011. I bought the full pattern on an insane sale spring 2014. Then I bought Kona Snow for the background. The background had to all be from the same bolt. Turns out that I often bought enough Kona solids for backgrounds. Still have a few waiting their turn.  

I hand appliqued each of the 25 blocks and 4 borders  using needle-turned applique. How I loved working on this quilt. I stitched on 5 different continents. I completed the top in 2020, then it sat while I tried to figure out what to do next. I checked out some custom machine quilting options but finally had a Mennonite woman hand quilt it for me last winter for half the price of custom machine quilting. I just could not justify machine quilting this after all that handwork. Now it is my turn to do the binding. This thing is really heavy. It is about 100 inches square. She used a bamboo batting. So I trimmed it. 

That is enough work for now. But I have both big tables out so have room to do that. The next thing is to decide of I am going to put on a double bias binding or a single bias binding. Yes it will be bias because the corners will be curved. That is a decision for another day.

Another UFO is Churn Dash. This was a Chookshed SAL from 2022. I have all the blocks made and am sewing them together. My hands do not like using all those wonder clips so progress is a bit slower than I thought. ( got the flimsy done just need to decide if it will hve a border or not)

I have to make a quilt for David. It ought to have soccer balls on it.  He turned 10 this week. Double digits. The boys will be opening bank accounts to save their money. I pulled out yet another old UFO from a kit I bought and started in 1998. 

It is a guy looking quilt if I leave off the flowers. Actually, I was having trouble figuring out the applique flowers on flannel that slowed me down for so many years. 

This is as far as I got. We went for a birthday celebrtation to Eastside Marios, bacause they have all you can eat soup and salad so we did. I took one of the squares and handed it to him and he carefully unfolded it thinking there might be somenting hiding inside, but that was in the card Grampa gave him. He is a touch-feely kind of guy and texture matters. He liked the feel of the soft fabric so I think we have a winner. Now to finish sewing it all up. I even have 6 yd of flannel for the backing. I will get it long arm quilted as soon as I can get it done. Now I have just talked myself into a potential completion. And it was not even on my list of goals. Whatever is happening? 

blessings, 

Chris