Chookshed Stitchers 2024 Challenge

 Here is my list of 10 specific stitching goals for 2024. I may tweak this list depending on what number is given for January.

1. Macaron Mystery - finish including machine quilting and binding
2. 150 Canadian Women - progress.
3. EPP - begin new project - got everything for Windermere in a project box ready to start. 
4. Lucy - progress 
5. New Zealand Kiwi Birds - make 24 blocks using the Tilda charms I bought in Australia.
6. Embroidery - begin a Crazy Patch - make at least 24 rows of stitches this year
7. Serendipity - progress
8. Summer QAL 2021 - finish including machine quilting and binding
9. Morrell - progress
10. Ella - progress  

Blessings

Chris

Where Has the Time Gone?

It is the middle of December and then the year will come to a close. Am I ready to end this epic year so soon? It really has been epic. In the quilt room, I have done very little except to ponder and read and write and eat yummy goodies. I had set out to revisit 23 unfinished projects. And how did I do? I don't think I finished anything in the quilting area but I did work on many projects. I was desperately looking for something not once but several times and ended up going through every single project box not once but at least twice. Some more than that.

I found some of the things I was looking for. Like a handful of $50 bills that I put in a safe place back in June then moved them to a safer place.  I found them in a project box labeled  Prepped Blocks in November. I had been through that box several times, but then picked out each piece of fabric and paper and there they were - a whole handful exactly the same colour as the fabric that was sitting on top. I put them into the bank. The bills not the fabric.

I went to Germany in March for a ladies' retreat. I took granddaughter Ava and my daughter Melanie. 

Then my Sweetie and I went to Australia for 3 weeks for a quilt retreat and cattle show. Not blogged about that yet. I wonder why? 

In May I had 2 cataract surgeries. The left eye did not heal well and it was nearly 4 months before I had a laser treatment to correct that. And now I have glasses to wear. It certainly makes driving easier. 

In June I organized and led a weekend retreat for the women's mentoring group that I lead. How I love ministering to these women. It really makes my heart sing.

In July we finally celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary after cancelling it twice. We had a garden party with a tent for the rain that did come. We had family visiting for several weeks. That was really nice. But when everyone was gone and all the food was eaten and we found ourselves home alone for several weeks, just my Sweetie and I crashed. I found myself so exhausted and unable to focus of anything, so, I started reading.

In August my computer crashed and we got a new hard drive. In recovering all the desktop short cuts, our guy managed to hide the current photos and documents and put up short cuts to photos and documents from 2000-2009 from the external hard drive. Any new pictures I save end up in random places. Sigh. I got a new cell phone last year and started taking pictures with it, but cannot figure out how to move them to my blog. I know. I know. I was born BC - before computers. Also, in August we quietly launched a new blog now called How We Stayed Married for 50 Years. My Sweetie and I. I have been sort of posting weekly, but got stuck a few times trying to get the posts written up and edited together. Now that has been a challenge. We are at L for listening. 

Then in October I flew to St Louis for a personal retreat for 4 days. Still processing that. 

In November I was in Shipshewana for a quilt retreat. Gail joined us and we met up with Hanne from Norway. Gail, Hanne and I are part of the Chookshed Stitchers, an online quilt group hosted by Chooky in Australia. She could not host her quilt retreats during covid so started a monthly group inviting bloggers from around the world to join in. Back in April, we met everyone in person at her Scrub Stitching Retreat in Barradine, NSW. It was wonderful. 

I have the new 2024 monthly desk calendar and am itching to open it and start planning all sort of things. I am already considering my 2024 Goals List. Will it have 24 goals? Maybe. There are many dates already filled in the monthly at-a-glance-calendar. I do need to keep track of appointments. And then, didn't I show up for chiro a day early on Monday then cancelled the dentist on Tuesday because it was snowing and I do not have to go out driving in the snow if I do not want to. So I rebooked for January. And speaking of January, that has lots of days filled already including a family wedding, a retreat, as well as that dentist appointment.

I discovered a few new blogs to read through the To-Do-Tuesday and OMG linky parties. I have so many ideas racing through my head, but there had been a lot going on here these days like excavators and carpenters and roofers and plumbers and electricians and combines and applesauce. Just to name a few. I have not been blogging much for the past few months and wonder why? Can one get blog burnout? No. Not possible. I have not been writing either. Or sewing. Or doing housework, since I have someone come in to do that weekly. So, I have been reading the blogs but not writing and linking. Sigh. And I read about 20 books. Yup. Most of the Elm Creek Quilters series and lots of others. I started making a list. It is somewhere.

I took my laptop in to get a new battery and fix a broken key. It has not returned yet. I was putting the blind above my computer desk up and let go too soon so it is at the top letting the sun shine brightly here onto my computer so I cannot see to work on it. Can we have too much sunshine in December? No. Never. And then yesterday it rained. A lot. I cannot reach the blind to pull it down. But, the sun will come out tomorrow. Gonna be a bright, bright, sunshiny day. 

Christmas is coming. We are having dinner with only 20 this year. Last year we had 18 for an impromptu sleepover in a blizzard. This year the weather is more like spring. Since I have learned how to delegate, and have a cleaning lady come in weekly, I do not fret about getting ready. No lights or decorations yet, but we still have a few days. And besides, my family of origin always set up the tree on Christmas Eve and some family take everything down on boxing Day. I have learned to relax. 

So about the 23 ufos for 2023. I touched every single one of them. I had fun doing that. So, mission accomplished. I worked on quite a few. But my focus has been on so many other things. I do plan to return here in the New Year with plans and goals and regular blog posting. And, since we had the epic 50+2 anniversary party, I am already making plans for the 70th. I only have 2789 days. Better get busy. 

Blessings,

Chris

Thoughts on Block of the Month Projects

One of the things I like about joining a block of the month group is the anticipation of a new block or 4 showing up in my inbox on that certain day every month. I wrote it on my calendar for the whole year. One year I had about 4 going at the same time so I colour coded them. Some arrived the same day. Others were spaced out. I loved printing off the pattern, making copies if needed on foundation paper, and pulling out the fabrics to pick my colours. I had all sorts of neatly labeled project boxes piled all over the place. I would spread bits and pieces all over my big tables and prep and baste and make piles of in-process blocks, sort and organize and dream and write up blog posts and put them up on the design wall and take pictures. 

I figure that if I have all the fabrics spread out in front of me, I should prep a whole bunch at the same time. And why not? It seems illogical to me to pull out everything and just prep one block and complete it and put everything away, neatly. Why would I do that when I can have a dozen half made quilts on the wall? I collected the Ella Maria Deacon blocks - 4 each month - all throughout lock down. I had the idea of making 50 blocks of the 85 offered to commemorate 50 years of marriage. Well, we celebrate 52 years this summer and the quilt is this far along. I now have countless projects in various stages of process and few completed quilts.  I love the anticipation. I love the sorting and prep work. I just don't love finishing something when I can make just one more block of something else. 

And where has Chris been for the past 2 months? That is a question I ask myself. I have not been doing much stitching. I have been reading. I have not been writing much. My Sweetie and I quietly launched a new blog called How to Stay Married for 50 Years. This has been an interesting journey as we work on writing together. He is so sweet sometimes and so doggone annoying at other times. But we continue as we have learned some new communications skills. Yup. Even after 52 years of marriage, we are learning new stuff about each other. 

I am off to the Shipshewana Quilt Retreat next week to play with my quilting friends. My tiny project box contains enough to keep me busy for 5 days. A bit of Lucy. A bit of Ella. And even a few Morrell blocks. And why not? Morrell blocks have accompanied me to Shipshewana every one of the 6 trips I have made so far. At the rate I am going, I may have to go to Shipshewana at least a dozen more times to complete it. 

I may leave  my bathing suit at home. And why? Because last time I got a horrible UTI from the hot tub. 

Blessings,

Chris

Ten Year Blogging Anniversary

I cannot believe it has been 10 years since I published my first blog post.  I had been thinking of how I can celebrate but decided to just take a quick look through the stats. I have published 717 posts. I  have 72 followers. There have been 209,048 page views. There have been 5234 comments. Did I respond to each and every one? Possibly, but I want to try to respond quicker in the future. 

I have met quilters all over the world through blogging. I even went to Australia, not once, but twice to meet up with quilters.  

Because I have this philosophy that more is better, I started not just this Quilting at the Farm blog, but I also started Quilting Jane at the Farm, Quilting Morrell at the Farm and just last month How to Stay Married for 50 Years. The previous 2 sort of went by the wayside when those projects went in to the timeout closet. The most recent one is an ongoing project where I plan to release a post each week giving an alphabetical glimpse into our long years of marriage together. Our marriage has not always been happy but we made choices to work through the stuff and have come out the other side stronger and more together than we could ever have imagined. 

This Quilting at the Farm blog has chronicled my quilting journey over the past 10 years. I figured out not only how to write up posts and publish them, I also figured out how to add pictures. I started keeping my camera next to my sewing machine and taking both the camera and hand needlework on airplanes, trains, cars and stitching memories all over the world over the years. 

I especially love process rather than actually completing projects. That is why taking pictures each step of the way has been such a part of this blog. Finished quilts are nice, but I usually gave them away and that was that. But if I just keep pulling them out and adding a few more stitches, that keeps them alive for me. But then, just as our adolescent children need to grow up and become productive adults, my half made quilts need to grow up also. I had given away quite a few ufos a couple of years ago when I reduced my fabric hoard by half. That was hard making that decision, but harder trying to do the work myself, so I asked for help from some of my quilty friends and let them help themselves to whatever they wanted in exchange for sorting and bagging and escorting fabric to other homes. I plan to donate some more very soon as an appeal went our for fabric for donation quilts. 

My computer crashed last month and I am still trying to sort out the unexpected changes with the new hard drive and missing documents that were saved but it is a treasure hunt looking for them. But I have so much of my life documented here on this blog. I really should figure out how to publish some of it in a book form. Great idea, but another thing to learn. 

I turned 71 this summer. This past year has had far more age related health issues than I was prepared for and am working my way through. I  had cataract surgery on both eyes in May and will have laser surgery on the left eye later this week to correct the smudge that has been blurring my vision. 

School resumes tomorrow and the girl grandchildren are very excited to be going to their new classrooms and new teachers and they have been joyfully packing lunches and chattering about the coming day. We did remember to buy some lunch worthy groceries this weekend. Daddy picked up his fancy dancy new company car for his new job so will be driving them to their schools in grand style. We plan a celebration for the first day after school of roast beast and all the trimmings. I may even bake a pie. Maybe. I have one in the freezer. Grampa does most of the cooking these days and I like that. All I am responsible for these days is washing dishes and there are plenty tonight after supper. They were away for the weekend and returned singing and laughing and I wonder if someone else's children returned in their place. 

I spent most of the day writing and I even managed to pull a few weeds and continue to deadhead the many geraniums. They seem to wither quickly in the late summer rains of which we have had a plenty. And (drum roll please) I even got a few stitches in the Wedding Quilt which is now named Laurie's Quilt. 

So to celebrate 10 years of blogging, I will rejoice in all the wonderful friends I have made around the world and the memories we share as we work on the same patterns and chat back and forth in emails and zoom and facebook and messenger and even face to face at retreats. Thank you for making this a special place by sharing it with me. 

Blessings,

Chris

August 22 To-Do Tuesday

 The list from 2 weeks ago  shows much accomplishment.

1. Put away my books and clear off the tables. DONE
2. Figure out how to correct the printer off-line error so we can print stuff. DONE but got a new hard drive so am dealing with unexpected changes.
3. Put away the clutter from the big ironing board. DONE then I promptly filled it up.
4. Take some before and after photos. DONE
5. Write up some blog posts. DONE 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Sew up one yellow Bright Jane block. NOPE. NEW PLAN
7. Fix the mitered corners on the center medallion of the Wedding Quilt.  PROGRESS
8. Prewash the new fabric for Windermere. DONE
9. Put up the Corn and Beans blocks on the big design wall and decide on a setting. There are so many options. Getting this to a flimsy will be my OMG goal for August. DONE
10. Cut out a couple of Lucy blocks. JUST ONE AND DONE
11. Launch the new How to Stay Married for 50 Years blog. DONE
12. Find the new mouse traps I bought last week and set them. DONE 

That list took me 2 weeks to accomplish.  

One of the fun things about family visiting is we can learn new things. So I went shopping on line and bought a few new toys. And the many heavy rains we have been having this summer have turned the geranium flowers brown. So deadheading is my puttering task. 

These are the most amazing gadgets ever created for us senior gardeners. Well, for any gardeners. I did not have to kneel on all those rocks in years past. 

This week's list looks something like this:

1. Write something every day 
2. Blog posts. I got way behind this summer with people and events here so just jumped back in. I also quietly launched the new blog How to Stay Married for 50 Years. I will be posting weekly. Now to figure out how to create a button for it. 
3. Get my flowerbeds looking beautiful again after many rainstorms.
4. No playing games.
5. Work on sewing up Corn and Beans.
6. Progress on Wedding Quilt.
7. Play with some 23 ufos. I pulled  out the 3030 box to see what is happening there so I can prep for the new Sweet 16 BOW. I will be using 30s reproduction fabrics. 
8. Drink more water. A lot more.

That should keep me out of mischief this week. I have little girls here this week and they all want to earn $$$. I have a plan for that. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: quiltschmilt.to-do-tuesda linky-party

design-wall-monday 

wendysquiltsandmore. 

alyciaquilts. 

ninamariesayre.

myquiltinfatuation. 

inquiringquilter.wednesday-wait-loss-342

fortheloveofgeese.com/put-your-foot-down-202/

quiltfabrication.midweek-makers-

Accidental New Project

So I may have accidentally started a new project. It was not on my radar nor did I intend to start it. Now don't tell pouty Lucy that she may have to take a back seat again.

I was minding my own business today, auditioning reproduction fabrics for a couple more Lucy blocks and, dog gone it, so many of the design elements are just a bit too big to fit nicely into the one inch elongated honeycomb paper shapes that I am using. Now, don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE-LOVE-LOVE English Paper Piecing. I am even going back to England in the spring for a family wedding. Now that is another story. 

So auditioning fabrics. I have them spread out all over the place here today. 

And then I chanced to read Barbara Schafer's blog post about the Savery Friendship Star Quilt that she is planning to make. 

And then SUDDENLY a thought pops into my head - girl, you have a whole package of those 60 degree  diamond paper shapes you bought more than 20 years ago anticipating making something out of them some day and today is the DAY. 

AND, if that is not coincident enough, I also have a big bag of one and a half inch hexagon papers.

 And if that is not enough, the see-through acrylic templates are in the BAG. And they all sort of fit together. Sigh. I had taken time recently to put all the EPP papers I have had in various location around this room into one nice neat, labeled box. That is why I recall having them and knew exactly where to lay hand on them. 

So, while I have all this fabric still on the tables for all the world to see, I could cut out a few, say 49 sets of stars. Well, maybe less. I had been lamenting not being able to showcase some of the incredibly beautiful repro prints I have been collecting for a few years. 

Maybe,  just maybe the 3 inch diamond shapes are a bit big, but a quilt will rise up out of the bins and fly onto the design wall.
I can FUSSY cut to my heart's content and see what happens. These blocks will get appliqued down onto a background square possibly. 

Some quilters actually make a practice block or two to see if they like it before actually starting a new quilt. I just dive right in IMPULSIVELY since that is what I do. and I bought one of the new Sentimental Stitches Sweet Sixteen BOM starting the first Friday of Sept. More on that later. 

In the meantime, I wrote up my to-do list before going to bed late last night instead of mid morning when I woke up. Had luncheon date with almost 16 year old Ava and we went to the Dutch Mill Store which is our secret shopping place and spend a pile of $$$ on new kitchen gadgets, jewelry, puzzles, and other stuff.  The Corn and Beans blocks are all in a pile awaiting their turn to be sewn into groups of 4 before deciding on the final layout. And the Wedding Quilt lost it's place in the queue. Again.

I ended up putting all the fabric back into the bins and onto the shelf and pulled out my journal to write. The Write With God daily group started back up this week and my commitment is to show up. They changed the time to 12 noon my time and it is for 33 minutes. That's a nice length of time to write. Got a new hard drive in my desktop computer. Cannot locate 10 years of photos. And there are bobcats on my lawn making noise and  moving dirt just outside my window distracting me to no end. More on that next time.

Blessings,

Chris

August 1 To-Do Tuesday

 I did not complete my list for July. But I did  make progress. Some. 

To-Do Tuesday list for July 

1. Write up this blog post today and post it. done
2. Write up blog post on the 50+2 Anniversary Celebration. nope
3. Finally write a post about our trip to Australia back in April. Is it July already? It is August already. 
4. Prepare to launch the new blog How to Stay Married for 50 Years. Goes live next Monday on our official anniversary. So excited!!
5. OMG goal for July will be to complete this To-Do list. It worked last time I did that. Did not work this time. 
6. Find both parts of the hexie ruler for the QAYG to send back to England with my sister who has been visiting here this week for the party. I had it with me when I visited her last summer, but forgot to leave it. I have 2 days. I did not find the other piece. What I did was  misplace the first one. Sheesh. I will be visiting her in April for her grandson's wedding. I have 9 months. So, she flew out a few days later and I found both parts of the ruler. One part was in Lucy's big project box. The other is in the small rulers box where it belonged. I have until April to not lose them again. 
7. Clear away the recent mess I made in the Blue Room and get it set up to do some serious quilting. This includes setting up 4 machines with 4 projects. Cleared the mess and set up 3 machines. Even used 2 of them.  
8. RSC colour for July is red. Get the red Bright Jane blocks out, organized and actually sew some of them. Not sure how many yet to do in red, but complete at least 1. Not even one.
   
   
   
9. Complete 1 applique block and 1 pieced block for Ella. It has been on the big design wall for the past few weeks. DONE ! ! !
10. Complete the Wedding Quilt. It went on pause yet again when I had the second eye surgery. That eye is not healing as quickly as the first one. Not a stitch. 
    
    
    
11. Complete one Lucy block then glue baste a few more squares. Hand stitching on this has been very difficult for the past few months. Done the one I started in April at Scrub Stitchin.
12. Revisit 23 ufos for 2023 and make a plan. done and pulled out the Corn and Beans blocks to started to put up on the big design wall. 

Now to be more realistic in my planning. This week's list includes:

1. Put away my books and clear off the tables.
2. Figure out how to correct the printer off-line error so we can print stuff. 
3. Put away the clutter from the big ironing board,
4. Take some before and after photos.
5. Write up some blog posts.
6. Sew up one yellow Bright Jane block. 
7. Fix the mitered corners on the center medallion of the Wedding Quilt. 
8. Prewash the new fabric for Windermere. 
   
   
   
9. Put up the Corn and Beans blocks on the big design wall and decide on a setting. There are so many options. Getting this to a flimsy will be my OMG goal for August.
10. Cut out a couple of Lucy blocks. 
11. Launch the new How to Stay Married for 50 Years blog. 
12. Find the new mouse traps I bought last week and set them. 

That should keep me busy this week. It is really quiet here these days. We have had record rains this past week and the weeds are incredible. I have discovered that pulling them out of the mulch around the patio is a lot easier than pulling them out of the other flower beds. I get someone else to do that. 

Blessings,

Chris

Linking to: OMG

RSC

To-Do Tuesday

Design Wall Monday

Friday Night With Friends FNWF

Back in the Game

 To-Do Tuesday list for July

1. Write up this blog post today and post it.
2. Write up blog post on the 50+2 Anniversary Celebration.
3. Finally write a post about our trip to Australia back in April. Is it July already?
4. Prepare to launch the new blog How to Stay Married for 50 Years. 
5. OMG goal for July will be to complete this To-Do list. It worked last time I did that.
6. Find both parts of the hexie ruler for the QAYG to send back to England with my sister who has been visiting here this week for the party. I had it with me when I visited her last summer, but forgot to leave it. I have 2 days. 
7. Clear away the recent mess I made in the Blue Room and get it set up to do some serious quilting. This includes setting up 4 machines with 4 projects. 
8. RSC colour for July is red. Get the red Bright Jane blocks out, organized and actually sew some of them. Not sure how many yet to do in red, but complete at least 1. 
9. Complete 1 applique block and 1 pieced block for Ella. It has been on the big design wall for the past few weeks.
10. Complete the Wedding Quilt. It went on pause yet again when I had the second eye surgery. That eye is not healing as quickly as the first one.
11. Complete one Lucy block then glue baste a few more squares. Hand stitching on this has been very difficult for the past few months.
12. Revisit 23 ufos for 2023 and make a plan.

This should keep me busy for the next few weeks. I could have added prewash the fabric that my sister brought me from England for Windermere, plan a short trip away with my Sweetie, and consider the new BOM that Sentimental Stitches has been teasing us with the past couple of weeks. But, alas, the house is still full of family visitors, even though the house is empty for this hour and I get to use my own computer, and there is a wedding celebration in the back yard this Sat but we are only providing the venue since everything is already in place after our party.

Oh, and I finally found the battery charger for the camera when I was looking for new post-it pad. 

Blessings,

Chris

Slow Sunday Stitching

 

Now that both eyes have had their new lens put in and I can see clearly out of both eyes, it is time to get some more hand stitching done on the next Lucy blocks. I had this all set up on the patio a month ago before the surgeries. It was not so easy to do those tiny stitches when I could not see them so clearly. I had taken the photos on my phone and just now got them moved over here from a facebook post. Slow internet. Still have not found the battery charger for the camera. 

I love this block. I had it started a few months ago and took it to Scrub Stitching in Australia in April. I put in a few stitches and Sylvia gave me the red print on the corners. I do plan to write up about Australia. Soon, I hope. It has to do with moving pictures and focus. I did get a lot of white hexies glue basted for the sashing units. Now to stitch them into groups of threes.

I have my small group ladies retreat on next weekend and now that the eyes are both focusing at the same time, I have a gzillion details to attend to. 

Linking with Kathy at Slow Sunday Stitching, 

Blessings,

Chris

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