April and May Goals

April for Chookshed Stitchers 2025 Challenge was a good month for me, except it just doesn't feel like it.

First off, this mini wall hanging/table mat got finished and is being mailed tomorrow.  Can't show any more right now, but soon there will be a post about this hanging/table mat.

For my Chevron Log Cabin, only 5 blocks got made.  This will be my goal for May to finish a few more and finally be done with this quilt.

Then, a darn squirrel came around and taunted me again and I succumbed and started pulling out Xmas fabrics and before I knew it, this is what happened.  This will be part of my May goal to finish sewing it together.

Borders need to be added to this top.

Binding will be sewn onto this quilt when it comes back from the LAer next week.  It will be gifted later this month.

Cottage season is starting up.  We have already made our first trip of the season out to check conditions and to bring out some stuff we need.   Once we start going out, not much quilting gets done.  If I still have energy and time, then backings will be made for all these three tops.  I would like to get them to the LAer soon to be able to work on the bindings this summer at the cottage.  

Squirrels are out in abundance right now looking for nuts.  Oh right, I fall right into that category!  LOL  We'll see if a new project gets started or if I stick with the goals shown above.

Cherish your day, cherish your life and cherish your country and CANADA will always be my country!

March goals and April Challenge

Well ..... March flew by didn't it!  We are almost at the end of the month and what do I have to show for it?  There have been doctor appointments, physio, snow shovelling, a bit of babysitting and some days of just sitting and watching t.v. or reading a book.

This top for one is done!  All from scraps except for the borders.  Yeah for me as I will never have to touch those scraps again. Part of my goal for April is to make a few more blocks from scraps.  This brings a total of 5 tops to go to my lovely LAer.  Three more backings need to be made and some frankenpieced batting need to be done.  

Row 10 is finally done on my Chevron Log Cabin quilt-as-you-go quilt.  I will be working on Row 11 for my April challenge.

A bit of secret stitching has been done.  I joined the Humble Quilts doll swap again this year.  It has been a couple of years since I last participated and it is time again this year.  Nothing more on this until reveal time.  This little mini has to be my goal to finish in April as deadline for mailing is May 3.  Must, must get this done on time.

We have been enjoying a spat of nice weather lately (with a few snow storms added in to remind us we are still in March).  Starting this afternoon around 3 p.m., we are due for a major snowstorm.  Whoever is responsible for this forecast has a sense of humour.  Where I live (in North Bay), we are in the red sector (at the top) and that means 3-4 bags of chips and 10-15 drinks over the course of the next few days.  Yesterday, I went grocery shopping and ran other errands.  My pantry is stocked up and my snowblower is ready!  LOL

Cherish your day, cherish your life, cherish your country (and my country will always be CANADA)!

February and March Goals

What did I accomplish this month for the Chookshed 2025 Stitchers Challenge?  

Well, two tops.  Yeah me!

This one was shown a few weeks ago.

This one was finished last week.  Looking at the bottom section, it sort of goes too light compared to the top section.  How did I miss that?  No matter .... this will be perfect for the cottage or donation.  

A bunch of luggage tags (sorry, no photo) got made for my niece and her family for their upcoming trip to Mexico.  They would have gone to Florida, but not this year.  My niece asked me if I could find fabric that had red maple leafs on white background.  Yep, found it and I bought extra in case her friends want some too.  She wants the Mexicans to know that she and her family are Canadian ... not American.

For my Chevron Log Cabin, only 7-1/2 blocks got made and sewn onto the quilt-as-you-go quilt.  I wasn't quite as ambitious with this.  My goal for March will be to complete those blocks and get a start on Row 10.

My other goal for March will be to get a start on this new project.  It is for my young niece, Charlotte for her birthday in May.  A year after she was born, this pattern appeared in McCall's magazine.  I just had to get the fabric.  She has looked at the pattern and fabric and loves it.  Recently, my lovely LAer also bought a machine quilting design called .... guess what ..... Charlotte.  This is all meant to be!

It has been a while since you have seen my little guy.  It will be almost a year since he came into our lives.  He is warming up in front of the fire.  See the yellow flooring tile behind him?  That is his scratch pad.  We have other scratching posts scattered around the house, but he likes this one.  Better that than my furniture.

It is a blustery, snowy day outside.  Nice to be sitting by the fire.

Politics:

I heard something really crazy the other day at the grocery store.  There were two middle aged men talking about how Trump wants to rename the USA to Trumpland.  I thought to myself, what crazy black hole on the internet did those guys spiral down into?  Seriously?  Thinking again, it just might have a tiny bit of truth to it as we all know that he wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico, he wants Canada to become 51 state, he wants Greenland, he wants the Panama Canal, and his image on Mount Rushmore .... so ... it could be true.  You know how he loves to have his name on buildings, golf courses, food, alcohol, sneakers, clothing, etc., etc., etc.  Mind you, Trumpland just doesn't have the same oomp when a crowd starts shouting USA,USA,USA and instead shout Trumpland,Trumpland,Trumpland.  You know, it just doesn't sound right.  Crazy times, eh!

Cherish your day, cherish your life, cherish your country and Canada is and always will be my choice!

Don't press that red button!

Catchy title, eh!  On Xmas Day, we had supper at our place and the little one saw this quilt hanging up and he went over to it and .... see all those red circles?  Well he started at the left side of the quilt and starting pressing all the red circles in the bottom row.  As he was pressing them, he was saying "button, button" and so on to the end of the row.  Guess we all know his attitude about pressing buttons he is not supposed to!!  There is a children's book titled "Don't Push That Button" and it is one of his favourite books.  So, those circles and the book connected.

On the new quilts ..... my niece and her family went away for a few days.  The oldest boy asked his Mom if his quilt and pillow were packed.  Yes, she said and he said "thank you, Mommy".  Yahoo ..... a new generation who truly love their new quilts.

Deanna at Dreamworthy Quilts is having another challenge this year.  I joined last year and made some progress on a few UFO's.  It was good to be pushed each month to bring out something and at least work on it or look at it and figure out what needs to be done to move it along.

This year, I'm joining in but will not assign any numbers or projects because for me that was too restricting and I just selected something else to work on that month.  I really have to feel like working on something to make this work for me.  Also, I'm not spending as much time in my studio these days, so that will limit my progress on UFO's and projects.

For January, I will be finishing the tops for these two projects.

The tree blocks have all be done and the rows are all sewn together.  Just need borders.

Borders are needed for this top.

I will also be working on adding another row to this quilt-as-you-go quilt.  Eight rows are done and almost 3/4 of row 9 are done and attached to each other.  

The other thing that I will be working on ..... is cleaning and sorting out one corner of my studio.  No photos, but you will have to trust me when I say that it is chaos there.

That is my goal for this month and I can't believe how quickly last year went and we are day one of a new year.

It has been 25 years since I taught a friend to quilt.  Hi Paula!  How time flies and she is still quilting!

Happy New Year!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!