Half Year Reflections

It is hard to believe that 2026 is more than half gone. I find that, as I get older, time seems to whiz by faster than ever. Part of that is forgetting what has been going on most days. Every night, as I get ready for bed and am taking out my dentures, (yes got those), it seems that I was just there a few minutes ago. And as I climb into bed, I lay on my back and do some simple stretches before laying awake for a couple of hours reflecting on what I did not get done through the day and what I want to be doing for the next decade or two. I doubt anyone else has these reflections. 

I posted a list in January of some Plans, Goals and Dreams for 2026. Last night I was reading back through all my blog post for this year. I doubt anyone else does that either. I was reminded of some of the blog intentions I had considered. Our summer house guests are gone home for now and I have 6 weeks of space in my days to complete a few things. Then I go on an epic Alaskan cruise with my duaghter and 2 younger granddaughters. I have not told them all the plans. Need to have some surprise adventures. 

Here is an recap of my plans and goals and dreams so far for 2026. I may have more as I start writing, because I usually write whatever comes to mind. But I did make a list of things to consider. I really did. Does anyone else do that before writing up their blog post?

Quilting

I started 4 new quilts for the Choodshed Challenge. I have one more new potential start on the list. I started Omigosh, Wreath of Roses, Tumbling Blocks and Wensleydale. I think I only bought fabric once back in April when we went to a quilt show. I bought 4 layer cakes. Two of them are reproduction shirtings for more variety for OMIGOSH backgrounds. I made progress on Bricks and Mortar. And I put in a few hand stitches to a couple of TOMDO blocks. Not much visible progress on Stonefields, but I have 1 outer border laid out for positioning the many hexie flowers. This is tricky since I have all the papers still in them. 

Finishes

I finished one top Churn Dash but I may still add a border. I have been wanting to get back into machine quilting. My skills are really rusty. But I need a few finished tops to practice on. I consider the possibilites often then turn around and forget.

Travel

We went to India in March. My Sweetie and I. It was an impulsive decision and we told no one until we were leaving. It was wonderful to make that trip with him along. We were there together in 2008 and I had been there12 times without him. Trips planned for later this year are Alaska with my daughter and 2 younger granddaughters and England to celebrate my sister there turning 80. 

Health

I turn 74 next week. I had a goal and dream of losing 26 lbs. I have lost some of that several times and found most of it again. Two more of the female massage therapists I have been seeing left the local place I go to. I have some issue with my upper right arm. Not sure what is going on, but it has been for at least 6 months. Will be getting some imaging done to see. I have been doing lots of rotary cutting and machine sewing but try to not do too much at a time. Had a bulging disc in my lower back in Feb but that has settled down nicely and I see a chiropractor routinely.  

I moved the recumbant bike into the SonRoom and it sits behind one of the tables. I thought if it was here I might remember to use it. But, alas, I cannot see it so will move it front and center so I am almost tripping over it to remember to use it. I got into the hot tub regularly to soak and do stretching exercises, since I have the scoliosis thing and cannot walk far without assistance. 

Blogging 

I do want to be blogging more often, but not a recap of my everyday life. I do a lot of that in my journals and morning pages when I actually write them. I had been keeping track of my 15 minutes daily stitching and have 91/161 days for the first 6 months of this year. But I forgot to link up. And the To-Do Tuesday. I keep writing to-do lists but not written up any blog posts. And OMG. I think I posted 2 times. I kept up with the RSC colour of the month 5/6 months with OMIGOSH.

Reading 

I have read a lot about adult ADHD and forgetting is a huge part and avoidance is another as well as distraction. I re-read the entire Anne of Green Gables series this month. I have a boxed set that was sitting on a shelf in the SonRoom out of reach but moved it when many of the house plants went outside. And didn't I buy not just a few new books. Maybe I will write up some insights on some of them. They are not all fiction novels. I read 66 books. This includes individual book of the Bible that I read often. I also have read through most of the journals I have kept over the past 30 years looking for insights for my memoir books. 

Leading 

I have been leading a monthly writing group. We met 5 times and have taken a break until Sept. I keep getting scathingly brilliant ideas but then forget unless I write them down. My Sweetie and I lead and host a bi-weekly small group from our church. Two of our members died in the spring. We are taking a summer break and will resume in Sept. 

Writing

I submitted 16 chapters to my editor for my book in progress called How We Stayed Married for 50 Years.  A month of house guests put a stop to that. However, I have since learned how to locate all my edit recommendations in Google Docs. Who knew? And how to save all the changes with just a click of a key. Who knew? I hope I can remember how. I continue to write morning pages and journal, but not everyday. 

Gardening

I contune to amaze myself with how ever year I buy lots of flowering plants and forget to actually plant them. And why? I cannot make up my mind where to put them. But I must have flowers. 

Enough reminiscing for now. Now to remember to follow through on the plans and goals and dreams for the rest of the year. We decided to take a quick trip to Pennsylvania next week to visit farming friends. 

blessings,

Chris

Wensleydale Quilt

My new quilt start for the Chookshed Challenge is Wensleydale. I bought the foundation papers on amazon. What can I say? Amazon delivers to my door. Actually, they deliver to each of my doors. They cannot see the house or the front door when they drive into the big yard. There are too many big trees hiding our very big ole farmhouse. It seems that there is a different driver every time. Like 2-3 deliveries a week. Sometimes more. 

  

So. Wensleydale. I like the name.

I pulled out heaps of Moda heathery solids. It appears that each of the Moda fat quarter bundles I bought over the years had several in each one. Most of those I bought 10 years ago on insane sales online. 

I have been collecting larger floral reproduction prints for years. I even picked up some when we were in Australia 3 years ago. I got them for fussy cutting for a couple of other quilts and have heaps left over. I also have some Dutch chintz. 

So many possibilities. 

The plan is to cut out a lot before starting to sew them together. 

I plan to NOT fussy cut for this one. Just cut out and take what comes. I may be surprized. 

blessings,

Chris

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OMIGOSH Progress

 

The RSC for July is aqua. I have rummaged through a few project boxes to see if I have enough different ones to add here. I am using reproduction scraps. I do not have neatly organized scrap containers. I have neatly organized project boxes with all the fabrics needed to finish each project when I eventually get around to finishing them. Being a bit ADHD, that may take a while. 

I am really liking what I see so far. 

For now, I have only one double 9-patch block made in all greens. I needed to see how this will look. 

First of all, I will not be using the darker shirtings for background. They are just too dark. Especially the gray ones. Wherever did I find them? I want more contrast. 

I have been considering making the smaller 9-patches in one colour then putting all different ones to make the double 9-patch. That is a problem to figure out another day. 

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends. 

blessings,

Chris

linking with: /smallquiltsanddollquilts./design-wall-monday-july-6-2026.

Chookshed Challenge for June and July

 I forgot to write up my newest quilt start. Tumbling Blocks. This idea showed up when I was doom scrolling back in March. 

I had purchased 3 Stonehenge Gradiant layer cakes when Gail from Gail's Place and I visited Missouri Star Quilts in Oct 2024. I had another idea in mind but this works also. I had a 300 pack of 3 inch 6 point diamonds papers I bought about 25 years ago. I found more at a local quilt shop on line. I have been glue basting off and on for weeks. I am machine stitching them together with a narrow zig-zag just like I have been doing with Stonefields and Lucy.   I will worry about removing the papers another time. 

For now, these are just slapped up onto the small design wall. I am about half way. It is hard to figure out the colour value with some of the lighter colours. There are 6 different colour gradiants in each pack. The wide back fabric laying below it is one I purchased years ago just because and the colours go together very nicely. When I see how big this will be, I can then cut some outer borders and still have enough for the backing.

The Chookshed Challenge number for July is 5 and that means I can start a new quilt. I have one ready and waiting. Grace at CityMouse Quilter  has been working on hers for a few months now. I dithered about making one for months then just bought the book of foundation papers. In the meantime, I found a site that gave cutting instructions and decided that I could do that. I do not have to do any of the math. Just have all the fun. My plan is to use many of the large floral fabrics I have been collecting over the years for broderie perse applique. So, first I have to finish fussy cutting a few more honeycombs for Lucy and a lot of floral for my Morrell. This will leave me with quite a mess of swiss cheese fabrics. Perfect for cutting random scrap shapes for Wensleydale. 

It is July 1st and we are celebrating Canada Day. This is the hottest day of the summer so far at 93F or 36 C. Thundershowers usually follow this kind of heat. We are situated between the Great Lakes here in Southern Ontario Canada and get a variety of all kinds of weather throughout the year. 

Blessings,

Chris  

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Doom Scrolling

I have been doom scrolling. Yes that is a thing my granddaughters tell me. I stopped playing games a year and a half ago because that caused too much pain in my hands. But doom scrolling. It is so easy to get sucked in. And what has been showing up? ADHD. 

I have to chuckle. I was in my 60s when it was brought to my attention that I was a bit ADHD. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. But it is not a disorder. It is more like a delusional delicious desire to dive deep into  neurodivergent distractions that delay deadlines. . .  In other words, rabbit trails. Sigh. 

There were so many different reels with similar symptoms. We hate to brush our teeth. We hate to shower. Too many decisions like do I need to? Which shampoo? There are 6 options.  Trying to wrangle 17 thoughts at the same time about what to eat when I peak into the refrigerator or on my desk with its many projects spread out. What colour do I use to make this block? Interrupting all the time so we don't forget what we want to say. We actually have to start doing the thing before the motivation starts. Then we cannot let it go. 

The one that has me is getting disrupted when I finally get into that rare zone of deep focus by someone walking in and engaging me in conversation or requesting me to do something not on my radar. They have no idea how long it takes to get back in the zone after having to start from scratch. 

And the ubiquious to-do list. These make perfect sense to normal people. But we are not normal. We love making to-do lists and doing anything else but what is on them. We  have notes-to-self all over the house as reminders for something but not remember to actually do them. That is why I write morning pages. 

And we have loving humans telling us we need to behave like normal people when what is normal for us is not normal for them. And don't we go and marry someone totally not like us and trying to change us.  

Okay. Rant is over. Maybe.

It's nearing the end of June and what have I accomplished? I have not progressed my book writing much. Nope. But, I have been sewing. I went to that 3 day quilt retreat 4 weeks ago and took along bits for 5 projects. I worked on OMIGOSH bits until I realized that I had not taken a regular presser foot. I had the one with the seam guide but after a while I realized that the guide was pushing the tiny bit of fabric over just enough to distort the corners of the tiny 4-patch blocks that finish at a mere half inch. Then I realized that I had the same problem with the foundation paper piecing. I had thought about taking the Featherweight for that, but did not. So, I switched to another project. And that is why we take several different kinds of sewing to quilt retreats. 

I have been trying to work on the OMIGOSH units daily. There are a lot of steps! But progress is happening. I have been trying to get caught up on the green and orange blocks. I got the windows in the sunroom washed and that was an all day venture. In order for that to happen, had to move a lot of plants outside and take out a table and move things around. But the job is done. I got a cortizone shot in, of all places, my right shoulder for the hand pain? Still trying to figure that one out. I have been taking glucosamine-condroitin-MSM suppliments for the past few weeks at my chiropractor's recommendation. I think something is beginning to work. How do I know? I can bend over and pull weeds again. Okay. Lots and lots of rain has been helpful.

I finally pulled out the Wreath of Roses and worked on positioning the flower petals and leaves. I am a bit frustrated with the whole process. In order to reduce bulk, I am thinking about stitching the inner petals together then cutting out some of the back before joining that to the larger big flower. Oh, why did I decide to do this by machine when I could have done the whole thing by hand years ago before my hands stopped being able to push a needle sideways? But I am determined to follow through and get this quilt made. It has taken me only 29 years to get this far. I am calling it done for my OMG goal for June. I will do more next month. The Forgotten Quilt Book Challenge goes until Oct 1 so I still have 3 months. 

Come to think of it, I have been working on my book project. I spend countless hours going through boxes of old photos. Remember those before digital cameras? I am looking for 26 pictures that sum up our 50 years together for our book How We Stayed Married for 50 Years and even enjoyed a few.  Reading about some common characteristics in women with ADHD has given me lots of insights about why it is so hard to do the things that I obsess about all the time. I actually was up in the middle of the night writing a couple of times. So, I guess I have made progress. 

Blessings,

Chris

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Wreath of Roses

This is the Forgotten Quilt Book Challenge project for 2026. I will post monthly about my progress. 

My plan for the leaves is to run the fused green fabric through the custom dies GO cutter. That is why I got them made back in 2013. I do like to plan ahead. The next thing to figure out was what to use for the background. It had to be white. And it had to be all from the same bolt. I had several options. Some Kona Snow and some Kona White. But the background squares were to be cut an odd 24 by 26. And that would take the cut right through the center crease that all new fabric has. 

How to get around that? I had purchased a wide back but where, oh, where had it gone to?  I finally made a decision. I chose the Kona White. 

If the fusible stuff shows, no one will notice.

I cut them square. They will be 20 inches finished. 

The plan always was to machine applique and then machine quilt. I thought quilt-as-you-go would be the thing. So, I needed to learn how to do that. I had not yet learned how to do needle turn hand applique. And besides, all the stuff was missing for years. But it is all sitting here now, ready to play. 

My OMG goal for June will be to have one block prepped and ready to begin the machine applique. I did purchase matching thread way back when, but I fear not having enough once I get started. Oh. Decisions. Decisions. I do have lots of that Aurifil 30 thread I won here 5 years ago. Lots of it. 36 spools with 1000 yards each. Should the thread match or contrast? Which stitch or stitches should I use? I will figure it out.

 

I am off to a quilt retreat this weekend. Well, Sun-Tues. I have packed a few containers of OMIGOSH bits to trim and sew into 4 1/2 inch Shoo Fly blocks. I have the RSC blues, reds, greens and oranges. That shoud keep me busy. I also am taking 2 Morrell blocks. Some of those have accompanied me on every quilt retreat in the past 11 years so why stop now. Stonefields is planning to come along hoping I will play. There are no less than 4 containers of those bits and pieces in various stages. 

But what I am trying to finish up this week is Bricks and Mortar. This is a flannel kit I bought about 30 years ago. I am so close.  

blessings,

Chris

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Forgotten Quilt Book Challenge 2026

 

Challenge Livres oubliés 2026 / Forgotten Quilt Books Challenge 📚

Frederique has offered a challenge to dust off and rediscover some old quilt books and magazines and make something inspired from them. I have been waiting for this. And since the Chookshed Challenge number for May is 1, I get to start a new quilt with a clear conscience. 

This bag  has been sitting around in various places over the years

 waiting for me to pay attention to it.

I bought the magazine in 1997. I was going to 

learn how to do maching applique. The directions are all there. I read it over many times and dreamed. Fabricland had a half price sale so I bought several shades of peachy-pinks and a solid dark green. And I found matching thread. The thread had to match. That was back in 2012. But then, I was going to do the raw edge machine applique so had to learn how to do that also. 

But in true Chris fashion, the magazine went hiding for many years. 

And the center pull-out pattern got separated from the magazine. 

So, one day I bought the book with pictures of the original quilt designed and made by Marie Webster. And after a lot of years, all the pieces came together into that one bag after we had one of those major declutters. The kind where my daughter makes me sit and she brings everything to me and I have to make the instant decision to keep, give away, or throw away. No pausing to think or tell stories. It is exhausting for me but exhilarating for her.   

So, I made a plan. I pre-washed the fabrics. I traced the flower and leaf units onto paper then made a master page to copy  onto wash away fusible stuff. How did we ever quilt without photo copiers and computers? 

I pressed the fusible sheets onto the fabrics and packed them along with several pairs of sharp scissors and took them to India with me. I knew there would be lots of spare hours when we would be just hanging out waiting for the next thing. I invited my friends to help cut out every single one of those flower units. I was unable to do any hand stitching.

Now to get busy.

Blessings,

Chris

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