31 Day Blogging Challenge Day 2

It 's Day 2 of the 31 day blogging challenge and I might already have writer's block. Seriously. Last night  I had a hundred ideas floating through my brain and this morning, after sleeping in until a normal 8.30, I have no idea what to write. But that has never stopped me before. I have a couple of keys sticking in my laptop. Makes it a challenge to log in with a password that has an "a" and no semi colons or colons are to be use for now. Mary of Quilting through rose colored tri focals   used an expression called at 6's and 7's. Her post got me thinking.

I posted this picture of my quilt room/office last winter. Some readers are interested in how you organize your stuff, but I will share what I am doing with some of my stuff. 

Here are some of the things I am working on this week. I had to check some cow information on line for my Farmer who does very little on the computer, except to check for  emails and facebook postings when I am away. This is the five year old net book I take with me when I travel so I can keep in touch and do some work. I had to get a new battery when I was in India.  Last night I was backing up five years of files so I could transfer India pictures to my lap top where I am trying to put together a power point presentation I will be doing in January at our son-in-law's church.

 Next to that is my journal, daytimer, Bible and pen. I try to do a bit of journaling often but it seems that I write more to-do lists than reflecting on my Bible reading. Beside that is the project box I took on our weekend away. I stitched for about twenty minutes total.  

 Behind me is one of my craft tables. The Bernina is in for servicing so I put the Featherweight in 

and have everything ready to do one more Bright Jane block. This was all sitting on another table 

since I got home from Shipshewana three weeks ago. The intent is to make one block. 

I will not be using that yellow thread on that fabric.

 Beside that is the other craft table with the Brother. I am working on a Simple Simon reproduction quilt from the retreat. I have quite a few very expensive mugs that I was unwilling to throw out when they got cracked or lost a handle so I use them to hold pens, pencils, pencil crayons, markers, etc.

If I do not see things, they do not exist.

 On the table in front of the design wall, I have the first blocks up. Lots of four patch units made and sewn to back ground squares waiting to be sewn into the next blocks. There is also some of the clutter I dumped out after the retreat. I put away most everything when I have the Quilting at the Farm girls come over but that will be mid January sometime. I usually put something different up on the wall then.

 Beside that, I have some project boxes for my grand daughters. They each have their own pair of razor sharp Dear Jane scissors that are too small for my large fingers but perfect for theirs. The two younger ones are still cutting thread and scraps but the older one is using the real machine. I had to eat a lot of cookies over the years to get those empty containers. They are about eight inches square. Again, I have to see things or they do not exist. I later discovered that those cookies are what had been poisoning  my body.

 One of my quilting friends loves to do laundry so she took home three fat quarter bundles of Moda French General fabrics to pre-wash 120 fat quarters for me. What a Blessing! I will be using some of these for a new GORF quilt this winter. The fabric has to be pre-washed before the heat-n-bond lite is ironed on.

 I want it to stay on forever.

 These fabrics have been pre-washed in preparation for Stonefields. I bought the entire pattern when I was in Australia last year and have been waiting for a good time to start. They are available over at Sentimental Stitches.   There is a facebook group and the first month patterns are going out this month.

 At the retreat, I got a tutorial on big stitch quilting without a hoop. It took me a couple of weeks, but I tracked down some creamy coloured Valdani pearl cotton 12 and some size 24 chenille needles. I plan to do a small sample piece of my Dear Jane fabrics with the wool batting I bought last summer to see if my hands can handle this. If they do, I was thinking that I could quilt one block a day (so not to overdo it) and have it done in 225 days. No wait - there are 56 border triangles, so 281 days. Maybe.

In the meantime, I have these to keep my busy. I had each course in its own box, but wanted the boxes for other projects. 

 My self paced online doctoral course with no deadlines is sitting on the desk in front of the desk top computer waiting for me to stay home for a few days. I have filed three out of twelve courses and these five are each half done. They are not hard. I just need to spend more time there than here.

Blessings,
Chris