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

Linnking with alyciaquilts.blogspot.

Quilting and Other Thoughts

Random thought - Does your hot beverage taste better if you slurp it? Loudly? 

Although Stonefields, designed by Susan Smith, has not been far from my thoughts in recent months, I have not done anything on it since completing all the hexie flowers for the border back in January. So, here I am. I got the big ironing board out. The cutting mat nearby. I prewashed more of the fabric I chose for the outside border. This will have to satisfy the Chookshed Challenge for this month. Number 10 on my list was to prewash fabric for a new quilt start, but I realized that my next few quilt starts will not require the fabrics to be prewashed. I will be using pre-cuts for those. I have thought about, obssessed about, talked about, planned and dreamed about doing this. I even laid out three rows of hexi flowers onto one of the 4 outside borders. Then put them away. Again.

The thing is, I fear messing it all up and making mistakes. As if I haven't made mistakes before. Like cutting the outside borders too narrow the first time. At least I still have 4-5 yards of the chosen fabric. 

Easter had us hosting family and clearing all the tables and spaces in the SonRoom. Had to clear away everything again for the accountant who finally showed up after changing the dates 3 times. We filed our taxes and both of us get refunds. He gets $20 and I get $15. I had to have the tables cleared again before my Writing Group filled the space on Sat. 

I picked up a rake to start clearing the flowerbeds now that spring is really here. I lasted about 5 minutes. The pain in my hands has resurfaced and I had difficulty grasping and dragging the rake. I got 2 slivers. There had been crocuses popping up in the lawn and tulip leaves emerging through the now frostless dirt. And now daffodils everywhere. I love the smell of the dirt in the spring. So inspiring. And its been raining off and on. Love the spring rains. You don't have to shovel rain. It soaks into the ground. The grass has been cut twice so far and the tractors are out doing tractor in the spring stuff. New little pigs arrived last week and new beef animals arrived this week. All that should keep my Sweetie occupied. 

I've been reading again. Lots of books. And Bricks and Mortar is on the table again this week. Haven't done anything on that either. 

A good friend, who has been attending our small group and was part of my writing group, passed away unexpectedly after major heart surgery earlier this month. She was 63. She did not get her book written. Her very life was an open book. She affected countless lives in her family and friends and others with her joy and total acceptance of broken people. She had received incredible heart healing from a difficult life and years of addictions. Her story is a ripple effect of how allowing the forgivenss of Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit into our hearts transforms us from the inside. She sat here a few days before her surgery, explaning the proceedure to come and hugged everyone before she left saying, "God loves you and I love you. The world is a better place because you are in it," Yes. The world is a better place because she was in it.  

blessings,

Chris

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

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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

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