sampler blocks

Happy New Year's Eve!

We had a lovely Christmas, I hope you did too.
This past week I've been blissfully working on my Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt.

You can click the pictures to see the block names and numbers on Flickr.


I've got 36 blocks now!

I started these blocks exactly 3 years ago. I've still got a ways to go but it would be really cool to try to finish it by the end of this coming new year.
Have a happy new year!

talk about long term project...

So, Carla and I have been lamenting our lack of progress on our Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks lately. I started mine in December of 2011. I just checked and the last block I made was in December 2013! yikes!
I've wanted to work on it but have just had too many other pressing projects going on. And I'd kind of forgotten about it. I was determined to make a block or two today.

This is the poor little block made nearly 10 months ago but never documented. #92 Streak of Lightning


Today, I went for the first easy block I flipped to in the book. #48 Homeward Bound

And #111 Wrench

Boy, I feel so much better having made a little progress. I really, really want to finish this quilt someday soon.
Okay, Carla, your turn now!

loose ends

I forgot to show you the loot I came away with from QuiltCon!
It's so nice to see fabrics in real life sometimes (as opposed to ordering online all the time). I knew I would want to splurge on some goodies so it's all good but people, I seriously need to go on a fabric diet! I'm really going to try to restrain myself for a while (until the new Heather Ross collection comes out, that I will be buying!).

Those solids on the right are Oakshot Cottons, so gorgeous in real life! And it seemed to me that Architextures was the big "thing" at QuiltCon....it was EVERYWHERE (at EVERY shop booth and in tons of the quilts). It's a cool collection for sure but it makes me feel like part of the crowd. I'm fine with that though. :)


#20 Churn Dash for my Farmer's Wife Sampler. Plugging away.


Lastly, a sneak peek of my finished feather/improv quilt that I have yet to come up with a good name for. I need to get some better pictures, soon!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Blocks

I hate when I loose things. I've spent two days looking and still cannot find my thimble! So, I just picked up a new cheapy one at Wal-Mart so that I can get that quilt (my do. Good Stitches quilt) bound and shipped off to our awesome leader Nicke!
And January just happens to be her month to design so I'll send these little beauties along too.

I'll be honest. When this scrappy trip-along craze started I thought it was cool but didn't see what all the fuss was about. Ah, now that I've made these, well, I can see why! They were super fun and easy to make and really did use up scraps! Plus there are so many gorgeous layout possibilities. This is one of my favorites.

Two more Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks done!

#97 Waste Not


#16 Calico Puzzle - I guess I love kids fabrics, so fun and whimsical, I never cease to be drawn to them.

confession time!

Whoa! didn't mean to be so out of it here on the blog. I hate to admit that I am very unmotivated right now and I have two major projects that need to be done by Christmas!

The first one is for my husband. It's a weighted blanket. I heard about them from a friend recently who struggles with anxiety and restless leg syndrome at night. My hubby doesn't have anxiety but he has restless leg syndrome and has always loved heavy blankets. So I browsed around for a tutorial and got started about a week ago. Let's just say this sucker is a PAIN in the behind! I'm only about a third of the way done. :(


Next, I have to whip up a Birdie Sling bag for my sister-in-law. I'm just dreading all that interfacing. Maybe if I do a little at a time it won't be too bad.


What I'd rather be working on (because I'm selfish!) is this little imrpov thing I've got going.

And my Farmer's Wife quilt!

#93 Swallow

Well, I'm determined to get those gifts done so off I go. And don't remind me that Christmas is only 11 days away, eek!

New Business Cards

Happy pre-Thanksgiving! I've got some pies to bake today.

I had a slight blunder at the Etsy craft show earlier this month when I realized that my business cards still had my old email address that I had to cancel when we moved. Oops! So, when I got home from the show I promptly ordered new ones. 

Even though it's just a standard design on Vistaprint, I'm super happy with them!

Some new fabric treats. I totally had to have that Tree Bark fabric!
A few more Farmer's Wife blocks:

#86 Squash Blossom


#46 Hill & Valley

P.S. Thanks for the advice on interfacing! I've finished my bag and I'll be posting it soon. :)

beautiful fall

We've had a wonderful week enjoying the perfect fall weather! The trees aren't particularly vibrant in this part of the country but I enjoy the few ones that do put on a good show.

With the trees starting to turn here I was inspired to get back to work on my Farmer's Wife Sampler quilt.
I've been looking forward to making the Maple Leaf block for a while but could never settle on the perfect fabric. This Anna Maria Horner Field Study print is PERFECT! It was born to be a maple leaf.

Maple Leaf #56


Contrary Wife #21


Honey's Choice #50

Have a great weekend everyone!

TGIF!

Happy Friday! We signed a contract on our house a few days ago, yay! Hopefully, the rest of the process will go smoothly. We didn't have many showings this week so I was able to find more time to sew.

I was missing my Farmer's Wife Sampler quilt.
#36 Flower Garden Path
This little block took an obscene amount of time to make but I'm super happy with how it came out.


#34 Flock
Nice and simple. :)

Yesterday I took my baby, my Janome 5330, into the shop for a general cleaning and check up. It had been over 2 years I think since it was last done and I've had no problems with it but with as much as I use it I want to make sure it keeps running smoothly. HOWEVER, I was shocked when they told me what the price was going to be for the simple cleaning: $110!!!! Does that seem high to anybody else? The shop I took it to last time has closed (owners retired) and they only charged $55 and they were a very reputable shop/Janome dealer. All I can say is ouch! At least they are quick, it's ready for pick up today.

Like my washi tape? I think it adds some nice color to the ole girl.

long term project

I'm still plugging away very slowly on my Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. Even though the blocks are pretty time consuming, I really enjoy working on a block here and there when I need something small to focus on between the big projects.
Here are the most recent blocks I've made:

#15 Buzzard's Roost


#80 Single Wedding Star


#7 Birds in the Air


#14 Butterfly at the Crossroads


So these are the 16 blocks that I've completed so far! These 6" blocks look so much smaller in person. I've got a long way to go. I'm going "scrappy" with my color scheme but you can definitely tell which colors I'm drawn to (hello orange!).

going for it

So I've been reading up on all the Ravelry project notes for Paulie and I've decided I'm going to do it! I ordered my yarn (Knit Picks Palette) last night, so I'm committed now, LOL!

In the meantime, I've been swatching with some extra Palette that I already had to get an idea of what needle size I need to use. 

I've been doing a few Farmer's Wife blocks here and there. I LOVE how this one came out!

#18 Century of Progress.

This one I'm not so sure of. My fabric choices were poor I think.

#63 Ozark Maple Leaf

P.S. The quilt raffle was an amazing success!!! We are only lacking about $600 for our trip now! THANK you all so much for your support!

In progress

Hi there! Life has been SUPER busy here lately. I've been sewing and knitting but just haven't taken the time to get good pictures.

I have to tell you, I've been knitting on my Henslowe shawl most evenings and it's such a fun knit! It's my first time knitting on a lace edging and I'm so tickled with how it's turning out. I was expecting it to be complicated but it's really easy. This knit is almost DONE!


I made another Farmer's Wife block. It's #60, Noon & Light. I used some fabrics from Denyse Schmidt's new Aunt Edna collection from JoAnn's.

Quilt Alongs

I'm officially a joiner now. I never have been really, I prefer to do my own thing at my own pace (wow, that sounds snooty but I promise I'm not!). This past month I've join TWO quilt alongs!

I don't know what brought it on but first I joined the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt Along that Angela and Amanda started last year. I asked for the book for Christmas and got it!
Here are the blocks I've done so far:
These blocks are a little tricky but a lot of fun! Go to my Flickr page to see the block names and numbers.


A few weeks ago I joined the Sparkle Quilt Along. These are the fabrics I chose to make the mini quilt size.


I've made quite a bit of progress on it this week! Fun, fun, fun!

I hope your weekend plans involve some fun too!