Small Things Progress Report

I'm working on it ...

Honest! 

But I swear I didn't mean to go THIS crazy overboard with the hand quilting ...

(And boy is my needle rocking ever rusty!)

Yeah, no.

I tried something new ... new as in I've never done it before ... not new as in I'm so brilliant to have just invented quilting with embroidery floss.

Amy quilted around her circle with floss and I love hers.

And Monica did an AMAZING job quilting her Granny Squares with floss.

But I'm only lukewarm about my circle quilting.  And this edging?

Hmmmm, yeah no.

Don't like it.  It's too ... I dunno ... loud?  Too chunky?  I'm not doin' so good with my adjectives today.  It doesn't have the  refined daintiness (better) I'm going for with this project.

And plus I think I pulled my quilting stitches too tight so the circle is all ... hoochy coochy poochy.  (HA!  Take THAT you troublesome English language!!!)  (Just please ignore the "and plus" at the beginning of this paragraph ... I know it's naughty ... but I did it for comedic effect.)

So I unpicked.  All of it.  This pretty little thing is too ... pretty ... to not fix.

Sigh.  No pain, no gain. 

It's a mystery to me ...

why not EVERYONE loves to do this sort of thing.

Seriously.

Making stuff - 'specially pretty stuff - is THE.best.therapy.GOING! 

                    *               *               *               *               *

I've had a few questions about the size of my blades and the circle for this project.

I made this template for myself ...

But both Amy and Anne used this nifty tool.

And my circle for the embroidery finished at about 6" so cut it 6 1/2" in diameter.  That said, I'm not using an embroidery hoop so I don't need extra fabric.  If you like using a hoop, I'd suggest cutting a 10" square, tracing the design, stitching and THEN cutting out the 6 1/2" circle.  Make sense?

Happy Camper

My little dresdan blades have gone from these ...

to these ...

to this ... (wheeeeeeeeeee!  Yes, I totally squealed out loud when I pressed this little section together and flipped it over on my ironing board!!!)

(There may have also been clapping and jumping.)

And then this ...

Amy, if you were here right now I'd kiss you on the mouth!  LOL!

Kidding.

Maybe. ;)

And now I'm moving on to the embroidery.

I am one SERIOUSLY happy camper right now!

Whatcha Doin'?

No really.  I'm curious.  What are you working on?  A quilt?  Embroidery?  A DIY decor project?  Something else?  Too many things?

Me?

I'm doin' these ...

... all 52 of 'em.

With these ...

... to keep me company.

(SO wishing I had a magic wand right now!)

Mystery Block of the Month 7

I signed up for this project with a friend.  But she lives almost an hour away and our schedules are turning out to be far from compatible.  We've only managed to get together ONCE last Fall to sew our blocks.  I cheated a little and did a few more without her, but I felt so guilty for going a little ahead so I haven't made any since.

But I'm starting to feel so disorganized and I have so many other projects going on here that I just NEEDED to get caught up with this & start planning the final quilt.  So she graciously gave me permission to continue if I promised to still help her when we can get together. 

Done. :)

So!  Here's block #7 ... only about 5 months late.

It was designed by the lovely Cyndi Walker.  I had the pleasure of meeting her at Quilt Market last year.  Super nice girl.

Cute, eh? 

While making this block I realized these are my two favorite prints ... polka dots and little flowers on a tiny dot background.

Farmer's wife Quilt Along Week 34

YAY!!! I'm back!  Oh this feels so good. :)

Thank you so much for your all your responses to my request for feedback on my blog banner.  Wow you guys are so nice!  I wasn't expecting so many of you to tell me to do what pleases me.  That is pure generosity and I am totally grateful. 

My favorite comments were ones that suggested I do "the same but different".  So now I'm working on a new banner that you will recognize as me ... for sure ... promise.  It will be the same, but different.  Not sure when it will be ready.  But you'll be the first to know when it's done. :)

And now back to our regularly scheduled program.

I have some MAJOR catching up to do here on the farm and beLIEVE me, I've been farming!  I'm going to spend this week showing you (some of) my new FW blocks ... and there are some beauties I tell ya, like today.

Green, Gray & White

#67 - Pine Tree

I live nestled in the foothills of the Great Canadian Rockies.  I suppose I should appreciate the landscape more, but I'm not into rocks & mountains and the indigenous flora that isn't anywhere NEAR my preferred English Cottage look ...

We have an abundance of pine trees and I think almost every other species of tree with needles & cones.  I bet there isn't a single residential street in the city without at least ONE.  Again, I suppose some people would find that charming and romantic.  Not me.  I only like these trees at Christmas time.

However, THIS is the kind of pine tree I can get jiggy with ...

all covered with flowers! :)

#105 - Wild Goose Chase

I had the.hardest.time deciding how to make this block in terms of print/color.  Should I go two-tone? Symmetrical?  Totally scrappy? And all the beautiful and inspiring versions I found on the FWQAL Flickr group didn't make my decision an easier.

But I finally went with these colors, scrapped "the snot" out of the green and I EL-OH-VEE-EE it!

YUM! :) 

(Just so we're clear here I mean yum the color ... not yum the snot.)

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along Week 33

Pink & Gray

I think all my FW blocks this month will have gray because, well, I liked last week's blocks so much and I really need to catch up with this color for my quilt.

#40 - Friendship Block

Yeah, this block and I are DEFINITELY friends! :)

 

#80 - Single Wedding Star

Yep.  I totally love pink.

Sorry guys, no funny in me today ... I looked EVERYWHERE for it.

But I got nothin'.  Nada.  Zip.  Zero.  Zilch.

Maybe if I had a glass of wine or something.  Naw, it'll just make me sleepy and then I won't be able to feel the end of my nose.

And then I'll have to pee.

Never mind ... I'll keep lookin'.  Maybe it'll show up tomorrow.

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along Week 32

Blue, Gray & White

Today is our 16th wedding anniversary.  Wow.  I wonder what that is in Hollywood years?  ;)

Yes, "we" (meaning me) decided to get married in the winter ... 'cause I really wanted to wear a velvet jacket as part of my wedding dress  ... so I could hide my chubby arms ... not kidding ... 

The color theme was silver & white and my sister-matron-of-honor wore a navy velvet dress.  So in honor of this special day, I made blue, "silver" & white blocks. 

I also chose these blocks specifically for their names.

#89 - Steps to the Altar

This block ended up looking more like a tree to me but ... whatever ... let's go with it.

The church still had a nativity scene set up on the altar and I remember spending the entire ceremony looking at astro-turf bedding in the manger and cotton ball snow on the trees. 

I am SO not even joking about that!  Actual fluorescent green indoor/ outdoor carpeting and cotton balls, carefully placed one by one on the tree branches.  It would have been a great place to be if you wanted to play soccer or suddenly found yourself with a nail-polish removal emergency.  Haha!

Can you imagine?  Trying to be all serious about getting married but mostly concentrating on not bursting out laughing everytime you see a plaster cast baby Jesus with a broken-off finger and an anorexic plastic cow with bony ribs sticking out ...

Dude, it was hilarious.

But my point - and yes I have one - is that I resisted the urge to make these altar steps green in homage to that astro-turf.

#101 Wedding Ring

I love how these blocks look all calm, & soft & wintery & elegant.  Perfect.  Exactly what I was going for. :)

Happy Anniversary, Honey. 

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along Week 31

Hello hello!  Hope you had a lovely Christmas.  I've had an amazing few days, but more about that later this week ... or next.

Today I have new FW blocks for you in colors I'm calling "The Kitchen Sink" palette. :)

I've been DYING to make this block - Postage Stamp - since I started this QAL back in June.  This sort of piecing is really one of my all time favorite activities. 

I was going to wait a while longer to make it, for no particular reason, I guess. 

But suddenly I was inspired by a few things ... this image I found at one of my new favorite blogs (well, new to me - she's been around for quite a while!)  Something about the pretty, colorful ornaments on this tree ... I actually get butterflies in my tummy when I look at this photo.  I can't explain it.

And the thought of what Christmas usually looks like - an explosion of color with all the gifts, wrapping paper, decorations, lights, candy ... especially if kids are involved.

So I decided to cut one square from every print I'm using for my FWQAL quilt and found that I had almost enough squares for 2 blocks!

I just threw in a few more whites and voila! 

I have a feeling that when it comes to the final quilt there'll be a few blocks that won't play nicely with the others and won't be allowed to join in.  But I'm sure both these blocks will make the final cut because ...

I ... LOVE ... THEM ... SO ... MUCH!!!  It's sad really ... how much I love them.

So much so that right now I'm totally wanting to make a huge quilt with just these little 3/4" squares. 

Don't think I won't!  In fact, I just might do that with all my scraps at the end of this QAL. 

One of these days I'll show you the quilt I made that ended up with literally thousands of tiny pieces.

You think I'm joking, don't you? 

Dude.  I don't joke about things like that ...