Okay... so what am I going to do with all the little leftovers?

Just playing with scraps.  These are all the cut-offs from the flying geese in the Swoon blocks.  I have stitched them all together into a mass of half square triangles.  I have been throwing them up on the design wall to play but finally decided to try graph paper to get an idea.  So I think I have a bit of a layout and now I will actually transfer the whole mess onto the design wall and then get them sewn together.  This will be just a small-ish project because these squares are just not that big.  I am going to call this Sawdust or Something From Nothing.

Pop on over to Stitch in Colour to see the progress in the Scrap Attack. It is really amazing what people have been making with their scraps!!!!!  I love it!!!

Design Wall on a Monday... more swoon!

I did it!  All my 9 swoon blocks complete as of yesterday afternoon!  Woo hoo!

And on the floor, playing quite happily together!  I just have to sash, sandwich, quilt and bind.  Just!  I managed this whole shebang with scraps and stash fabric, relying heavily on some fabric samples for the floral notes.  This block has so many possibilities because of its large size.  There is a huge flicker group with over 700 "swooners" working on this quilt.  So much fun!

I am going to link up with Judy's Design Wall Monday!

Yet another zippy pouch!

Just a little zippy pouch.  It really is straight but it was empty when I took the pictures so it does not have the best posture in this bottom photo.  It looks like it was into the moonshine.  I added just a bit of hand quilting and added a layer of flannelette to give it a bit of substance.  The pouch is lined with a chunk of vintage floral print and I even put a little pocket inside for who knows what.I added a button to the zipper tab for a pull.  This zipper seems a little stiff even though it was a new one still in the package from the thrift store.  Not that I am a big zipper connoisseur but the zipper I used was a Talon brand and I do find it stiff!

Other than that, I spent the day with my last two swoon blocks!  Yippee!  They are done and I will have pics of them for tomorrow.  I was totally surprised by the weight of the 9 blocks when they are stacked up.

We are under a heavy rain warning and it has absolutely poured all day long.  The visibility is limited and the world is water logged.  Have a lovely evening!

Flea Market Finds...

 Well!  I stopped at just one thrift store today and everything was 50% off!  Now that is my kind of shopping.    I found this pretty little piece of needle point and a whack of old thread on wooden spools.  I

 And a giant pile of 100% cotton home decor weight samples.  Just the right size for pouches and bags.  I was tickled to find this since I seem to be in a zippy pouch phase and the quality was awesome.

Some vintage sheets and some lovely linen napkins with hem stitching and just a touch of white on white embroidery.

The really wonderful thing is that I spent a grand sum of $4.25.  Happiness!  I think the needlepoint might become the centre of a pillow.  Back to sewing I go.  I am in the middle of my Farmer's Wife blocks for the week.  Have a super lovely evening and I will link up with Sophie's Flea Market Finds and with Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday!

Flea Market Fancy is coming!

Well, you may not know this but I love Flea Market Fancy.  I still cannot believe that I have found Flea Market Fancy at thrift stores not once but twice!  And then the lovely Riel who blogs at the Q and the U, sent me some fat quarters because I had picked up some fabric for her.  So sweet!  I missed out on the original buying frenzy when Flea Market Fancy was introduced as I was on a long sewing hiatus but it is coming back!!!!

Oh, yes it is!  I was browsing over at the Fat Quarter Shop and clicked the little box to say, please let me know when I can buy this lovely stuff...



Coming in March!  I can't wait!!!!  Happy Weekend!

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along: Week 34!!!!

Block # 100 Weathervane

Block #107 Windblown Square

Here are my blocks for the week.  I made them during my snow days last week so both blocks have a weather theme.  I am just trying to keep life interesting!  Weathervane and Windblown square were both fun to make.  Luckily the weather this week is much more cooperative and I will find some other influence for the block choices!

I have to say that finding fun scraps to make the blocks with is a lot of the fun.

A big shout out to all my Australian followers on Australia Day!  I have a teacher from Australia on staff and she treated us to pavlova and lamingtons in the staff room!

Have a lovely rest of your day!

Just another little zippy pouch...

So I made another zippy pouch.  I didn't use a pattern or a tutorial.  This is just me.  Here is what I have learned.  Zippers are nicer looking with tab ends.  So I did that.  I made this one a little bigger.  I stuffed some charm packs in the pouch to show the size.  I did not use batting or interfacing for this one as it was really a test pouch.  I used a chunk of vintage sheet and some thrift store cotton for lining.  I made the big mistake of using some really nice fabric to try an Amy Butler zippy pouch pattern the other day and it was a disaster so I did not want to waste anything really lovely on just another test.  I don't know why the Amy Butler pouch was so messed up.  I did manage to make her messenger bag for Daughter and that turned out very well.  I guess what I am trying to say is that I have the skills but my skills and her pattern did not get along-at least this time.  Oh well!

Now that I have the basic design of this pouch, I can go from there.  Jazz it up.  So there. Zippy pouch number two.   Have a super lovely day!

Just a little zippy pouch...

I always see beautiful little pouches that people are making and I have yet to make a little pouch that I am totally happy with.  I made this little box pouch the other day with some scraps.  I was pretty happy with how it turned out.  I was still a tad disappointed with the zipper end as I should have positioned the zipper a little better so that I did not get a gap when the zipper is closed.  I was just being a bit of a nutter with that I think.

Husband wanted to know what the pouch was for.  I have no idea.  I just wanted to make it.  I told him it was for his lovely black hen to put her eggs in.  Just kidding.  We have a beautiful hen that should be in children's stories.  She is in great need of a bonnet and shawl.  Maybe even an apron.  So yes, this is for her to store her eggs or maybe her knitting in.

I used a little pattern.  I think it is called This and That.  Stay tuned though, because I made another zippy pouch that made me much happier.  More on that later.

I am going to link up with Fabric Story Tuesday!  Have a lovely rest of your day!

Design Wall Monday... Swooning along

So here we are!  Only 2 more blocks to go. I threw the blocks on the floor downstairs for their photo opportunity.  I actually have 8 blocks made but I ditched one as the colours just didn't work with the rest of the blocks.  It had way too much orange in it.  I am liking the look so far and with the last 2 blocks it will work nicely.  Then I get to play around with the block arrangements.

And a little close up on some of the blocks.  I am using lots of bits and pieces.  Fabric samples and bits of scraps.  Husband told me my pictures were crooked today.  He was right.  Oops!

I am going to link up with Judy's Design wall Monday!

Sunday Stash...

I went for a sewing machine lesson yesterday.  I had not taken the opportunity that the sewing machine shop offered when I bought my new machine and then Christmas happened so I did not get a chance to go until this weekend.  I didn't have many questions but it was still fun.  I really wanted to know about maintenance because I do use my machine a lot!  I learned that it is okay to blow out the fluff with compressed air.  And that is just so much fun!!!!  I also learned a few little tricks that with all the fancy programmable stitches.  Blah, blah, blah.  On the way home, I stopped at my fabulous local quilt shop.

Some lovelies came home with me. I love finding bolt ends.  They are usually buy one and get another one free.  How much fun is that?  So I found some Terrain, some Prospect Park, some Backyard Baby, and some other stuff.  I picked up some of this lovely red floral print which is from Reunion by Sweetwater for Moda.  It is super lovely and goes really nicely with Ruby by Camille just so you know.  I also bagged some scraps.  Like I need more scraps!?  But I couldn't pass them up.  Big chunks of Christmas stuff. I tucked them away for next Christmas.  So there you have it.  Just a little bit of fabric fun.
.

Reunion by Sweetwater for Moday

Fabulous Christmas scrap bag

Backyard Baby

Flea Market Finds and the snow is finally melting!

I found me some fridgies!!! Oh yes, I did!  And at Value Village of all places!  They weren't a bargain by any means but in line with other thrift store prices that seem to know these are sought after.  They are just so darn cute!  My mum is a huge fan of fridgies and has a pile of them.

This tin was a steal at 25 cents.  It is large, full of vintage charm and has the basket weave design everywhere.  The thrift store had originally priced it at $8.  What???  But they had reduced it to the bargain price just for me to pick up this morning.  Thank you, thrift store.  The buttons were all in a bag for 99 cents the other sewing bits were super cheap at 10 cents each.  Wahoo!

These buttons just had to come home.  These were also stuffed in a bag for 99 cents.  So darn cute.  I love the sunflowers!

So there you have it.  Flea Market Finds and the snow is starting to melt and the temperature is warming up.  We survived the great weather event of January, 2012.  I will be linking up with Sophie's Flea Market Finds and with Apron Girl's Thrift Share Monday.  Check out all the wonderful finds!

Making something out of sawdust

 I have been happily working away at my Swoon blocks.  They are satisfying and frustrating all at the same time.  Here is the thing though when you make the flying geese blocks, you cut away these lovely triangles.  There are a lot of flying geese in this quilt so I have a lot of triangles.  Husband calls this kind of stuff sawdust and thinks it should just be tossed and I should not expend any energy on these little bits but I can't leave them be!  So I have been sewing them together and making squares.  Look at this lovely stack of them!

Oh so pretty!

Half square triangles are just so darn versatile that the sky is the limit.  Try "google image" searching half square triangle quilts!  It is really most inspiring.

Another snow day today and no school AGAIN!  Now we are dealing with freezing rain on top of all the snow.  Husband went out this morning and tromped around knocking snow out of the blueberries, the nut trees and the fruit trees before the heavy freezing rain could coat everything.  The trees were all sighing with relief as he whacked the snow out of everything.  This kind of weather can be so devastating for the trees and bushes.

Have a lovely rest of your day! I am going to go sew some more sawdust together!

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along...week 33

 The pile of these little blocks is growing!  I have no idea how many of them there are but I really should count them.  The obvious guess would be 66 since I do 2 a week and it is week 33 but some weeks I have done more than the scheduled 2 blocks.  Anyway, I have more than 66 blocks and I need about 110!

Block #75 Rosebud

Block #81 Snowball

So here we have this week's blocks.  I used scraps from one of my Swoon blocks for rosebud.  I thought there would have been more contrast but the floral print had a bit more green in it than I anticipated.  The snowball block was a no-brainer for this week considering we are overcome with snow.

I spent the day sewing.  Yep, another snow day for me!  Oh, man, I feel pretty spoiled.  I did, however, make 2 trips to school today to check on things.  Sadly, my school has some frozen and burst pipes that our trusty maintenance people are busy fixing as we speak.  Maybe I will have to make a giant quilt to wrap my whole school up in.  He he he!  It has just been too darn cold for us west coasties.

Have a super day.  Apparently, we have more nasty weather coming overnight.  Good grief!

Brrrrrrrrrr... It's at least a 2 quilt day!

Okay, seriously people.  It is sooooo cold outside.  We do not often have weather like this on the west coast.  Currently sitting at about -10 degrees Celsius.  That is about 14 degrees F.  Yoiks!  And then with the incredible strong wind gusts from something called Arctic Outflow winds, it apparently feels like -24 degrees Celsius.  The wind is so strong and cold that it takes your breath away.  And the snow is blowing and drifting everywhere.  Good grief!  Totally a day for sitting under at least 2 quilts , but I was at work.  I should have taken a quilt because the school was so cold it might have helped.

Enough whining.  I have not sewn a thing today.  But I did take a picture of 3 of my Swoon blocks yesterday to see if they were playing nicely.  Please do not look too closely at the purple block.  I am not happy with the points and I must fix it still.  Just keeping it real, folks.  I think it is going to work out.  I was just a tiny bit afraid that the purple would be too much but when I threw the blocks on the lovely (not) carpet in the downstairs living room, I was quite happy.  I am still getting used to the massive size of these blocks.  24.5"  of swoon-a-vision!!!!

Hope you are not freezing your behinds off like we are.

Knock me over with a feather or something!

Today was a FABULOUS day!  It started out with the magical, amazing phrase "snow day!" sung happily by Husband as he woke me up this morning. Because of the amazing dump of snow and general nasty weather, along with the fact that our town is situated on a hillside, all the schools were shut down.  Yippee!  It only got better from there.  Not only was I to have a full extra day of quilty fun but when I blog hopped over to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story I found my Wonky Scrappy Little Star Quilt  pictured among their favourites from last week.  Oh happy dance!  I think it makes me extra happy because I just love that quilt so much and I am just tickled that other people like it too!

I swooned today.  I have 3 blocks completed and another one ready to sew together.  I have spent some time with the old stitch ripper as I construct these, let me tell ya.  I thought block number 2 was going together so smoothly but I have now figured out that I should never cut up fabric when dealing with a migraine.  Ya, that was me on Sunday when I chopped up all the purple block stuff.  I should say, chopped it up badly because I had no end of issues sewing that sucker together.  I won't even show it today.  I will show you my red block.  It went together much better but I still put one corner in completely bonkers and had to rip it out.  Blah!

Hope your day was super awesome like mine!

Design Wall Monday on a Snow Day

Well!  It is snowing.  Really snowing.  So much so that the schools were shut down at about 10 am this morning and we were able to send everyone home safely and here I am.

Here is my first Swoon block!  I am using scraps, fabric samples and some stash so my blocks will be a little bit scrappy and not quite following the suggested layout.  I think it is going to work splendidly.

We are hunkering down now with a major snow warning so I may just get a little extra sewing time in this week.  He he he!

I am going to link up with Judy's design wall Monday!


Have a super lovely day!  Think of us shoveling.  This is fairly unusual for us on the southwest coast of Canada.  We don't typically get vast amounts of snow in the winter.

Caught the Swoon Bug

I caught the bug.  The Swoon bug.  I have been drooling over this pattern since it was released and this past week I went shopping at The Fat Quarter Shop and just seconds later there was the pattern in my in box.  It was  almost too easy! Katy over at I'm Ginger Monkey is hosting a casual Swoon-along.  I joined.  I couldn't not.  Who could resist these giant 24.5" blocks?

My plan is to turn this fabric mess into Swoon blocks.

These are mostly samples from the "buy/by the pound sale" last summer.  Some how with some solid white and some stash and scraps, it will become a quilt.  Stay posted.  I will have the first block up for a viewing tomorrow.  I have to say that blocks of this size are fabulous!

Daughter and her special someone are back with great sun tans and piles of stories.  Even though our baby is a grown up, it still feels so much better to have her back on Canadian soil in one piece.  Even better is seeing them snoozing under the wonky scrappy star quilt on the couch as we speak.   Have a super lovely day.  My fingers are crossed for a snow day tomorrow!

Flea Market Finds in the snow....

 This is what we woke up to this morning!  About a foot of snow!  Yep, winter arrived!  We have snow forecast for several more days so who knows how much will land before we are done with this weather system.  The snow and eye check ups put a serious crimp in the thrift store fun but eyes are just fine!

A few finds from a bit ago.  I have several pieces of this style of small but colourful Japanese ceramic thingies.  The salt and peppers are very small and are marked on the bottom with Marutomoware.  The birds are just pretty retro birdies and the glass is a treasure with all its lovely kitchen kitsch.

 Being a sucker for linens, these vintage "tea serviettes" were obviously brought back as a souvenir from Scotland.  I am going to leave them in the box because they look so happy there.

Thrifty finds are often just practical.  I picked up the big green enamelware roaster and baking pan for Daughter a few weeks ago at the thrift store.  Brand new!  I was most happy to bring them home for her.  I popped them on the downstairs wood cook stove for their photo. I had to shove over a bunch of vintage stuff that live on the stove.

So that's it!  Have a super lovely weekend.  I am back down to the sewing machine and will link up with Sophie's Flea Market Finds and Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday!