Blueberry Patch

Yippee!

2012-03-06T17:21:00.000-08:00

We woke up today with a skiff of snow on the ground. Husband planted peas nonetheless! That's a real farmer! Planting the peas when the snow is still on the ground. I might add that the snow is all gone and we actually had a gorgeous sunny day!

I noticed today that I have 200 followers!!!!!! Yippee!!!! Thank you everyone for following along. Woo hoo! I think this will mean a giveaway will be just around the corner. I have been watching the little counter go up from 195 until today with 200!!!

Next on the agenda, voting has begun over at the Modern Mini Challenge, pop on over to check out the wonderful minis. My mini didn't make it into the finals. Boo hoo! The competition is stiff!

Trying again...

2012-03-05T17:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I put posted pictures of my granny squares. Yesterday, I had a headache. I was not really in my real brain. I was in headache brain. It is truly a wonder that these blocks came together and that I didn't mess up at all. Except with the picture. I put the blocks on point for some reason and kept thinking they look funny. I figured it out this morning that they really should not be on point so I am going to try this again.

Sigh. That makes me happier. They look more fun. Like they are ready to party and have cake.

Have a super rest of your day.

What's on the design wall?

2012-03-04T17:06:00.001-08:00

Granny Squares!!! I want to tell you what went on in sewing land today. It took me awhile to get going because I was messing around with scraps for most of the day. Sawdust as Husband calls them. I made this square the other day from a Fandango Candy Bar. And I have to say.... mmehh...

It just didn't do it for me. I think the fact that it was all from the same line, it just looked all sort of the same. This line didn't have the ... "Kabam!" that I seem to like. So I put it aside and did this...

I cut a bunch of scraps into 2.5" squares. And I mean a bunch of scraps. Then I piled them in block piles. That is, a centre square, the 4 inner squares and the 8 outer squares. I decided not to be super scrappy just scrappy scrappy. I don't know how many blocks I will need. I am just going to make a whole pile of them until I have enough. The quilt will just grow until it is done.

It really helps to have a space to lay out the block as you sew. I add the 4 corner setting triangles at the very end. I used a combination of tutorials for these granny squares. Blue Elephant Stitches for the initial inspiration. Tracey for the measurements. I like her setting triangle method which is the same as my book. My book calls this Grandmother's Pride and has the measurements for all different sizes of this block. I think mine finish at about 7.5 ".

This is a great book people! I have said it before and I'm saying it again!!! And then we have the start of a scrappy Granny Square quilt!

Linking up with Judy's Design Wall Monday!

Just a few little flea market finds...

2012-03-03T16:39:00.004-08:00

I have such a fondness for vintage linens. Husband and I were out and about today and I found these lovelies in a thrift shop 2 towns over. They are delicate and lovely. Guest towels apparently. And 50 cents each! Cheap!!! See the proof below!

I also picked up the little card of yellow buttons and 2 metres of quilting cotton in blue for another $2.

It is a blustery day. I didn't count how many bald eagles we saw, never mind the swans. I got to stop in at one of my favourite quilt shops. The one in the country next to the farm based cheese shop. I found some great scrap bags. They have awesome scrap bags and then we found some great cheese. Black peppercorn gouda! Seriously yummy. The cheese and the fabric!

Across the road from the quilt shop. Raspberry canes, all tied up and a chicken barn in the distance. This is serious farm country people!

Have a lovely Saturday! I will link up with Sophie's Flea Market Finds later today and Apron Thirft Girl's Thrift Share Monday!

Modern Mini Challenge!

2012-03-02T12:18:00.003-08:00

Here it is! My Modern Mini was inspired by an optical illusion Husband saw in one of his online science jounrals. He has often thought that some of these might be quilt-worthy. This one was! It measures 24" by 24" and has 72 little 1 1/4" paper pieced and appliqued squares on fine blue cotton from Britex in San Francisco. The whole idea is that the rings of squares will look as if they spiral. It was so difficult to figure out the angles to place the squares at but if you look at it at the right angle, you see the optical illusion!

I stippled it really, really closely with fabulous Aurifil 50 wt in Bluet., #5007. I like how the squares have become almost three dimensional because of the quilting all around them.

This is my first mini quilt other than doll quilts and the first time I have made a quilt to hang on a wall.

I am linking up with the Modern Mini Challenge over at Ellison Lane Quilts! Fabulous!!!! I am will also link up with Sew Modern Monday and Fabric Story Tuesday!

Candy Bars and Granny Squares

2012-03-01T16:41:00.000-08:00

I had a brain wave the other day. I remembered that I had this...

I bought this last summer for 1/2 price and tucked it away safely. I had an idea about what to do with it just the other day so got it out and had it sitting out in my sewing mess. Husband walked by and saw the box which said...

It caught his attention because who doesn't like candy bars? (Me, except the quilting kind because I don't eat chocolate. Ya, strange, huh?) He stopped, thinking that it was really candy bars and took a peak. He was disappointed to open it and see fabric. I think he felt supremely ripped off. But I like what is inside just fine!

Yummy! These little guys are 2.5" by 5" and if I cut them in half, they will make perfect little granny squares pieces!!!!! Isn't that a great brain wave!?

And check this out... Husband's Christmas Cactus is blooming again! It is just so lovely!

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along: Week 39

2012-02-29T17:40:00.000-08:00

Three blocks this week and they got to play on the barn wall Sunday afternoon. I am starting to freak out that the only blocks left are ones with a zillion itty bitty triangles. Blah!

Block #85 Square Dance

Block # 96 Tulip

Block # 106 Wild Rose and Square

I used some vintage fabric in the Wild Rose block. The little rosebud print on white. I try to use some vintage fabric here and there in the blocks, just because it seems to make sense to me. 90 some blocks and counting! I am getting close and I am seeing finished Farmer's Wife quilts popping up and around blog land!

Happy leap day!

Just a little fabric...

2012-02-28T17:54:00.000-08:00

Stopped in at my fabulous local quilt shop on the weekend and found... just a few goodies. There were lots of goodies, don't get me wrong but these are the only ones that came home with me. Above, self-explanatory, 2 charm packs of Vintage Modern. Love it!!!! And below some bolt ends of Domestic Bliss and I am not sure what the aqua is but I like it and 2 half metre cuts of Fig Trees Strawberry Fields. Both the bolt ends and the half metre cuts were buy one get one free. Awesome!!!!!!!

Can you believe it is almost March!!!!?? Crazy how time flies!

Swoon in flight!

2012-02-27T16:03:00.004-08:00

Here it is! This is now a finished quilt! If anyone ever asks how long it takes to hand sew a binding on a Swoon quilt, it takes the length of the Oscars. Of course, I did look up from time to time to see Cirque du Soliel and the strange Angelina Jolie, leg pose, but other than that, I hand sewed the binding. Today, after work and before a dinner meeting, I pinned it up on the clothesline for a photo op. Husband was helping. Actually he spent a lot of time pinning clothespins to my pant legs and stuff but at least he was there to cheer me on. Swoon took a flight though when the pins gave way and the quilt fell to the ground. I had to super pin it. This is one really big quilt!

I love it! I used an assortment of stash fabrics, Martha Negley and Kaffe Fasset florals! Straight line quilted it yesterday in a marathon with wonderful Aurifil, 50 wt in white. Done like dinner!

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story, Made by Me and Sew Modern Monday!

Quilting Swoon... so many dilemmas!

2012-02-26T16:26:00.001-08:00

Swoon sat and rested for a few weeks while I debated how to quilt it. I snooped in blog land to see what other people were doing and finally I decided to do straight line, walking foot on either side of each seam. Husband thought it would compliment the geometric nature of the swoon. He is becoming quite the quilt consultant! It took me most of the day to quilt the beast that is Swoon. You can see the backing in this shot. A vintage sheet in white on blue floral. It has a modern vibe.

The next design challenge was what to do about the binding. I auditioned several fabrics until I got down to the two finalists.

And the winner is... I picked the purple. Tonight I will hand sew the binding while I watch the Oscars. So much fun!

Have a super lovely evening and tomorrow morning, I will link up with Judy's Design Wall Monday! Not officially on the design wall but just as many design questions with quilting and binding!

Scrap Assault

2012-02-25T17:20:00.000-08:00

My scraps were getting out of control. I keep using them, but I was having organizational issues. I debated what to do. Yesterday, I bought some drawer organizer things to put in a drawer but when I opened up the package, I realized the spaces were too small to be useful. I returned those this morning and bought 10 clear plastic shoe boxes. Oh, happiness! I spent an hour or so sorting out the scrap mess into lovely boxes. Husband still thinks that I am using the equivalent of sawdust when I use the scraps. He just doesn't understand!

organized scrap loveliness

I think this will help. Just for the record, in the last year, I have made 2 quilts completely from scraps and am nearing the finish line of my Farmer's Wife quilt which is also a scrap quilt. Happiness!

Two thrift stores today and nothing came home. It was a bust. Other than that, we have had strong winds for much of the day and while we were sitting having tea with my Auntie and my Grampa, our power went out. It has only just come on and this put a serious crimp in my sewing!!! It was nice having tea with Grampa (94 years young this May!) and Auntie.

Have a super fabulous rest of your day!

Vintage sheet love...

2012-02-24T16:39:00.001-08:00

I have a friend who wants to try making a quilt with her daughter. They haven't done anything like this before and I was asked for some advice. It is a little tricky to give all the information about everything, even where to buy fabric and what to look for when they haven't done anything like this before. Then I had a bit of a brainwave and suggested that she make her first quilt with some vintage sheets. It is a win win all around. Firstly, I can share which means no cost. Secondly, no pressure, because the vintage sheets are cheap and in this case free! They can figure out if this is something they like to do and then spend the money on quilting cotton for the next try.

I put together a stack of vintage sheets chunks last evening. I say chunks because they are not fat quarters, more like half yards. I found a quilting book that I got at the estate sale last fall, with a good basic instruction section too and added that to the pile. I think they will have some fun! They are going to make the top and then ask for the next step. I so hope they have fun!

Have a super rest of your day!

Another Farmer's Wife Block!

2012-02-23T16:46:00.001-08:00

Block #65 Peaceful Hours

This is my fourth block this week! I took advantage of the sunshine after school today and pinned this little block on the barn wall for a photo. This was a tricky block. There were lots of pieces that were the reverse of other pieces. Figuring out where to put the little pieces and their reversals was not fun! I am glad I can check this one off. Husband tries to show his quilting knowledge by asking me if I "fancy" cut the centre instead of "fussy" cut. He was close, of course!

My knitting club went well but there were some really wonky little knitting samples being created! The kids were super pumped about the little gnarly, lumpy bits they were working on! One bit was apparently being knit for a blanket for her pet tree frog! Hilarious!

Have a super day!

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along: Week 38

2012-02-22T16:38:00.000-08:00

Block #94 Tall Pine Tree and Block # 49 Honeycomb

Block # 47 Homemaker

Playing together

I actually made 4 blocks this week but I didn't get a picture of the last one made. I was mad at Homemaker so I made the other two. Then I thought what the heck, Homemaker will do and then I made another block as well. I feel that I am so close that I need to put a push on it to just get done. We will see how that goes!

I seem to have a growing pile of quilts to be quilted and I really must get on that! I did finish my Modern Mini Quilt for that challenge. Soon to unveiled! I am totally pleased with it.

Have a super day! It was lovely and sunny at school today and they children were rolling around like puppies! Tomorrow I am teaching a bunch of girls to knit at lunch time! Wish me luck!!!!

Random Tuesday: Binding A Quilt

2012-02-21T16:41:00.000-08:00

almost spring

I am not going to show you pictures or tell you how to bind a quilt. I am going to tell you that in my opinion the very best tutorial on how to bind quilts is already done and she tells you all you need to know. Yep. She does. Here is the link. Elizabeth Hartman. Oh, Fransson! You might want to buy her book too because it is aweome. She has a new one coming sometime soon. Check out her other quilt making basics on her blog too because she has a way of explaining things that make you realize that you can do it. Elizabeth is calm. Her tutorials exude calm. I like that. You will too.

Tracey reminded me on her blog that this great bunch of quilting reference pages exists right here. I think these charts are so great that you might want to print them out and stick them in a binder as essential important reference items. I think I will do that so I don't forget again that they are there.

Have a super Tuesday!

Design Wall Monday...

2012-02-20T06:27:00.000-08:00

I think this is going to be a pillow. These are little kaleidoscope blocks, finishing at about 6.5". They are not fun to make as if you mess up, they look more like a hat for a cantalope. Yep, it's true!

I also have been busy with another project and I have a sneak peak of the quilting. Little tiny squiggles. And Have I said how much I love Aurifil thread??? Oh goodness, it is a thing of beauty. If you haven't tried it yet, you need to. First of all, you can wind a ton of it on a bobbin. Total bonus. Then there is the sheen. Lovely! Oh, it is just yummy. This is thread colour is called Bluet, #5007. I used my Aurifil colour chart to get the perfect colour. It was so exciting!

So there you have it! I made four Farmer's Wife Blocks this weekend, and contemplated quilting my Swoon quilt but the jury is still out on how to quilt it. I also decided to join the Granny Square Quilt Along at the Old Red Barn. Fun!

I am going to link up with Judy's Design Wall Monday! Have a super day!

Sunday Stash!

2012-02-19T15:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the fabric store was on my list. Fabricland had a big sale. It seems they always have a big sale but apparently this one was even bigger. I needed batting so that worked out just fine and then I happened to cruise by the bargain wall, because you just never know. The bargain wall was half price. Totally awesome. I found this Michael Miller stuff called Tiled Garden by Paula Prass so that was a grand sum of $2 a metre. I took everything on the bolt because it speaks quilt backing to me. I now have over 7 metres of it. He he he! The sunflowers are also a Michael Miller if I remember correctly and I just asked for 2 metres of that just because and it was only $1.50 a metre. What a deal!!!!!! So there.

And I also added a new pressure foot for my built in walking foot. The chubby toed foot on the right came with my machine but when I went for my sewing machine lesson, I realized that you can buy optional feet for your when you want to go walking! How cool?! I bought the open toed foot because I think I like seeing what I am doing more.

Have you added to your stash? It is fair to say that I love fabric. Have a lovely rest of your day!!!

Flea Market Finds On A Rainy Almost Spring Day!

2012-02-18T17:11:00.001-08:00

I found some goodies today! First up, a metre of Alexander Henry Toadstool fabric for $2.50!!! Cute or what? And a button jar. I love button jars so much and this one has some beauties!

I convinced Husband that when I wrote "thrift store" on the list for this morning, that everyone knows "thrift store" is a collective noun. As such, we needed to stop at a second thrift shop. Tee hee hee! He made noises but not too many. And there I found some gorgeous Johnson Brothers Ironstone. Side plates, 11 of them for 25 cents a pop! Cool! I also picked up the gorgeous linen tea towel, made in Belgium for 50 cents. A queen size vintage sheet also made the trip home! It was a pretty good day!

Linking up with Sophie's Flea Market Finds and Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday!!!!

Call me a quilt geek!

2012-02-16T17:23:00.000-08:00

I often tell Husband that he is a science geek. And he is. A very sweet science geek, just so you know, but after yesterday's UPS delivery, he tells me that I am a quilt geek. And a happy quilt geek at that!

This book is fantastic!!!! It really is the ultimate quilt block reference! Be still my beating heart! Not only does it have 501 blocks but gives options of different sizes. Amazing! I think it is a must have and it was only $20. Yep, I am a happy quilter.

He was even more convinced that I am a quilt geek when he opened the mailbox to find a package of Aurifil thread. I ordered it yesterday because of a "thread emergency" and it arrived today already! Thank you, Carola! I needed a certain colour. Tee hee hee! Happy Thursday!

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along...Week 37

2012-02-15T17:17:00.000-08:00

Bowtie and Rainbow Flowers

I made 2 very simple blocks this week and they came together like a charm. I have been avoiding Rainbow Flowers because it is such a simple block that I thought it would be kind of lame. How wrong I was! I am totally in love with the fabric I used and I think that makes me just so happy! I like the bowtie block too! I actually felt like I was getting some sort of a treat by making these simple blocks. It was a good time to make simple ones since I was in a rush to finish the donation quilt I was working on. and that quilt was delivered today and will be opened tomorrow as one of the birthday gifts for the soon to be 8 year old!

I was just interrupted by Mr. UPS who brought me a quilt book that I ordered! Happy, happy!!! Stay tuned!

Have a lovely evening! I am watching the snowdrops open more each day. Spring is just around the corner!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T06:44:00.000-08:00

I made these little hearts for all my sweeties. I pieced some little pink bits to make a large enough square to cut the 4 hearts from. Before I cut the hearts, I stabilized the pieced square with some fusible interfacing and then cut. All they needed was some pink perle cotton and some tiny buttons. Cute! The finishing touch was some pink card stock, an envelope and some stamps!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am going to link up with Fabric Story Tuesday and the Quilter's Table who is hosting a Valentine linky party with a giveaway!

Design Wall Monday... Farmer's Wife Progress

2012-02-13T06:18:00.000-08:00

WOW! They are starting to look like they will actually grow up and be a quilt! This is what 83 little Farmer's Wife blocks looks like. I now have 85 completed after this weekend's sewing! Only 26 more to go! Totally scrappy. I love it! I t was actually good to throw them on the floor because I was able to see what I need more of or less of. Wahoo!

Have a super Monday and I will link up with Judy's Design Wall Monday.

Snuggle Butterfly Quilt on a Sunday

2012-02-12T16:25:00.000-08:00

This is the fastest quilt I have ever made. I was on a time crunch because it had to be finished in time for the little girl's birthday on Thursday and I do work full time. Phew! But here it is on the clothesline this morning in the drizzle with Webster being the quilt model dog. And as I mentioned, this is a donation quilt for a little girl who loves butterflies and Justin Bieber. Not having any Justin Bieber fabric, thank goodness, I did find butterfly flannelette. Big 10" squares and backed with last weekend's thrift store vintage sheet, I think it will be the perfect snuggly addition to a little girl's bedroom. I had fun making a label using the monogram embroidery on my sewing machine. Quilted in swirly loops in white, I call this one done!

Flea Market Finds were a bust...

2012-02-11T16:36:00.000-08:00

Flea market transformation sneak peak...

I found nothing! Two thrift stores and I walked out with one fat quarter. That is it! Mum said the same thing in her flea market adventures this morning. She told me that she spent a grand sum of 25 cents on a wine glass. Hmph!

On the other hand, I have been transforming some flea market finds. And that is a good thing. Last evening I put together a quilt top, sandwiched and spray basted it and today I quilted and have the binding ready to hand sew this evening. I think this is a record for me. Quilt in a day. The quilt is a donation quilt. I used 10" squares of flannelette in lovely girly colours. The flannelette is all from the quilter's estate sale fabric from last fall and I backed it with a pink vintage sheet from last weekend's thrifting. The binding is a lavender heart print also from the estate sale.

This quilt will be donated as part of a birthday gift for a little girl whose family is going through some very difficult times. They don't have much in the way of household stuff and considering the sweetie pie has a birthday this week, I thought a quilt would do the trick for my contribution. I even managed to find some flannelette with butterflies. Apparently butterflies are a particular favourite. So there you have it. No flea market finds but a story of flea market transformation. And that is a good thing.

*(I have backed quilts before in flannelette but have never pieced a quilt with it. It is not the most user friendly fabric let me tell you. It tends to be stretchy. Erg.)

We have a winner!!!!

2012-02-09T18:03:00.000-08:00

One the sewing front, I have been making a few Kaleidoscope blocks in shades of aqua and grey. At first these were driving me CRAZY but I have it down to a science now and I can crank them out without any strangeness! I like to challenge myself with some new blocks every now and then. Enough about that...

The winner is... drumroll... Robin who said, "The weather here - we've been having a very mild winter here in southern Manitoba, Canada. :) It's been great! I love the spool prints! Thanks for the giveaway!"

I have sent Robin an email and will be happy to pop the fat quarters in the mail. Thank you so much to all my followers! You are the best!!!!

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along: Week 36

2012-02-08T17:06:00.000-08:00

Block 84 and Block 103

Whirlwind

Spool

I counted my blocks today. I have a mind blowing 83 of those little suckers completed. I can't believe it. This week I made 2 simple blocks. The funny thing is the stinking spool block was such that I unpicked one corner a number of times until it made me happy. Isn't that just the way that the simplest block, that you think is just going to be a really quick stitch up, takes you way longer because of something silly? I had fun with the whirlwind block and actually used some green vintage fabric.

Most people took a little holiday break with the quilt along but should be back posting again this week. It will be nice to see all the little blocks on blogs again!

Happy Wednesday. Husband is just taking some pizza out of the oven. Yum!

Don't forget my giveaway. One more day!!!

Design Wall Monday on the barn

2012-02-06T14:47:00.000-08:00

Swoon top on the barn

It was such a beautiful day yesterday that I popped my swoon top on the barn wall for a photo op. Tee hee hee! I am getting there! I borrowed Katy's idea of using cornerstones along with the sashing. I just used random scraps from the quilt squares. Now I have to think about the back and the big question of how to quilt it! This is a really big quilt. It is even dragging on the ground a bit in this photo.

I was tickled to see that Katy included my swoon blocks on the floor from last week in her little swoon mosaic. More tee hee hee!

So there you have it. I have been working on a few other things but more on that later! Design wall on the barn.

If you have not yet entered my giveaway, you have a few more days!!!!

I will link up with Judy's design wall Monday too! Now I have to add my latest swoon pictures to Flickr! Have a lovely day!

Superbowl Sunday Stash

2012-02-05T15:51:00.000-08:00

I popped in to check out the BIG sale at the big chain fabric store. The had lots of stuff on BIG time sale. I love it when they say buy one metre and you will get 2 free. Oh, well... if you insist! Everything I bought was on super sale and was marked down and then you still got your free metres. Seriously. So I stocked up on white solid. A little boring. Then some stuff for backs. But have you noticed the Alexander Henry owls and dandelions? So cute!!!!!! The mouse with the cheese and the yellow solid were bolt ends. Super cheap.

Have a super lovely Sunday! Enjoy the Superbowl. Husband made a giant vat of chili and I am going to be his football buddy. Apparently and according to Clever Son, we are supposed to cheer for the Patriots.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!!!!

Sunny Saturday Flea Market Finds

2012-02-04T16:36:00.000-08:00

It is a glorious, sunny day today! After getting my hair cut, we stopped at the thrift store. Nothing makes me happier than when I find awesome quilting cotton at the thrift store and today did not disappoint! I also found a really lovely pink vintage sheet in super condition, a lovely embroidered and lace trimmed vintage table cloth and a bag stuffed full of doilies and lace.

Take a look at the pics!

This is what the bag looked like before I opened it. The bag was marked $8.50 but at the cash, it was marked down to half. Bonus! This is like going to a fair and paying your money at the fish pond and getting a lovely surprise when you pull up your little fishing rod.

Because this is what was inside the bag....

How much fun is that?

Lovely vintage table cloth

2.15 metres of lilac Marble Dot by Moda! Wahoo!!! $3!!!!

Pink vintage sheet

So there you have it! Some snazzy flea market finds, a sunny day and a hair cut! Could the day be anymore fun?

I will link up with Sophie's Flea Market Finds and with Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday.

I also have a giveaway going on for fabric loving followers! Check it out... The giveaway will be open until Thursday, Feb. 9 at 5 pm Pacific Standard Time!

Modern Mini Challenge!

2012-02-03T15:57:00.000-08:00

This is something quite fantastic. Jennifer who blogs at Ellison Lane Quilts is hosting a Modern Mini Challenge. It all starts on Monday with a blog hop for inspiration. I already have an idea, I just have to pick my fabric! I am really super excited about this because I haven't really made a mini quilt before. I have made doll quilts but not minis. I have to confess that I am not just excited about making the quilt, I am soooooooo excited about the prizes. You just have to check Jennifer's blog because The Fat Quarter shop is giving amazing prizes for this. It just makes me giggle to think about it. I totally encourage you to think about taking part in this because it sounds like a whole pile of fun!

This is what Jennifer has to say about the challenge...
"The Modern Mini Challenge is a 5 week series that kicks off with some seriously inspiring work from some super talented bloggers. Spark your creativity with ideas and inspiration from some amazing mini quilts and mug rugs.

Get ideas flowing for color, fabric, technique and style. This is your opportunity to try something new, something fun, something on a small scale.

Take that big idea and give it a try in mini form.

So here’s how it will work:

2/6/12 - 2/19/12

Weeks 1 & 2 - Inspiration Weeks - Modern Mini Challenge Blog Hop

Bloggers share their modern minis and kick-start your creativity. Get inspired, get creative, get those ideas flowing!

2/20/12 - 3/4/12

Weeks 3 & 4 - Sew. Sew. Sew!

Work on those minis and create your Modern Mini Challenge piece.

3/5/12 - 3/9/12

Week 5: Enter the Contest!

Link up your Modern Mini Challenge piece at Ellison Lane Quilts. Voting begins that week and winners are announced on March 9th!

Sounds awesome, right? Get out your sketch book because you don't want to miss your chance to win on of the 5 fabulous prizes. (Um, yes- you read that correctly- FIVE!) "

Please don't forget about my giveaway. I am off to play whist with the ladies tonight!!! Happy Weekend!

It's a Groundhog Day Giveaway!

2012-02-02T17:35:00.000-08:00

I have been blogging for over a year. It was a year at the beginning of January. We should have a giveaway to extend a super giant thank you to all my followers and all of you who stop in to see what I am up to.

I would like to share some of my Alexander Henry spools and a couple of Frolic fat quarters by Sandy Gervais. Just some fun fat quarters!

To enter leave a comment about the weather where you live. Followers, new and old can have an extra chance! International entries are welcome! So there you have it 2 chances to win and I will leave this Groundhog Day Giveaway open until next Thursday, February 9 at 5 pm Pacific Standard Time!

Happy Groundhog Day!

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along... Week 35!!!

2012-02-01T17:21:00.000-08:00

Whirlpool

Garden Path

And hanging together

I have been avoiding Garden Path because, well, I wasn't sure about it. Oh my goodness! Let's just say it was not the easiest block to put together and their was a fair amount of unpicking and maybe even the occasional muttered word. Yep, you have to hate those muttered words. Anyway. I got it to the "any strangeness can be quilted out" place and that was good enough. Argh!

After Garden Path, Whirlpool was a joy to put together. So there.

I should say that many involved in this quilt along have taken a bit of a break since Christmas. I wanted to just keep on going and there are others who kept right on going as well. It will be nice to have everyone back farming again soon!

Pop on over for a giveway here tomorrow, afterall it will be Groundhog Day! Have a super lovely evening!

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

2012-01-31T17:01:00.000-08:00

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!

2012-01-30T16:32:00.000-08:00

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!

2012-01-29T16:37:00.000-08:00

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...

2012-01-28T16:33:00.000-08:00

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!

2012-01-27T16:41:00.000-08:00

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!!!!

2012-01-26T17:08:00.000-08:00

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...

2012-01-25T16:36:00.000-08:00

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...

2012-01-24T16:45:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-23T06:21:00.000-08:00

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...

2012-01-22T16:00:00.000-08:00

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!

2012-01-21T15:45:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-20T15:01:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-19T16:10:00.000-08:00

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!

2012-01-18T15:58:00.000-08:00

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!

2012-01-17T16:29:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-16T12:48:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-15T16:12:00.000-08:00

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....

2012-01-14T15:30:00.000-08:00

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!

Happy Friday!

2012-01-13T16:40:00.000-08:00

The forecast is for snow!!!!! Yippee! I love snow! When Mum was down at Christmas, she made Daughter a pair of mittens. Daughter has been asking for another pair of these because she lost the ones I had bought for her at a craft fair. These are not just mittens, these are Text-Messaging Mittens! Can you see the little thumb flaps? Perfect for those cold texting days, don't you just know!? So cool! Daughter will be happy for these when she returns from her sunny vacation this weekend because the forecast is for nasty snowy cold!

I made a couple more stethoscope bags. Daughter can have a spare and then one to share. Snazzy designer fabrics or what? Nothing but the best for these stethoscopes!

I had some lovely comments over the last few days but sadly I cannot acknowledge them personally because of no reply blogger status. Please check to see if you are a no reply blogger. Follow the instructions below and please check....

From Jodi's blog...
What is a NO-REPLY blogger?

1. Suzie leaves a comment on Jodi's blog asking a question.

2. Jodi has all her comments sent directly to her email.

3. Jodi checks her email and reads Suzie's question. Jodi clicks reply. Shazam! Up pops Suzie's name but instead of her email address, it say's NO-REPLY. Argh!

4. Suzie doesn't have an Email associated with her blog. So no one can reply to any of the comments or questions that she leaves. Boo Hoo.

You may not even know that you are a NO-REPLY blogger. No worries.

Follow these instructions to see if you are a NO-REPLY blogger:

Sign in to Blogger and bring up your Dashboard or Profile Page. Click on EDIT PROFILE.
See the third box down (SHOW MY EMAIL ADDRESS) there should be a check mark in it.
and
Scroll down; see the section titled IDENTITY. See the box labeled EMAIL ADDRESS. Your Email address should be in that box.

If there is no email in that box or if you don't have the Show My Email Address box checked. You are a NO-REPLY blogger.

Have a super Friday!

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along: Week 32

2012-01-12T16:04:00.000-08:00

Week 33: Blocks #53 and #90

#53 Jackknife

#90 Storm Signal

Some fun little blocks this week. I went purple for one The purple scraps surfaced when I was cutting up scraps for the wonky star quilt. I did not have much in the way of purple showing up in the farmer's wife blocks and I find a shot of purple in a scrappy quilt adds a little pizazz! Obviously the Storm Signal block had to be, you know, stormy looking.

And speaking of signals, I am interrupting this blog post for a little speech about NO REPLY BLOGGERS. I really like people to leave comments. It totally makes my day. I always reply to people's comments because it is really wonderful to be acknowledged. For instance, this morning, a really nice person left a really nice comment but I cannot reply to her because she is a "no reply blogger." I know that I have mentioned this before but I am doing it again because, well, I just think that some people haven't figured it out and maybe are wondering why they don't win giveaways or why no one ever says anything to them about the comments they leave.

Here is what you can do. If you really want to fix it. Kaelin had a great post just recently. She directed people to Jodi's blog for the fix. Please check to see if you are a no reply blogger because I don't want you to feel ignored!

Work in progress...

2012-01-11T16:12:00.001-08:00

I actually finished this quilt forever ago. It sits all rolled up. It is sandwiched and spray basted and is really lovely but I haven't quilted it yet. I unrolled it a bit the other day and admired it. But I still haven't started quilting it yet. I put it aside last fall because I was working on Christmas presents but I also knew that it was really too big for my old Janome. But now that I have my new Janome, I have no more excuses. I don't even remember how big this quilt is but I am pretty sure it is queen sized. It is a beautiful beast. Super girly.

I am also worried that once it is finished and I put it on the bed, that our geriatric kitty will do what she does on occasion and that will make me very cranky. Let's just say that cat barf on such a beautiful quilt will make me more than just cranky. I wonder if anyone has ever used cat barf potential as an excuse not to finish a quilt. Obviously, and to quote one of my Kindergarten teachers, I need to, "Cowgirl up and get it done!"

Other than the beautiful beast, I have only the Farmer's Wife quilt to list as works in progress. Not too shabby! And I can list a finish this week too with my wonky scrappy little star quilt!

I will link up with Lee over at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

What's in the bag?

2012-01-10T16:09:00.000-08:00

I whipped up a little drawstring bag for daughter on Sunday afternoon. It measures a strange 6" x 15" and is fully lined. I used some thrift store heavy cotton twill for the outside. Love those purple flowers and a very soft, solid purple vintage sheet for the lining.

Any guesses what it might be for? The bag is to keep one of her Christmas presents safe when she tosses it in her bag on her way to work and back.

The bag is for her snazzy new, super-dooper, plum-coloured, zowie-wowie stethoscope. The things we do for our children!

Anyway, after making so many BIG quilt projects, it was fun to whip up a little bag. I think I might make her a few of them. Just for fun.

Have a super Tuesday!

Wonky Scrappy Little Star...

2012-01-09T16:06:00.000-08:00

This is it! A scrappy wonky star quilt is born. I am totally over the moon for this quilt! I love it! Made from scraps, and measuring about 70" by 70", it is my first finish for the year. I have also written up a tutorial for it as well. Check it out!

I quilted it in white, using my built in walking foot, on either side of the seams lines. The squares are four inch blocks so it was a whole lot of straight line quilting. I think it looks great!

And the back has a row of leftover squares to reference the front of the quilt, along with some green and yellow prints from the stash.

I used a blue on blue stripe for the binding. It is something like "Basically for Kids" from Moda that came in the load of fabrics from the estate sale. I think it works really well.

I will link up with Sew Modern Monday and with Fabric Story Tuesday and this quilt is part of the scrap attack over at Stitched in Color. My scrap basket is pictured in her mosaic but I have less scraps now because of this quilt!!!!!

Sunday Stash...

2012-01-08T16:25:00.000-08:00

Mmmm, yummy... fabric! (said in a "Homer Simpson donut loving" voice) I picked up some Ruby fat quarters in the after Christmas sales at my fabulous local quilt shop. The fat quarters were buy two, get one free. So I did. I popped the thread spool fat quarter in the stack as well.. I have a plan for the Ruby. I have a couple of Ruby charm packs to go along with the fat quarters. It will all be transformed magically into a quilt at some point in the next while.

I had a busy day at the sewing machine with a quilt finish, a special little project and my weekly farmer's wife blocks. And eek! I don't have a quilt on the go! EEK! Other than the farmer's wife quilt, that is. This will be week of thinking about fabric, I guess! Stay tuned... I will have pics of my Wonky Scrappy Little Star quilt tomorrow.

Have a lovely rest of your day!

Flea Market Finds...the first for 2012

2012-01-07T16:38:00.000-08:00

I picked up these Royal Doulton Bunnykins dishes in 2 different shops over time. But no grandchildren are the way. This is just forward thinking for one day, far far away.

This pile of embroidery threads, a combination of silk and cotton and a mess of glorious colour was so cheap!!!! They begged to come home with me and what was I to say?

Let's not forget some vintage sheets. Mum found the brown one and the bundle tied with the ribbon came as a complete set. The colours are kind of screaming the 70s but in a quilt they will work for sure.

The day is wet, gray and dismal. Really quite mild for January but the rain makes it feel so damp and cold. Thinking about daughter and her special someone jetting off to a sunny spot for a week. So exciting! Of course the mum in me will only be happy once they are back in one piece. Have a lovely rest of your day!

I will link up with Sophie's Flea Market Finds and Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday.

Farmer's Wife Check In: Week 32

2012-01-06T16:34:00.000-08:00

Block #68 Postage Stamp

So I made 2 of the same blocks this week. I like this one. I actually made one earlier but since I decided that I was going to avoid some blocks because I don't like them, I made some more postage stamp blocks. I strip pieced these so the layouts are random. I had this funny thought though, as I was sewing. I think I might have been sewing for too long that day. I was remembering the Donny and Marie Show from my way back and beyond years. When I was but a mere babe. You know, the Osmonds. Remember they used to sing that Marie was a little bit country and Donny was a little bit rock and roll. Just go with me, people. So above we have Donny's version. A little bit rock and roll and below, we have Marie's, just a little bit country.

Block #68 Postage Stamp

Happy together on the winter lawn with the cute little mushrooms poking up beside them.

Happy Friday!

Aurifil-ed my expectations!

2012-01-05T16:45:00.000-08:00

Today Fedex brought a lovely bundle of thread goodness all the way from Italy. I must send huge thank yous to Alex from Aurifil who was kind enough to send me all these lovely threads to play with and a gorgeous Aurifil colour card. Be still my beating heart!

I cannot wait to try out the thread! I have heard so many wonderful things about Aurifil and now I will be able to give it a whirl. Stay posted!

I have several spools in each weight of thread so will be able to play in all sorts of ways. The 50wt on the orange cone is apparently the one that quilters swear by for piecing and quilting and it apparently winds a very full bobbin because it is so fine and yet so strong. Then the 40wt is great for machine quilting. The 28 wt can be used for hand quilting or bolder quilting and the 12 wt is for heavier work.

The colour card is just one big chunk of thread eye candy. Since none of the quilt shops around me carry Aurifil, this will come in very handy when ordering thread on the net!!! Just so exciting! What kind of thread do you use?????

Crazy for this button...

2012-01-04T17:01:00.000-08:00

It is pretty small. But it is just so wonderful. It is my most favourite thing. Well, I could probably make a long list of my favourite things about my Janome but this button makes me so happy. It is the automatic thread cutter button and my previous Janome did not have one. OH MY GOODNESS! How have I lived without this button???? I no longer have enormous piles of thread cuttings on the floor to slip on. I used to know when it was time to sweep up my thread-mess because I would start to slip on it. I no longer have thread mess because of this button! This button may very well be having an economic impact on thread companies because of the lack of thread wastage occurring at my sewing machine alone!!!

So there you have it. Ode to a button. It is a wonderful thing. Happy Wednesday.

Wonky Scrappy Star Quilt Tutorial

2012-01-03T18:48:00.000-08:00

Wonky Scrappy Little Star Tutorial... because this is just so much fun!

Step One: Wonky Star preparation

Cut your scraps into 4”squares. You will need a lot of them if you are going to make a big quilt. Mine will measure about 70" x 70".

Cut your background fabric into 4” squares as well. I used white and used a ton. At least 3 yards.

For every star you will need 5 of the print squares. Leave one square whole and cut 4 of the matching squares on the diagonal yielding 6 triangles.

Step 2: Wonky Star construction

Take one background square and place one triangle in the most wonky way possible as in the above photos. My wonky may be different from your wonky and that is just fine. Let your inner wonky shine!

Stitch with a quarter inch seam. You can do it!!

Trim your little leftover corner. I use scissors because I "trim as I go" right at the machine.

Finger press the wonky little star point.

Then place your next point in true wonky fashion. Then stitch.

Trim the corners here as well. Make all 4 of your wonky star points in the same manner but let each be their own wonky individual self. The point is that the points do not have to be matching.

This is what the mess looks like in mid-construction. Note the piles of points and the piles of corners that have been trimmed.

Time to press! I press the first one and then pile the next on top, lining up the corners and pressing in a pile until I have all four of the points in a neat and tidy pressed pile. You might like to be more quilt professional and less quilt lazy but I like to get this part done as quickly as possible.

Take a minute and admire the view outside your window. This is mine. Sigh.

Take your neat and tidy, pressed pile to the cutting mat and trim all 4 of the point blocks into perfect 4” squares again. Discard your trimmings.

Random shot of waste basket filling up with wonky star point corners.

Take your four star point squares and your matching print square and place your newly completed wonky star into the mix. Note how the stars are all imbedded or nested? This is one project where you need to build your quilt as you go. It is best to start in the middle of the design wall and build outwards. I used a combination of a small design wall and then the design bed (a.k.a. the spare bed in the guest room). You will notice as you build the quilt layout that you also get a cool little pinwheel thing happening between the stars with your background fabric. How excellent!

Once you are happy with the layout and have checked for colour placement and proximity, start sewing your squares together by rows. Pick your squares up from left to right, keeping the squares aligned correctly for ease of sewing. Once you have sewed and pressed the rows together, pop it back in place checking all your points for alignment.

Once all the rows are completed, then sew the rows together. Pin at each seam so your seams match up carefully. Again, always check to makes sure your stars are lined up nicely.

Sandwich, quilt, bind and enjoy! Mine is just at quilt top stage but I have a lot of people asking if this is a pattern so I wanted to get this out there! I will have a picture of the finished quilt to show by the weekend since I am now back at work!

Options: You can make your squares different sizes. I made both a pillow and a runner with 2.5" squares.

And I started this because of seeing a pillow on a blog. I want to give credit for the inspiration to Fresh Lemons and I see that Elizabeth Hartman is now planning a quilt along for the wonky starts too! How cool is that!!!!.

Design Wall Monday and the tale of the possessed square

2012-01-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

So here is where my wonky scrappy little star was the other day. It got too big for the design wall which is really very small so then I threw a flannelette sheet on the design bed and kept building. Then is got too big for the design double bed because I had got to the point where I was building the "drop" of the quilt. I enlisted Husband to help me carefully pick up the sheet covered with hundreds of carefully placed 4" squares from the spare bedroom, through the sewing room to the downstairs living room floor. This was interesting. Filled with sounds of "encouraging" words and instructions from Husband and many squeals from me.

This is my scrap busting project for this year. It fills me with great happiness. The quilt will finish at 70" by 70". No borders. This has really gone together with few glitches. Except... for the tale of the possessed block.

Yesterday, I began stitching all the 4" blocks together by rows. No worries. I simply pick up the squares in order from left to right, making sure the orientation of the squares stays the same. Husband popped in with a question. He asked what would happen if I changed the orientation of the square mid-stitching and how I managed to make sure everything lines up appropriately. He had concerns since I was moving the squares form the living room floor to the sewing room. I was filled with arrogant swagger and absolute confidence. I let him know that based on my superior knowledge of wonky star construction, I just knew which way the points need to point. Ha!

Until the possessed block. I was at row 8 of 20. After completing row 7, I noticed that a little square on the right was missing. A little blank spot where there used to be a square. I wandered around searching from room to room but no luck. We are talking scraps, people, so I knew I was out of that fabric. I stared threateningly at the fire place, wondering if somehow the wood duck was back and wanted a square of cotton. I finally found the little piece, lying perfectly flat, under the sheet on which all the blocks where placed. Seriously, how does this happen? And then, this same square was the only square in the 400 squares to wind up in the wrong orientation and I had to unpick it. Deflated my arrogance. Returned me to quilting humility.

possessed square

And I will write up a tutorial for this with notes on what to do if a square becomes possessed. I will link up with Judy's Design Wall Monday. Have a super Monday!

A quilting year in review...

2012-01-01T07:16:00.000-08:00

Where to begin? 2011 was the year when I started to blog. I think I might have said to my Husband at Christmas time last year, "I think I might start a blog." And I did! I am pleased to say that I am glad to have said that and gladder still to have this place to blather on about my quilty adventures with occasional thrift shop babble and a little bit of cooking thrown in for good measure. Blogging has also introduced me to some really lovely people. I am over the moon about how this blog has grown and I appreciate all of my followers.

I finished 23 quilts in 2011. I was surprised when I counted them up. This included 2 doll quilts and then the rest are big ones. I had a little feature on the Vintage Sheet Blog. That was exciting! I made a lot of pillows and a few bags. It was a super great year of quilting fun. My stash has grown by leaps and bounds. Supplemented hugely by the quilter's estate sale that I was fortunate to come by. I continue to love scraps and finding wonderful fabric at thrift stores makes me happier than stink! I now have a huge stash of vintage sheets as well. All I can say is there is a lot of fabric in a sheet!

Other firsts would include the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along. I have managed to stay up to date with the 2 blocks a week and will easily complete the quilt in the spring. I have given myself the freedom to not make every block because I just don't like some of them and others are lovely so I will make 2 of those ones.

I have also had some very successful giveaways. Giveaways are a blast!

I have learned a lot as I quilted myself silly these past months. I have branched away from patterns and figured things out. I have really done a lot of free motion quilting and I am happy to say that it looks pretty darn good when I quilt something. Not like in the beginning. Ick! Scary stuff that was! That was way back when I was trying to free motion quilt on an old but nice Kenmore.

I LOVE my new sewing machine. It makes the world of difference in so many ways and I feel very spoiled to have this amazing piece of machinery to call my own.

In terms of goals for the coming year? I am not a big one for goals but I will say that I just want to keep quilting with fabrics that make me happy and hopefully I won't drown my family and friends in mountains of quilts!!!! I do work full time so my quilting happens around work but I still manage to find time to indulge my obsession!

Here is to a great year of quilting fun!

Linking up with a few places, including Lily's Fresh Sewing Day and later with Jessica at A Little Gray.

Last Flea Market Finds of 2011

2011-12-31T15:56:00.000-08:00

Mum surprised me with this absolutely "to die for" milk glass punch bowl for Christmas. Oh my goodness! It is just gorgeous and was used for mulled wine on Christmas Day. It is missing just one of the punch cups and what can I say? I love it!

More thrifty finds from Mum for Christmas. I am such a sucker for this style of vintage print. Apparently this one hung in my Great Gramma's house. I love the tall narrow frame! And Mum tucked this gorgeous lace trimmed tray cloth in my Christmas gifts. Mum told me she found it in one of her favourite thrifty stores for next to nothing. Thanks, Mum!

I have visited several thrift stores over the holidays so will have more to show over the next few weeks.

Happy New Year! I will link up with Sophie's Flea Market Finds and maybe even Apron Girl's thrift share Monday.

Quilt Finishes for 2011

2011-12-30T15:04:00.000-08:00

So what is happening with the scrap heap?

2011-12-29T15:50:00.000-08:00

January is just around the corner. Diet advertisements are starting on the television. Boxing day sales continue to flog all sorts of leftover Christmas excess. Pretty soon white sales will be happening and somehow because everyone is broke in January grocery stores always have sales on pasta and stuff for tomato sauce. In quilt blog land, there is a cycle as well. Many blogs are promoting various scrap busting quilt a-longs and what not. Rachel at Stitched in Color has something up her sleeve for down the road. And I have been blabbing about what I am going to do with the leftover bits and pieces. This is what has been happening in the sewing room over the last few days.

Lots of 4" squares. Any leftover bits from this cut-fest went into 4 piles. Nasty bits of skinnies for Mum's weaving which I then used as packing material in the box that I mailed to her today containing her camera which she forgot at our house. Little itty bits into the bag for ends of string blocks. Third pile is pieces big enough for Farmer's Wife blocks and lastly all the bits that are not quite 4 " that would make a perfect scrappy stacked coin quilt sometime or pillows or who knows what?

Then I got started sewing and trimming. I am generating quite a large pile of white triangles that are so far just living in the waste basket because they are really very small but this is making me feel guilty. Hmmmm. This pile comes from trimming the blocks and has no redeeming value other than packing material or basket filler. This pile does not generate guilt like the white triangles.

But the result is just making me so happy. Wonky Scrappy Little Star in the works on a length of flannelette tacked to the wall of the sewing room as a small design wall. After today's sewing, the stars have grown to half a quilt and it is still making me happy.

Farmer's Wife Check in: Week 29 and 30

2011-12-28T14:26:00.000-08:00

#80 Single Wedding Star

Two weeks worth of Farmer's Wife blocks today. I forgot to post last week in all the Christmas hoopla. So here are a couple on the barn wall. Quite love the Single Wedding Star block. It was fun and non-stressful to make. I also really like the fabrics so it was a win win! Then I tackled Morning below with some Fig Tree scraps. Another stress free block.

#57 Morning

#53 Jack knife

Jack knife came together easily. I see a bit of wonk but I think it is just the way I have placed it on the white sheet. Night and Day below was a giant pain in the you know where. Oh my goodness. It almost went in the garbage can. Then I decided to trim each quarter of the block before putting the whole thing together. At least now the block is flat as opposed to mountain peaked. The contrast is awesome though and the block is just a hair smaller than the others and I think it will all work in the end. I don't know what it is with some of the blocks. Some of them are majorly frustrating!!!!!!!!!!

Other than farming these wee blocks, I did start my wonky scrappy little star quilt. I love it! Oh my word, it is making me happy!

Christmas came down today. Everything is put away but the Christmas pillows and quilt. They get to stay out for a little bit more. Happy Wednesday one and all!

#59 Night and Day

Stashing some sale fabric...

2011-12-27T11:18:00.000-08:00

Mostly Christmas fabrics but a few not. Seriously could not resist the reindeer names print. Seriously. Half price at both Hamel's and my fabulous local quilt shop.

And today I started messing with my scraps for the scrap attack challenge. I was surprised. I was surprised with the reality of my scraps. I try to use every last little stinky bit when I am making a quilt. I use the leftovers on the back and try not to be left with many little bits. Then I made the giant string quilt out of scraps and I have been farming my scraps into Farmer's Wife blocks. What is then left? I found quite a stack already cut into 5" squares and then a bunch that I started cutting into 4" squares. I then took the leftovers and sorted it into 3 piles. Nasty little skinny bits for Mum's weaving. Longer, wider strings for string quilts. And leftover odd bits that were mostly rectangles measuring 4" x 2". That will have to be a stacked coin quilt or something. I think I will be cutting 4" squares for a while. Wonky, wonky little star scrap quilt on the cutting table as we speak.

Off to a play with clever son and his lovely girlfriend. The final bit of Christmas fun.

Boxing Day is here at last!

2011-12-26T16:27:00.000-08:00

Even though I love Christmas, there is just something lovely about Boxing Day. You can finally let out a big sigh. Maybe stay in your jammies all day long. Eat leftovers instead of cook. Sew if you like or not if you don't because the gifts have all been made. Nap and snack. Let the house be just a little bit messy. Maybe visit your fabulous local quilt shop's boxing day sale. Yep. It's all good!

I popped some pictures of some gifts made and now given. At the top is a nurse's scrub top for daughter. Fun and quick to whip up. Just a little like making little girl dresses. Well, sort of anyway. She likes it and apparently wore it to work last night. From the back, the hem looks crooked. It isn't. Promise.

And then a bag for Mum. I made one for me last spring and had enough fabric to make one for mum. I used this tutorial and just made fabric handles. Fun!

Back tomorrow with some of my fabric loot from the sales.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T13:28:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! Wishing you the very best of the season and hoping that you are all enjoying this time with family and friends!

Last Quilt Finish for 2011!

2011-12-23T14:19:00.000-08:00

Here it is! All finished! My very own Christmas quilt. It was touch and go as to whether I would get it finished with all the Christmas hoopla but I did! I really, really love it. I strung a string on the barn wall and Mum helped me pin it up for its photo op this morning after it stopped raining. I should have taken a picture of Webster as he was quite intrigued by the whole process. Funny dog!

The quilts stats are as follows. The fabric is largely Fruitcake by Basic Grey for Moda. I used 2 charm packs and a load of samples from the "by the pound" sale at my fabulous local quilt shop. I also used some yardage bought in the after Christmas sales for the borders and bindings and a solid from the stash. I have a lot of that dark red and I end up using it a fair bit as it is very flexible colour-wise. The back, which I am pleased with is a mixture of leftover charms and samples, along with some Christmas snowmen. The green plaid cotton is a thrift store score from Mum. Way to go, Mum! I stippled it all over in a meandering squiggly pattern. Happiness in a quilt. Husband gave it a test drive this morning early before everyone was awake. It worked well for early morning snuggles while getting updated on the world according to CNN or whatever else he was looking at so early in the morning.

Happy Christmas eve-eve!

Can she do it????

2011-12-22T15:01:00.000-08:00

Oh man! I did it! The Christmas quilt will actually be finished for Christmas. This quilt is about 75" x 75" and look! No problem quilting it at all! There is so much room! I seriously did not even notice I was in the middle of the quilt because I never had to struggle with rolling the quilt into a tight sausage in order to fit it into the sewing machine. I am in love even more with my lovely sewing machine!!!!

All that is left is hand sewing the binding! Yippee!!!

Husband saved a bird that was trapped in the chicken run. I just had to take a picture of the little sweetie before he let it go! It was not happy and was yelling at us to hurry up!

4 more sleeps!

2011-12-21T08:23:00.000-08:00

Sugar Cookies are the best and this is the best recipe I have ever found for them. This recipe is simply no fail. It can be doubled and freezes beautifully.

Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter or margarine softened
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (use the good stuff)

Soften your butter and then cream it well. Gradually add sugar and cream well. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Add the dry ingredients and mix. Scoop everything into a plastic bag or container and pop in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll dough on a lightly floured board and cut with your favourite cutters. These bake quickly ... maybe 7 to 8 minutes only as I do roll them fairly thin. For Christmas, I let them cool and then decorate with sugar cookie icing. Other times I brush a simple icing sugar and milk glaze on the cookies while they are still warm. Tinted if you like. Orange pumpkins at Halloween, Pink hearts for Valentine's but at Christmas you can get a little fancy.

Sugar Cookie Icing
1 cup icing sugar
2 tsp milk and then add enough to make it the right consistency
2 tsp corn syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
food colouring if you like.
Mix until it makes you happy with the thickness. Pipe and let set before storing.

Merry Christmas!!!!

baking, shopping, wrapping, playing...

2011-12-20T11:38:00.000-08:00

cute????? a gift from my secretary!

It has been a busy few days of last minute shopping, last minute baking and last minute playing (board games and whist!). Husband and I have made it a goal to avoid all malls in our Chrtistmas shopping preparations and so far it has worked!!! I have not yet stepped into a shopping mall and yet, we are pretty much finished all that Christmas shopping mayhem. Yesterday, I even baked. Yep, for real. Shortbread stars with dark chocolate drizzles. A standard for Christmas at this house and today it is sugar cookie time. Thank goodness the little chicken girls are starting to produce in an impressive fashion. But if you notice in the egg carton above, one of those eggs is not like the other! It is a double for sure!

Merry almost Christmas! Hopefully I will find some quilting time today!

Design Wall Monday... a work in progress

2011-12-19T06:30:00.000-08:00

Well. That doesn't look like much! I took this picture a few days ago and now there is more. The funny thing about quilting is that you don't often end up making things for yourself. Sure we have quilts all over the house but I have not actually made a quilt for us for a long time. Especially in the lead up to Christmas so much of the sewing is for gift giving. I did not think I would have time to make this project for this year. This one is a Christmas quilt for us. And it is all made completely from stash fabrics. The fabric is Fruitcake by Basic Grey for Moda and I had a whole bunch of samples, some charm packs and some yardage bought in the after Christmas sales last year. I saved it with the intention of it being a Christmas quilt for us. It matches the pillows I made last year before Christmas. I really love this fabric because it is different from the usual Christmas palette.

So what is the plan. The plan is to have a centre bit of half square triangles and then borders and squares until it is the right size. That's all. When I just had the half square triangles, Husband was a bit worried thinking that I was making a quilt for an elf. I promised him it would get bigger! It will look more or less like a quilt I made for mum. Have a look.

I am going to link up with Judy's design wall Monday. I am on holidays but not from my sewing machine so I think that I will be finished this for sure before the 24th! Happy Monday!

Christmas is coming Flea Market Finds...

2011-12-17T15:46:00.000-08:00

Apparently this is supposed to be the busy shopping day leading up to Christmas. Husband and I were out nice and early this morning and I did manage to squeeze in a few thrift stores along with all the other stuff on the list. I found a gorgeous ruby red glass vase. Nothing fancy but just the right colour for Christmas.

For a mere 50 cents, I picked up this box of oldies but goodies. The box label says these glass balls were made in Poland. I thought that was most interesting.

This lovely dish is marked made in Japan and was half price in the vintage section. I was most delighted to hand over $2.50 for such a lovely dish. The elderly male volunteer at the cash was quite enamoured with it and I thought that was sweet!

And what is a trip to a thrift store without some fabric? I love this red vintage cotton print! The bundle had several metres and that is a great thing!

So there you have it. Flea market finds for December 17, 2011! Mum is coming on Tuesday for Christmas and I am sure to have some awesome thrift store shopping with her! Husband will get a break for a bit!

I will link up with Sophie's Flea Market Finds as soon as the link is active and with Thrift Share Monday! Merry almost Christmas!!!

Drum roll... we have a winner!

2011-12-16T17:17:00.000-08:00

Huge thank yous to the amazing quilty people who have left 506 lovely comments this week and to all my new followers and already following followers a big whoop whoop!

Mr. Random Generator has selected the winning random number to be none other than................... 116

I am having a blast with SMS giveaway, I am finding all sorts of new to me blogs and ideas it is great! Thanks for a chance to win your prize.

By Jo on Giveaway Day!!! on 12/14/11

Congratulations, Jo! I have sent you off an email and will wait impatiently for your mailing address so that I can pop your prize in the mail!

Again thank you everyone for participating!!!!

Scrap attack!!!!

2011-12-16T16:26:00.000-08:00

Rachel from Stitched in Colour is planning some scrap-iliscious fun for the new year. I don't know about you but I have a lot of scraps. I tried to take some pictures of my scraps in all their glory but scraps have a mind of their own and in case you were not aware, they multiply when your back is turned. Scraps are like rabbits and hangers. You know what I mean. I do try to keep my scraps under control. I am using scraps for my Farmer's Wife quilt and I made my giant string quilt out of scraps but I still have scraps everywhere!

itty bitty scraps in a bag

I have 2 systems for the most part. I take the little itty bitty pieces and throw them into a bag. I use a really classy paper shopping bag from Britex in San Francisco. Only the best for those little itty bitties. These are the pieces that are really too small but I figure they must be good for something like the last piece for a string block where you just need a tiny little scrap.

leftover quilt scraps in ziploc bags falling out of a basket

My second system is at the completion of a quilt, I take the leftovers that are not folding yardage and I stick the works into ziploc bags. The bags then go on the shelf in an overflowing basket. What I have then are colour coordinated scraps in a bag. This works fairly well so far but I need a different storage system for all the bags.

What about you? How do you manage your scraps? Rachel has invited bloggers to show her how you manage the scrap mess. I am going to send her an email with a link to this post so I can share my scrap mess.

Don't forget to check back here in just a little while because ladies and gentlemen, we are going to have a WINNER!!!! It is almost 5 pm and that is go time for Mr.Random Generator. I am currently sitting at a HUGE 505 comments! I cannot believe it! Thank you, everyone, for your interest!

Almost there... and farmer's wife blocks check in

2011-12-15T16:27:00.000-08:00

Well! Tomorrow is the last day of school for the holidays and we have a staff lunch to celebrate. Husband was hard at work today making all these glorious, wee empanada style "tourtiere" meat pies for me to take to the lunch. Tourtiere is a French Canadian meat pie. Most delicious and spiced with allspice. Look at the sweet little trees he put on each pastry. Oh my goodness, they look so awesome!

And then I was farming away with my Farmer's Wife blocks. Week 29!!!!!

Block #51 Hovering Birds

Block # 45 Grape basket

I notice when I look a the pictures of the blocks that Grape basket has a bit of wonk at the bottom. Good grief. I am going to fix that. That simply will not do. I cannot believe I did not notice that!!!!! Perhaps it is just the way I pressed the seam. Crossing fingers!!!

And if you have not entered my giveaway or checked out the other giveaways over at Sew Mama Sew, please do!
Huge welcome to all my new followers!!!

Secret Santa gift...

2011-12-14T16:16:00.000-08:00

I made another pillow. I whipped this up on the weekend for a secret Santa present at work. I was able to use some of the fabric from the giant estate sale stash of fabric that came my way last fall. There was a fair pile of Christmas fabric including this snowman print and some coordinating trees. I had the pillow form already. 16" x 16". Not a giant pillow by any means but nice enough for a Christmas snuggle. I cut some 4"squares. Made some snazzy half square triangles, stitched them together and slapped on a border. Here is the funny thing. My new amazing sewing machine has a built in walking foot system. It is truly wonderful but the actual foot is bigger than my old walking foot. It is taking me a bit of time to figure out how and where to line up the seam line for straight line quilting with the walking foot. I started to quilt the pillow top and thought that the stitching lines were too far from the seam line but it was too late to change it. The penny dropped or the light bulb went off midway. I think I have it figured out now and will line everything up a little differently next time.

The back is a simple envelope closure. I was able to use up a scrap of binding that was left over from something and a bit of burgundy stars along with the snowman print. SWEET!

Lots of fun things to look at in blog land as people finish up their Christmas sewing projects. I even found a wonky little star quilt at Oh Fransson. Check it out! Wonky little stars are spreading all over the place. I am so going to make a wonky star quilt. It will be my 2012 scrap buster quilt. I have it all figured out. It is going to be fabulous! I may have to actually have a design wall though! The design bed might not work for this puppy!

And if you have not entered my giveaway or checked out the other giveaways over at Sew Mama Sew, please do!

A Christmas Gift Finish and a welcome!

2011-12-13T16:20:00.000-08:00

I have a finish! From the weekend. I really like it. I made this wonky, wonky little star table runner for a gift. I have to do more of this because I think they look AWESOME with all their twinkly little star-ness.

I want to say welcome to all the new followers that have dropped in and decided to stay. It is just so exciting to see the number of followers grow! I just noticed that there are 150 of you!!!!! I am also stunned with the number of people who have left comments for my giveaway. Simply fantastic!

Today was the Christmas Concert at school. It was GREAT! Lots of funny little Kindergarten moments and wonderful bits all the way through. There was, of course, a standing room only crowd and gift basket and gingerbread houses for raffling. I have to say it was wonderful and we are all so happy it is over. I telephoned Husband when the concert was over and he thought I sounded unnaturally calm. He he he. That can only be because the concert was over. I don't think I would have sounded that calm before!

I am trying to figure out how to have a list of all my quilt finishes on my blog that will link to a picture. If anyone has a great idea or where to go to figure this out, please let me know. : )

Have a wonderful rest of your evening! And if you have not entered my giveaway or checked out the other giveaways over at Sew Mama Sew, please do! The loot is drool worthy!

Giveaway Day!!!

2011-12-12T06:16:00.000-08:00

Here it is folks! Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day!

I have a charm pack of Aneela Hoey's Sherbet Pips!!! But wait, that is not all! How about the charm pack and 2 Liberty fat quarters!? Yippee!

You have 2 chances to win. Leave a comment, any old comment for one chance and followers get a second chance. It is that easy! Good luck everyone! The giveaway will be open until December 16, 2011 at 5 pm Pacific Standard Time! And I will ship internationally!

Check out all the other fabulous giveways at Sew Mama Sew!!!! It is crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

edited to say!
thank you everyone! the giveaway is now closed!

Sunday Stash

2011-12-11T15:54:00.000-08:00

I popped into my fabulous local quilt shop on Saturday. Everything there is just so yummy. I was really tempted by a book on how to make the original sock monkey. And then I thought, why? Who would I be making sock monkeys for? But I did find an on sale bundle of Christmas fabric. 5 half metre cuts. I love the retro Santa print. I will have to use it for something where I can leave it as whole as possible because it is just too cute! What is really silly is that last year, I would not have even looked at Christmas fabric. I had this idea that so much Christmas fabric is... blech. You know, big glittery poinsettias and so on. Oh my goodness, I just needed Christmas fabric educating!

A picked up a fat quarter of these trees from Countdown to Christmas by Sweetwater for Moda. Cute!

I spent the day at the day at the sewing machine. I churned out some finishes and some farmer's wife blocks. I even started a new quilt. I need intervention.

Tomorrow is the big Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day. I will be linking up and having a giveaway here. I will also be checking out all the giveaways on other blogs!!!! It is so exciting!

Flea Market Finds with Christmas flavour

2011-12-10T16:11:00.000-08:00

We were out and about this morning with a long list. A bit of Christmas shopping, the regular groceries and the quest for the giant turkey needed to feed the family for Christmas dinner. Giant turkeys are not easy to come by but we did find one in the end and as Husband carried the VERY large frozen object to the van, many and varied people commented on the bird's enormity.

I did find another of my favourite bags of assorted doilies at the thrift store. I love finding a bag of this stuff and there are some really lovely ones in this bag and all of it for $5. I have this idea of sewing them all onto a quilt one day.

And then I thought I would share some of my Christmas thrift store/garage sale Christmas treasures from the past while.

A sweet little tree, lit with a Christmas tree bulb.

A Christmas elf from my Nanna.

A snow globe music box that I bought at a garage sale for $1.

And this lovely wee bird that clips on to the tree branch.

Have a lovely rest of your day and I will be linking up with Sophie's Flea Market Finds. Check out all the lovely treasures! I will be busy at the sewing machine, wrapping presents and driving Husband a little batty for sure.

Don't forget to check out my giveaway on Monday when I link up with the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day!

MMMM fresh bread

2011-12-09T15:57:00.000-08:00

Nothing like fresh bread. Such a lovely smell on a cold, winter day. I am off to movie night at school this evening. The parents are showing a movie with a dog in it and surprisingly, the movie star dog from this movie lives in our town and is making a guest appearance at our movie night. How very exciting!!!! The students are quite excited to say the least.

Don't forget that the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day starts on Monday!!!! I will be joining in with some fabric giveaways!

I think we have a runner!

2011-12-08T16:37:00.000-08:00

I got all my wonky little stars together last evening. This was my headache therapy. I am really pleased with how this turned out. This evening, I will put some borders around the outside and sandwich it together, ready for quilting. I am making this table runner for a gift and it is making me very, very happy. I am going to have the great border selection and binding selection debate however. I can be so very indecisive with the choices. Just so you know, the squares in this runner are all 2.5". Again, I don't have a pattern, I was just inspired by a picture of a mini quilt over at Fresh Lemons Quilts. The most challenging part of the whole process is starting the layout by building from one star. I love it!

I made this little snowman ornament years ago. He has such a whimsical expression on his little face. He is known as the "little guy" and it just isn't Christmas until he makes his appearance.

Have a lovely rest of your day!

Farmer's Wife Check-In...Week 28

2011-12-07T16:55:00.000-08:00

Block #52 Hovering Hawks and Block #70 Prairie Queen

So these are this weeks blocks. And this is the half way point in the quilt along. Most exciting! Both of these blocks were fun to make. No major problems or obstacles. I should have fussy cut the little butterfly for the centre block on Prairie Queen on an angle since the blocks will be set on point but I didn't. Darn but only a little darn.

The Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day is coming up fast. I will be participating with a giveaway and wirte up all the details ahead of time! I wouldn't want anyone to miss out! I think it is going to be a fantastic day filled with a zillion giveaways! I am off to rest my annoying headache.

Dark and dreary Tuesday on the West Coast

2011-12-06T16:24:00.000-08:00

I am busy with Christmas things. Last evening I played Whist and it was a hoot! I just love spending time with my card ladies! Friends are good.

I am knitting up a pile of dishcloths. They are essential stocking stuffers. It seems once you start using them, nothing else will do. I wouldn't know, since I cannot remember the last time I washed dishes. Yes, I am SO spoiled!!!!! Husband takes care of all of that.

I also started another wonky little star project. I think it is going to be a table runner. I am using some fabrics from my quilting aunties. It all came in a nice little Christmas tin with a pattern but I am really into wonky little stars so I ditched the pattern from the tin and started playing.

Today is a dark and dreary, cold and misty wet day. The weather is hard to describe as it is more than mist and less than rain but mostly liquid. A perfect day for a big bowl of spaghetti, jammies and at least 2 quilts.

Have a lovely evening!

Pillows for friends...

2011-12-05T16:14:00.000-08:00

Wonky little star pillow

My card ladies are coming tonight. We get together at least once a month and take turns hosting. I wanted to do a close to Christmas card night. We play whist and laugh so much! We eat too. Husband has made us a French Canadian feast with pea soup and Tourtiere (French Canadian meat pie.) Yum!

I made a pillow for each of my card lady friends.

Scrappy string pillow with lots of Terrain

Neutrals with a pop

Sunflower windows

All the pillows look quite happy together on the couch. I am delighted with how they turned out and I think my card ladies are going to be tickled to receive them this evening for their Christmas gift.

I had fun with the backs.

And I will link up with Fabric Tuesday tomorrow! Have a super rest of your day. I will playing cards and excercising my laugh muscles!

Sunday Stash...

2011-12-04T16:15:00.000-08:00

We got the tree up yesterday and I took a quick picture this morning just as it was getting light. I have yet to make a tree skirt. I mentioned it to Husband. He asked where we got the one we use. I told him that it came for the dollar store of all things. But you know what? It isn't too bad for a dollar!

The local chain fabric store had a big sale this past weekend for members of their "club." I just love it when I can find great fabric for $5 a metre. I picked up some Michael Miller Christmas fabric. The pink is a Kate Spain from a while ago. I cannot remember what the green and white print is but it has a lovely repeating blue flower motif. A bit more Sandi Henderson Meadowsweet fabric (the orange and red print) and then the green print near the top is something that I cannot remember either. The bees had to come home with me. I am trying to get more fabrics that work in the background or for bindings and that is why I picked up the green print.

I spent the day sewing Christmas things that I cannot blog about until after Christmas. Very exciting and I have to say that I am still beside myself with glee when using my new and most amazing sewing machine. I made button holes for some pillow backs and they are the best buttonholes EVER!!!!!!

And Daughter received the "Trees For Sale" quilt in the mail yesterday. I made it for her. She did not know that until yesterday when Christmas Parcel number one landed at her house. We decided to send it to her ahead of time so that she could enjoy it leading up to Christmas. When she opened it, she said, "It's the quilt form your blog!" So funny!

Happy Sunday!

Saturday Flea Market Finds... and it's December!

2011-12-03T15:20:00.000-08:00

Husband and I had a list a mile long today but we still found time to pop into a couple of thrift stores. Or at least I did! I found this adorable Christmas bucket at one shop and the vintage Christmas tablecloth at another.

I found the depression-like glass bowls and a lovely green glass candlestick. These were CHEAP at 50 cents each.

Some crafty bibs and bobs for 50 cents a pop. The knitting lock rings were marked $6.95 in their unopened package! Scoop or what?

And some great vintage sheets! I might need to go into business at this rate. I keep finding really great sheets and cannot seem to pass them up!

Our other finds of the day were not really finds but we did have to pick up our 2 wee hens from the farm that was growing them for us. They are quite lovely Gold-Laced Wyandottes. We are building our flock with some heritage varieties. We found a farm that will raise the day olds to 12 weeks for us. This is quite a help when your flock of chickies is mixed ages.

We also picked up our Christmas tree and Husband is putting up the lights as we speak. We are surrounded by Christmas tree farms all around. We simply hopped in the van, drove around the corner, handed over $20 and brought home a lovely tree. So easy!

Have a wonderful rest of your day and I will be linking up with Sophie's Flea Market Finds when the link is up later this evening!

Farmer's Wife Check In-Week 27

2011-12-01T17:09:00.000-08:00

In the true spirit of the Farmer's Wife, we have my weekly blocks on the chicken run fence. I asked Husband to take pictures of my blocks today and he decided to take them here. So funny! If you look closely, you can see that the 'girls' are in the background. You might also see that Husband has hung Christmas ornaments in the chicken run for them to play with.

Block #72 Railroad

Block #77 Seasons

I decided to go simple with the blocks this week as I was testing out my new sewing machine. I actually started making another block. I don't even remember which one but it had some pieces that were reversals of other pieces and I made the mistake of using some solids which then makes it really tricky to see which side is the right side. I therefore became extremely frustrated and tossed the block with Husband's encouragement. I was supposed to be having fun with my new machine not cursing little tiny bits!!! It is all kind of funny in hindsight. So here they are. This week's blocks with the chickens!

Christmas Quilt revisit

2011-11-30T16:32:00.000-08:00

Sew Cal Gal is hosting a Christmas Quilt Show! I had hoped to crank out another Christmas quilt but haven't got there yet so here is this one! I love it! And of course, I have already blogged about this quilt. Sorry! I don't want to be boring! I love that the colours are not traditional. The fabric is 12 Days of Christmas by Kate Spain for Moda and the pattern is Trees for Sale by Sandy Gervais and what a great pattern! I used some other fabrics for the borders and binding. I stippled it all over. All set for Christmas snuggles!

As for yesterday's baking... Husband made a Cranberry Orange Pound Cake that was to die for and I took it to work and made my staff totally happy. The cookies are Spritz and are shaped in a cookie press to look like wreaths and the round cookies are basically a shortbread with currants, rolled in icing sugar. The recipe calls for pecans but because of some family nut allergies we started using currants. Now the kids think it is messed up if they are made with nuts. So funny!

Today he made buns and butter tarts. He told me that I need to lock up the flour because he cannot stop baking. Silly!

What do you do when a grade 2 flushes a pencil down the boy's loo? Yep, all in a day's work! Have a lovely rest of your day, I am off to an Elementary School Carol Festival and will be listening to our school's choir singing away as well as many other little darlings.

Christmas baking and a wonky little star work in progress...

2011-11-29T17:37:00.000-08:00

While I am off at the coal mine (aka my wonderful elementary school), Husband has been busy Christmas baking. Look at all the wonderful goodness he is churning out!

Last evening, I put together my wonky little stars for a pillow top. I love them so much! I think I could easily do a whole quilt of these little wonkies. I might make them just a wee bit bigger and I would have to have a design wall for sure. They have a stained glass window impact. Husband thinks so. I just love their happiness. I have 3 of the 4 pillow tops on my list done. Phew!

And yesterday we celebrated something VERY special! It was "First Egg Day" for our current flock of young chickens. Suzy was the lovely chickie who gave us this little lovely. Clever girl, she is!

I hope to have a bit more time for sewing this evening but apparently I have to put little icing diapers on the gingerbread babies. Happy Tuesday!

Design Wall Monday

2011-11-28T17:47:00.000-08:00

On the design wall today... Wonky little stars! I am making another pillow top and was inspired by this picture over at Fresh Lemons. I didn't have a tutorial so I cut up 2.5 " blocks and went for it. I found the most complicated part of the whole thing was building the layout. This is one of those times where you need to actually build the thing in order to get it all in the right places. So it is all laid out and I just need to sew it together. Fun or what?

And other than that... I have also been playing with the 250 plus stitches on my new sewing machine. This is just so much fun. Even little maple leaves for us Canadians!!!!

And don't forget that on December 12, it's the big gigantic Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day. They are doing a giant linky party for those that wish to have a giveaway. Don't forget to check out the amazing giveaways that day. I am going to join in the fun with another giveaway. Mark your calendars!

I am going to link up with Judy's Design Wall Monday today too. Some very clever people are making some really wonderful things!

Happy Dance!!!!

2011-11-27T15:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Santa Claus came early! I have been dreaming of the Janome Memory Craft 7700 QCP since it was introduced last fall. I have had the flyer leaning on the shelf in the sewing room. Just sitting there teasing me with its wonderfulness. I had a really nice sewing machine. A Janome too, with lots of quilting features but I found I was maxing out its capabilities. I really wanted a longer arm. When I was quilting the yellow vintage sheet quilt, I really struggled. Then I whined. Nicely though. I whined to both Husband and Mum. They both seemed to agree with me. This was a good thing. The time was right and I pounced! The local sewing machine shop had a sale. This was looking good. I did all my research. Read every review. Read the writing off the flyer. Found out all the specs. I even called the shop to verify the price and if they took trade ins. Saturday was sewing machine day! By 10 am, she was mine! Happy dance! Even Husband was excited! The sewing machine table even came with the machine as part of the sale! I never dreamed of having the table. Husband put it together really quickly and I had everything set up before you could say "quarter inch foot!"

She is just so pretty. This is before Husband put the pressure foot knee lifter into the socket. That goes in those nice little holes in the table. The sewing machine table fit very nicely at the end of the long harvest table where I do all my cutting and mess making in the downstairs kitchen/sewing room.

I think I was in shock with delight! This is one totally sweet machine! Oh My Goodness! That is all I can say. It makes my old machine seem like a toy. Yep. I am a happy quilter! I spent yesterday figuring it all out. I played and made all sorts of free motion samples. Today I made my Farmer's Wife blocks for the week. Complete glee! I am all set to play some more.

Husband is watching the Grey Cup game. We managed to find a spot between rain and wind storms to put the outside Christmas lights up. We didn't require an ambulance or a divorce lawyer!

Happiness!

Saturday's Flea Market Finds...

2011-11-26T16:24:00.000-08:00

I found a lovely jar of buttons today. I haven't found a jar for such a long time and as I shook the jar around, I could see some treasures. Some very nice large shell buttons and lots of oldies but goodies. There was even a pile of pink shell beads. See them? They look like rings. I guess they were strung with a bead in the centre of each. Pretty!

Some favourites!

And a lavender sachet, still in the package with the label..." Lavande de Provence... La broderie à la main." Of course, Husband wanted to know what the awful smell was. Lavender is just lost on him.

Some beautiful soft yarn. It was partially knitted into something odd and round which I undid. I also found a great bundt pan but it was not that interesting and didn't seem to lend itself to an artsy bundt pan photo.

Actually, I was so focused on the next stop of the day that I did not spend too much time in the thrift store. Here is just a wee sneak peak...more to follow tomorrow!!

And I will be linking up with Sophie's flea market finds later this evening. Don't forget to check out all the fabulous finds!

GIVEAWAY WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-11-24T18:51:00.000-08:00

Mr. Random Number picked #30!!!!!

Congratulations, Jessika! I will send you an email and get the fabrics out to you right away! YEAH!!!

#30 Jessika said...

I'm a follower now too! Thanks :)

November 18, 2011 10:28 PM

Another pillow start and Happy Thanksgiving to our neighbours south

2011-11-24T16:48:00.000-08:00

Another pillow on the go. I was inspired by a photo on another blog. So interesting! I used random neutrals and prints in the brown/beige families and then popped in some Meadowsweet. I think it looks kind of zowie. I was so quick to take a picture last evening that I did not even trim the edges. I sewed last night because Survivor was not really a new one. I am such a Survivor addict!

I will be drawing for my giveaway in just a little while!!! Stay tuned folks! Happy American Thanksgiving to all!

Farmer's Wife Check In Week 26 and the dreaded "y" seam

2011-11-23T16:33:00.000-08:00

Block # 37 Flower Pot

Block # 42 Fruit Basket

Here they are for this week! I was dreading the flower pot block because it does have the "dreaded" y seams. Once I wrapped my brain around how to handle such little tiny pieces with a y seam, it really was just fine. I have sewn my fair share of doll clothes and you often have to do similar seams with those.

And Fruit basket was fiddly with all the little triangles but it was just fine! I am noticing how tall my wee pile of blocks is getting! Seriously impressive.

On another topic, for those Canadians out there, Fabricland is getting much nicer quality fabric. I noticed lately, some really special stuff including some of the Annie's Seed Catalogue fabric from Lake House Dry Goods. Oh my goodness! Who knew?

Please don't forget to enter my giveaway. You have until Thursday evening and as I said yesterday, I did find some more samples from this Christmas line from Basic Grey to throw in so it is an even better prize!!!