Farmer's Wife

Are you tired of seeing these? :P I'm loving them...they have been so fun to make! I finished the 3rd installment of the bi-weekly BOM. I've really made a dent in my "blue" stash of fabrics too. I think I'm going to need to pick up a few medium blues, though.

Instead of posting individual pictures, I thought I'd just share a slideshow.

Happy Quilting!

More Farmer's Wife blocks....

I'm all caught up with my Farmer's Wife block of the...um, every other week. LOL Every two weeks, Marti Michell sends out the template instructions for 10-11 blocks. These have been fun to make so far! I admit, she had us start with some of the easier blocks...but that's okay, just one seam at a time. :)

First up...#103 Whirlwind

#31 Evening Star

#34 Flock

#51 Hovering Birds

#52 Hovering Hawks

#61 Northern Lights

#2 Autumn Tints

#6 Big Dipper

#10 Bowtie

#15 Buzzard's Roost

#29 Economy

I'm still trying to figure out Picasa. This isn't exactly what I was going for, but it's pretty cool!

Happy Quilting!

Are you up for a summertime challenge?

Starting a new project is the LAST thing I need to do...but what can I say? I must be a glutton for punishment.

Some of you may remember the "9 Patch Project" from last summer? This summer the challenge is to make Bow Tie blocks. For those of you unfamiliar...the goal is to make one block a day from the first day of summer to the first day of fall. At the end you'll have 95 blocks!! In case you didn't hear...TODAY is the first day of Summer! Woohoo!!

You can go to Anna Lena Land for more details and cutting instructions...for 6" or 3" blocks. She also has a Facebook page.

Even up until this morning, I was going to stay away from this project. But I made my first block and that was the end of my resolve. :/ I'm doing 3" scrappy blocks.

I prepped a few block kits for about the next 20 days or so...it was easy since I raided my leader/ender bin for some 2" squares too! That little block for the "tie" of the bow tie is 1"!!!

So, what do you say? Are you in??!!!

Farmer's Wife

There has been a lot of chatter in blogland about the Farmer's Wife book lately, hasn't there?

A few weeks ago in early May, I received Marti Michell's email newsletter and in it she explained that she had converted all but a few of the blocks from the book to use her templates. That is a great time saver from using the paper templates that can be printed using the CD that comes with the book. She was offering a bi-weekly FREE "BOM" for the conversion charts via email. I've had the book for a while and had it on my "someday" list and this was just the push I needed to get moving...so I signed up!

I have received the first and second installments of her conversion charts, which covers about 20 blocks or so. She is not going in numerical order, but rather doing blocks that use the same templates. The first installment was 10 fairly simple blocks that are made of mostly 2" HST and 2" squares.

I own two sets of her templates and she uses a total of 6 different sets for this project. I do love the accuracy of using the templates and have made a couple of quilts using the sets I own. But the truth is, I haven't been able to bring myself to buy the other 4 sets as that would be about $80. I keep thinking of other ways I can spend that $80 these days!! I'm going to press forward without the templates and see how I do. I know there are some more difficult blocks coming up...so I may just have to print off some paper templates if I get stumped. Also, my friend Peggy had the great idea of referring to her "Around the Block" quilt pattern book...it's a great resource for blocks of all sizes and patterns.

Here are the 10 blocks from the first installment! You can see I'm attempting to do a two-color quilt with blues and neutrals. I'm loving the blocks so far!!

#9 - Box (why Box? it looks like a pinwheel. LOL)

#16 Calico Puzzle

#21 Contrary Wife

#23 - Country Farm (my fave so far!)

#41 - Friendship Star

#69 - Practical Orchard

#70 - Prairie Queen

#72 - Railroad

#81 - Snowball

#84 - Spool

I was playing in Picasa...trying to set up a slideshow, but I don't quite have it yet. LOL

Now on to the 2nd installment...gotta finish before the next one arrives, which should be anyday! :P

Happy Quilting!

TWO more finishes!

FINALLY...the Hooty Hoot quilt is finished! And with no time to spare, either. The baby was born on June 13th, so I need to get this baby packaged up and ready to mail!

I am so pleased with how this quilt turned out. I just think it's incredibly cute and huggable...if I do say so myself! The disappearing 9-patch is so quick and easy!

Can you see that striped binding? I love it!! I have a thing for striped binding right now...

I also LOVE using up extra fabric for the backing!

I'm usually stumped for ideas for making a cute label, but this idea popped into my head and I jumped on it. :) I found the little clip art owl online and traced it onto the label fabric. Cute!!

The second finish is the -still-unnamed-leader-ender-quilt. Just doesn't seem right to keep calling it my leader-ender quilt. LOL

Again....striped binding (click twice for a closer look). I told you I had a thing going, me and stripes. :P

And again...my other favorite thing to do. I used up 9 yards of fabric from my stash for the back of this baby! Woohoo!!

Happy Quilting!!

Book Review

I love historical fiction novels...and this was no exception. Hidden Affections is set in 1830's Philadelphia and begins with the heroine, Annabelle Tyler, attempting to start a new life after her scoundrel husband divorces her and steals the modest inheritance she received from her deceased parents. Carrying the stigma of being a divorced woman, she knows her options will be limited.

Suddenly she finds herself handcuffed to the handsome, wealthy, and elusive bachelor, Harrison Graymoor, and forced into another marriage neither of them want! She is promised a quick annulment, but quickly realizes that isn't going to be as easy as either of them hoped. In the meantime, Harrison attempts to hide her away until the marriage is legally ended...but the rumors spread quickly among high society and in order to preserve their reputations, they must play the role as a happily married couple. Annabelle and Harrison both have skeletons from their pasts that quickly come to the forefront and threaten to destroy their facade.

The story moves fairly quickly, but the characters and secondary characters are developed nicely and I found myself wrapped up in their lives, anxious to learn how things turn out for this unlikely couple. Although the story takes places in extreme winter weather conditions, this is a great summertime page turner!

Obligatory disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House to review and give my honest opinion, positive or negative!

Do you like to see the process?

Do you like to see pictures of projects in process? I came across a blog recently that brought up the topic of blogging about the process of quilting as opposed to just posting pictures of the finished product.

I think I'm somewhere in the middle. Occasionally I'm intrigued when a blogger shares how a project came about from beginning to end...but sometimes I enjoy seeing just the finished product. I especially like seeing process pictures if it includes a technique or a product that is new to me.

I think I blog about the same way...sometimes I share a few pictures of the process along the way, but most times I just take a picture of the finished product and blog about it after it's done.

Which do you prefer?

Today, you are getting some "in process" pictures. :)

I recently joined a new BOM program for Buttermilk Basin's wool candle mats. (I guess it's not really a BOM, but a CMOM..candle mat of the month :-P ) I'm receiving my kits from Primitive Gatherings...no association, just a happy customer.

The first month received was for June. Here is a picture of the pattern cover...isn't it cute!

In the kit each month, I receive the pattern and all the wool for the mat. The wool is just scrumptious!! My favorite way to cut out the pieces is to trace them onto freezer paper and lightly iron the pieces to the wool. Don't iron too long or it sticks a bit too much to the wool and pulls some of the fibers out.

Now I have all my little units cut out...I pull the freezer paper off and throw them away. Sometimes I might reuse the paper pieces, but I actually find it easier to cut the wool when I have a line on the freezer paper to cut on instead of cutting around an old template.

Of course I have to lay everything out to see how it looks!

But I actually stitch in layers...from the bottom up. So in this case I did the strawberries first, and then the green pieces, and last the flowers. My BFF, Robin, recently shared this little tip...using 505 Temporary Adhesive spray to hold the wool pieces in place while you stitch. It works great! Sometimes I'll also hand baste the pieces in place.

Time for stitchin'!

Happy Quilting!

FriendSheep BOM

Surprise, Surprise...I didn't get the Hooty Hoot top quilted this weekend! The weather was just so beautiful, we decided to get out and enjoy it while we could. On Saturday, we took the ferry to Cape May, New Jersey. It was a great day...and Cape May is be beautiful town and hopefully we'll go again!

I did make some great progress on my Friendsheep BOM. At times I wonder, "What am I going to do with this project when it's done?" But then I see all these blocks developing and I am beginning to see how cute they are all when they are together. :)

I had three to catch up on...so here is April. Don't you just love those fluffy ears?

May....

and June....

Aren't they cute!! I want to decide soon how I am going to set them...I'm not overly impressed with the original pattern design, so I'm trying to come up with something else.

Happy Quilting!!