Christmas BOM

Hi all - Thanks for coming to class on Saturday. I had a good time and I hope you did too. It is always fun to learn new things and I hope you are enjoying making your half square triangles with the Triangles on a Roll paper.

Below are the directions and photos in case you need this to put your blocks together. Ideally, we would have put these together in class, but we all know what happened there! Thanks for rolling with my mistake!

Directions for putting together the pieced blocks for our Christmas BOM.
Remember - we have 13 blocks in this quilt. Each block is made of 4 sections. So, we need 52 of these little sections.

(I didn't take pictures of the three rows you sew together to make this section. If you need that please look at the pattern)

Once you have the 52 units together and before you add on the green triangle, make sure you trim to 1/4" from the middle red triangle.

Trim with your rotary cutter...and you'll just be taking a hair off.

Now add the green triangle to make this unit into a square.

Turn it over and sew from the other side so you can keep an eye on your seam.

After sewing the green triangle on remember to press toward the green, not open. Sew two of the blocks together, lining up the seams and pinning and press the seam open after sewing.

I stacked my sections so I could make sure my blocks were going to be scrappy before I pinned them. I pinned in three places, see below. After sewing this final seam, remember to press it open.

 And you're done!

Feels good, right?

Our next session is Oct. 27 and we will finally be working with our wool! Please come to class with some of your blocks you have been embroidering the words on. We'll go through cutting our figures, pressing our wool and hand blanket stitching these to our blocks. The threat we will use for the blanket stitching will be in. We'll have lots of fun making our shapes and adding them to our blocks.

Congratulations to everyone on getting your first embroidered blocks ready! They looked great.

Don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions!

- Sarah

It's the little things

I don't remember how I stumbled across a crochet edge pillow case by Rose Hip on the Internet, but I immediately fell in love with it. The vintage look really appeals to me. I've seen pillow cases with tatting on the edges and those are very attractive, but I know tatting is not in my future. I do know how to crochet though!

After a little research I found a tutorial on how to do this and made my first case Sunday night and completed it by Monday afternoon. I have to keep telling myself it is a first attempt and will not be perfect. By about two scallops in I knew my cotton yarn was a little too thick, but I pressed on. The fabric I chose (Ava Rose by Tanya Whelan) was too perfect to abandon ship without finishing.

A few scallops into my pillow case.



Completed pillow!

 Monday night before bed I put the case on my top pillow and it looked amazing! I said to my husband, "This case is so beautiful, I bet tomorrow morning I will wake up beatiful too!" His response wasn't what I was looking for. Men!  But I love it and plan to make more soon. I have such a huge fabric stash and yarn collection I am sure I can make hundreds without having to buy anything else...or maybe I need to go looking for another perfect fabric ... and then the yarn to match!

After a little more research I found another tutorial on Heidi Bears' blog that showed using a back stitch inside the seam to create the base for the crochet. That is going to be the method for my next attempt. Pulling yards of pink cotton yarn through this pillowcase took a bit of time, and I like the look of a hidden base.

Having a nice pillow case on the bed seems like a small thing but means a lot to me. Our English Mastiff, Starbuck, sleeps with us (directly in between us EVERY NIGHT) and I can't put one of my quilts on our bed because of that. But he doesn't sleep on my pillow (usually). So I get to have a nice handmade piece to lay my head on. Like I said, it's the little things.

The big one is why I can't have nice things! Some perspective...this is a king size bed.

T-Shirt Quilts - ShirtTales by Sarah

Looking for information about my custom made t-shirt quilts? Go here: http://shirttalesbysarah.blogspot.com/
and get all the details!

Slow progress ahead!

Since my last post I only put about 5 stitches into the reversible quilt. We went on a trip for about 10 days and carrying along a partial quilt just wasn't in the cards.

I had to have something to work on though so I took along my hexagons for the extra project in the Prairie Women Journey 3 class and some wool applique. I made about 5 hexis and didn't touch the wool applique!
I did, however, start a new knitting project. (Just what I need, another new project!)

In doing my Reno, Nevada, research, I discovered it was the home of Jimmy Beans Wool and that they have a retail store in front of their online operation. Well, I couldn't pass that little trip up. So, on a Friday afternoon I spent a good part of my time in the shop trying to figure out a scarf pattern. I bought a new set of beautiful needles and some yarn and got busy. I have since given up on the original pattern, and settled for a cabled scarf with two cables. I'm new to knitting, so I don't know if that is a double cable scarf or a bicabled scarf or what. I call it a scarf with two cables.

The original pattern I tried was a lacey scarf and for some reason I couldn't get my rows to come out right. I even mastered (almost) the picot cast on in the process because I did it soooo many times!
Oh well, it isn't Jimmy Bean's fault! It is a wonderful little shop and the folks were extremely helpful, even pulling a lady from the back who was probably busy filling online orders to help me out!

I did also hit a few shops while I was in Reno - Windy Moon Quilts is a favorite of mine. I've been there a few times and always enjoy the trip. I left with several half yards of cream backgrounds. Going Batty is also in Reno, but it just isn't my type of shop. I left there empty handed. My husband was shocked.

As soon as we got home I got busy on my Easter gifts. Little bags from this Pink Penguin tutorial made with fabrics all from my stash and a few changes from the original pattern.

Back row - Prince Charming fabric and then some Easter fabric with stash additions. Front row: Vintage Violet  and Sanctuary. These little pieces are addictive and I have one more to make. It goes pretty quickly and the results are awesome. It is also pretty cool to see the different fabrics come together along with the lining and handles. You never know quite what it is going to look like until it is all finished.

Making progress!

I am making progress on the reversible quilt and I am halfway done piecing the whole thing together. I have four more rows to add. Must have been off on the number of rows, seems there are only 8 rows. That's fine with me. It is coming together quicker than I expected. See, if I had only tried to put it together earlier it would be done!

Here's one side - Most of this fabric is Sanctuary.

An interesting bit about the light green sashing, it is a tone on tone print with little birds and flowers. The selvage says it is Brids by 3 Sisters for Moda. I'm thinking it should be Birds. Maybe that is the quilting equivelent of the stamp with the upside-down plane on it or the newspaper that said Dewey Defeats Truman!

This is side two - The fabric is Renewal by Brannock and Petak for Moda. The dark green sashing is the one I have to sew down by hand. The light green sashing on the first side is added by machine.

I think I finally have my seam size set right to get the rows to come together just right - no space in between and no overlaping under the sashing. I have a walking foot with interchangeable plates and one is a 1/4" seam guide (love it!). I have to use that one at a certain setting and remove that plate and then add the regular walking foot plate and change the setting again to put on the second side. Lots of moving parts.

Probably won't be able to take this baby on the trip with us as it will be too big. Heck, I may even have it done before we go, but I don't want to get ahead of myself!

My next challenge will be putting the binding on. You sew together the light green and the dark green binding and then machine sew one side on and hand sew the other. The teacher said it can't be sewn on like a traditional binding because you can't miter the corners. She suggests doing it in four sections, but I don't like the sound of that. I think I'm going to try mitering and if it doesn't work then I'll use the recommened method.

I think I'll take my hexigons for the third journey Prairie Women. More portable for a trip!

In my future - Fails turned into Satisfactorily Completeds!

Like some quilters, I have a lot of UFOs in my closet and resting on any free space or shelf in my quilting room. There are those quilters out there who only work on one project at a time, but that just isn't my style. You gotta go with what feels right. Sometimes I get bored working on a quilt after I do my test block. I tend to obsess about starting projects.

When I start something it is all I can think about for a while and then I say "Next?" It is the anticipation that I'm addicted to (maybe that's too strong of a word?) and that is why I have so many projects started or waiting to begin and so few finished quilts for myself.

Just off the top of my head here are some things waiting to be finished in my room:

• A wedding quilt for a friend (there's still time on this one!)



• Two baby quilts for a former co-worker's grandchildren.
• My treasured Worn & Loved Arbor Windows. I have about 20 blocks done. Bought the kit for a queen, but am thinking this will end up being a smaller quilt I can use in the living room...someday! I've also been hording the Worn & Loved fabric line.

• Lisa's Flower Garden (Hand appliqued tiny wool pieces. I have many done, but not all)
• Any number of ModaU projects (Block of the Months that I just got too busy to keep up with).
• Seaside Rose. The reason I got into quilting. The first fabric line I ABSOLUTELY had to HAVE! And yet, here it sits.

• My Halloween quilt (Started it around Halloween, and then came Christmas. Hello? Who is in the mood for Halloween quilts during Christmas.)

• Reversible quilt hanging in strips in the closet.

• A Flag Day Farm quilt (Came home from class and just decided not to go any further)
• Fuschia quilt (Cut the whole thing out before I did a test block or knew what I was doing. Rookie mistake. That quilt will never see the light of day.)

The list is not complete, but you get the picture. As you can read, some of these were justified DNFs = Did Not Finishes

But, now that I've got a little free time (meaning no huge projects looming) I can turn some Fails into Satisfactorily Completeds! (that's how we were graded back in the day.

I just finished my last teaching obligations at Main Street Quilt Co. for as while, and that opens up a little sewing time for me. Fast forward to a Sunday night in March 2012. For some reason, I had the urge to begin working on one of my UFO quilts IMMEDIATELY! It's the reversible quilt I started wayyyyy back in the 2000s, like maybe 2006? I really don't remember. It was a two or three session class that would net me a reversible quilt-as-you-go quilt. Sitting in my closet in strips - at least my blocks were sewn into rows! Out of sight, out of mind I guess. I remember seeing it several times in my sewing room closet over the years, but never had the urge to do anything about it. Kind of like that piece of fabric you walk over countless times and never bend over to pick up. Or, does that happen just at my house?
So, I got up in the middle of the night to pull it from the closet and search for the last bit of direction I would need to put it all together. 

A few nights ago I was finally able to really work on this project. I cut my sashing strips and sewed them on one row and then connected the next row to prepare for the hand sewing bit. My plan is to take this project with me on an upcoming trip and work on it as time permits.

This quilt is 8 blocks by 10 rows. I am about 75 percent of the way done. I need to sew all my rows together on one side and then hand sew the sashing on the other side. Finally I need to bind the quilt in the same manner. Machine sew one side on, hand sew the remainder.

I'll try to keep you updated on the progress and then what other UFO is up for completion! For now, I'm glad to have this one out of the closet.

October Farmer's Wife

Boo!  I can't believe it is already October. Keeping with this spooky month, we're doing some SCARY  blocks! The scariest has to be the Spider Legs block. We'll be foundation piecing two blocks this time - Spider Legs and Ribbons. We're getting down to the nitty gritty! So, when you come to class on Friday night or Saturday morning please bring your machine if you are interested in working on these foundation piecing blocks in class. Here are the images of both foundation blocks.

Spider Legs - Arnold's Attic

Spider Legs - Miniatures

Ribbons - Arnold's Attic

Ribbons - Miniatures

Class is at 6 p.m. on Friday night and 9 -11 a.m. or noon -2 p.m. on Saturday. Don't forget the quilt show in downtown Shelbyville will also be going on Saturday.

September Farmer's Wife Blocks

Hi All - I'm posting a photo of this month's Farmer's Wife blocks. Why? Because for once, I am done a few hours early with them! That's right - I'm the princess of procrastination. I can't remember the last time I was done with the blocks a WHOLE DAY early! And, count 'em. There's 7 blocks this month.
Oh ya. I'm on a roll.

The September 7.

Let me you, these ain't easy. Except for maybe the Puss in the Corner block (hot pink).  We'll need our 16th ruler for some of these... (did I hear a collective moan?). The easy blocks are few and far between now. Oh, how I long for a simple four patch!
But, we can do this! They may not be easy, but they're done...and they measure 6 1/2".

So, Friday night ladies - I'll see you soon. The Saturday class is Sept. 10. Two sessions - 9 to 11 and noon -2.

For class - Don't forget to bring a 2 1/2" strip of a favorite fabric. This will be the binding for our display boards we'll be making in class. Also, if you have a glue gun, please bring it. We can also work on a block in class...let's say the Tall Pine Tree. Choose two fabrics for this: a dark and a light. Then, from each cut:
4 rectangles at 1 1/4" by 3 1/2
4 rectangles at 2 3/16 by 3 5/16
We'll do the rest in class.

See you all soon!

Aunt Grace's Garden Party begins in September

Aunt Grace's Garden Party Block of the Month

If you are interested in making this beautiful quilt, hop on over to Main Street Quilt Company in Shelbyville! Class begins at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 13, and will continue each month for 6 months on the second Tuesday of each month (except for December).

We'll do hand or machine applique, work on English Paper Piecing, learn how to make stems for the center flower section and so much more! A scalloped border tops off this beautiful piece.

At the end of the class you'll have a beautiful quilt in bright 30s fabrics you can use just in time for Spring 2012!

And you'll have enough fabric left over to make some smaller pieces to accent your quilt!.

Don't wait! Sign up today. Call at the shop to sign up!

Back.

Hi all. We're baaaccckkkk. No sickness and no disasters - just a week of fun in the sun. The worst thing that happened turned out to be one of the best. We rented bikes on one of our final days and had to ride home in a downpour. I haven't had that much fun in years! Riding through these huge puddles...soaking wet! It was wonderful!

We stayed at Casa las Tortugas on Isla Holbox, Quintana Roo, Mexico.  Here are a few picts from our trip.

The view from the second floor of our hotel restaurant.

We are dog people...even on vacation. I snapped this photo of Matt and a friend, Cocoa, on the beach on one of our last days.

Outside our hotel the morning we left.

And something familiar! Loved this simple white stippled quilt that was on our bed! Something familiar to me in an unfamiliar place! I know it was probably  produced in mass somewhere else, but I loved it!

I did take a few hand sewing project with me, but didn't make a lot of progress. Our days were like this: Walk or bike in the morning, got to breakfast at the hotel or someplace else, head to the beach or pool, enjoy some quacamole and chips around lunch time, lunch at the hotel or elsewhere on the island, back to the pool or beach, in for a shower and dinner followed by reading and then sleepytime!

The sand was perfect - white, soft and in most places hard packed and perfect for walking on or biking on. The mosquitos were the worst. Bug spray was often the perfume of choice. I am still scratching some bites.

The water was warm and clear. I have already created a quilt in my mind that will serve as a remembrance with pictures and t-shirts from our trip coupled with solid fabrics that reflect the color of the gulf waters. Plus some Frida Kahlo fabric for the backing!  (It should arrive this week!)

Saw a purse made with this fabric and wanted it soooo bad...but not $580 pesos bad. So, as soon as I got to a good Internet connection (Cancun) I searched for Frida Kahlo fabric and found it! Decided it would be the perfect fabric for the back of my vacation quilt.

It was a wonderful trip and we can't wait to go back again.  Very relaxing. No TV, no phone and a hit and miss Internet connection made for some great days away from our reality. There's the link to the rest of my photos on Facebook.

Sarah 

July FWSQ Classes

Attention Farmer's Wife quilters - Classes for July will be Fri. July 1 at 6 p.m. or Saturday, July 2, at 1 p.m.

Only two sessions this month.

For class, please bring your completed blocks and let's have us a show 'n' tell! We'll review our July directions and enjoy some fellowship before the busy 4th of July weekend gets into swing. No need to bring your machines.

See you there!

Sarah

I love it when a donation finds a home

Remember that donation quilt from a few posts back? Well, it has been delivered and an article appeared in today's newspaper about it!
Take a look!

The Neoga Booster Club quilt was delivered last week and raffled at our annual Neoga Days over the weekend. Congratulations to Randy and Karen Mayhall of Sigel. I hear they are both graduates of NHS, so this prize will really mean something to them!
P.S. I'm glad my Mom didn't win it! She won my Neoga Booster Club donation quilt last year. Just a little embarassing.

And those t-shirt pillows - I also hear they were well received at the auction. I've since bought a shirt I'd like to use as an outdoor pillow and I also have a vacation shirt from Mexico that will make a perfect pillow.

My graduating class of 2011

Whew! It's been a busy last few months for me. Over the past few weeks, I've completed 6 quilts for local graduates...I call this my Class of 2011.

I really enjoy making these quilts alnd earning more about the recipient as I cut the shirts, iron on the interfacing (or when I watch my husband iron on the interfacing for me!)  and then piece it all back together. I always wonder how the quilt will be used - on a bed in their new college dorm or back home in their old room? I hope my quilts are USED...they are made to be used.

I think these quilts are also great conversation starters and a way to get a glimpse into someone's history by seeing where they've been, what concerts they've been to, what teams they played on, what pro athletes they are fans of and what performances they've been in.

I also enjoy seeing the person I've made a quilt for. Our local newspaper runs a graduation tabloid each May and shows pictures of the graduating seniors. It is always fun to see a photo of the person you're making a keepsake for.

I've found that for the most part, the kids who have a quilt made for them are top students, great athletes, super actors, homecoming queens and all around great kids.

Congratulations!

Where does time go?

Do you ever just want time to stop?  HALT! Just give me some time to catch up without the clock tick, ticking away…and then it can start moving again.

I have so many things that I want to do, that I need to do, but don’t seem to have the time. I know some people will say, you have to make the time…. Yes, that’s true. But it seems like time is moving so fast, in my mind it should still be 2003, but the calendar says it is 2011!

And, how did it get to be June 13 already? We are practically half way through the month and half way through the YEAR.. I think one cause is I’m always workin’ for the weekend. You know, like hurry up 5 o’clock. Before you know it, five days later the week is gone and then you breeze through the weekend only to start all over again on Monday. Seven days can go by pretty fast when you live like that.

I don’t know what the solution is, but I do know that I am almost 40 (gasp! I remember thinking my parents were old in their 40s…when I was 10!) and it needs to stop.

I am thankful that Sunday seemed to have more than 24 hours in the day. It was a beautiful day in central Illinois, and it seemed more like spring than the 90% humidity-filled days we have had. The temp was in the 70s, the sun was shining and there was a nice breeze. I was up relatively early, made some AWESOME basil spread for snacking and some iced tea for the husband. Over the weekend I also taught the Saturday Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt class, quilted a small quilt, bound and labeled two quilts and made three pillows. Everything was for donations. 

Donation quilts: Neoga Booster Club and Charleston Red, White and Blue Days.

Pillows I made for the Charleston Booster Club auction.

Here’s some interesting things I’d like to share:

I love the Pioneer Woman Cooks blog. Here’s something I’m going to try soon. I am a once-a-day Starbuckser. This would be a lot less expensive. 

If this making-your-own-iced-coffee thing works out, I may need to get one of these.

And something else from The Pioneer Woman – this is what we’ll be having for dinner tonight after I harvest some basil from our plants.

What I’ll be doing this weekend – Neoga Days 2011. I’m on the committee, and will be there most of the weekend. Quilty friends – there is a quilt show at the Methodist Church on Friday and Saturday from 10 to 5. Unfortunately I have nothing super special to enter. I may enter a mini quilt I made recently and Taylor Rich’s t-shirt quilt I made a few years ago.

April Blocks

Believe it or not we are more than a week into Spring. To celebrate Spring I decided to pull several of the Farmer's Wife blocks that have birds in the name or have something to do with birds, and we'll be working on those this month.

Hovering Birds, Hovering Hawks, Swallow, Flock, Buzzards Roost and Bat Wing.

We'll be doing Bat Wing in class and YES! ladies we will be foundation piecing it. (I can hear a moan coming from Monticello with that news!) However, because I love ya all, I have also put the directions for that block in rotary cutting terms! I figured out how to do that 39 degree angle just for those ladies who don't like to do foundation piecing.

But, honestly, I found it easier to foundation piece this block.

Here are the two images of the block, one in Miniatures fabric and the other in Arnold's Attic.

So, bring your fabrics and your machines if you want and we'll put this bad boy (or Bat Boy!) together in class on Friday, April 1, at 6 p.m. or on Saturday, April 9, at 9-11 or 12-2.

I've taken some time to get my schedule organized. According to my figures, after April we will be 40 percent of the way done with this project. That is - we'll have 44 of the 111 blocks done (I'm sure everyone has their blocks up-to-date, right??????). I've divided out the remainder of the blocks according to their construction type and I came up with some of my own categories: Easy, Small Triangles, Flying Geese and a category called "Strange Piecing." Ohh. Can't wait to tackle those blocks! The title of that group should be: How in the heck am I going to do that block?

See you soon.
Sarah

FWSQ for March

Hurrah for foundation piecing! It sure saved me on this Flower Pot basket block. That's what we'll be working on Friday, March 4, and Saturday, March 12.
And, guess what? It has set in seams!! Ohhh, we're gonna have fun!
See you at class!

Pitch in and make Just One Star

Just saw this posted on a Moda blog and a few others. If you have a few minutes to spare soon in your sewing room, consider participating in the Just One Star program. Click on the link and you'll be directed to the directions where you can make a star block, send it to Moda and your block wil be included in one of the 100 quilts Moda will be donating to soldiers. The directions are all in the document. Why not pitch in an send a star? Deadline is May 1.
This tutorial will tell you all you need to know!

Cutting edit for February

My bad.
I failed to include some cutting directions in one of the February blocks. It is on the Strawberry Basket block. I should have told you to also cut two 2 1/2" squares from fabric C. Please update your block directions. Thank you to Linda (no last name!) for helping me catch this.

I already have a few blocks done for March. We'll be continuing our block theme and will be working on Basket block 3, Fruit Basket and the Flower Pot...just to name a few. We will be paper piecing Basket Block 3.

Talk to you in a few weeks. We'll be meeting on Friday, March, 4, at 6 p.m. and Saturday, March 12 at 9 -11 and then noon -2. Closer to our next class I'll post which block we'll be working on in class.

P.S. I know I've mentioned to a few of you the Barbara Brackman Block of the Week I've been following. Here's a link to find out more about this block of the week.  They're already on Week 7 so you'll have to go backwards to get up to date if you are interested.

FWSQ Blocks for February

February's theme is baskets and flowers! We'll be making the Flower Basket Block No. 35 in class. This block calls for a wee bit of applique on the handle. You are welcome to machine applique or do this by hand. I'll show you examples of both in class.

So, if you want to piece this block in class, please bring your fabric. Determine what color your basket handle will be and be sure to bring a matching thread.

We'll be meeting at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 4 and Saturday, Feb. 12 at 9-11 and 12-2 (remember, this is a new time for the afternoon class). Kate's shop closes at 3 p.m. now on Saturdays.

Don't forget you can see my blocks on Flickr. Click here.

Looking forward to seeing you!

Farmer's Wife photos now on Flickr

Hi All - As I watched the Chicago Bears LOSE on Sunday night I did something productive...took photos of all my Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt blocks I've completed in the Miniatures fabric and posted them on Flickr. To see the blocks, just click here.
I love Flickr. It's free....you can add a ton of photos and share them with friends and family without bogging down your or their e-mail. You can create sets...that keeps all your 'like' photos together. I have many sets, Farmer's Wife, a new Civil War Quilt I've started and sets of photos of my T-shirt quilts.

I'll try to add the Arnold's Attic fabric blocks soon.
Don't forget...we're working on baskets at our next class. Watch this space for more info closer to class.