Farmer’s Wife Challenge Update

I took apart the two Basketweave blocks I put together wrong and stitched them back while actually looking at the pattern, which helped immensely!!!

Since I had already squared up the blocks, when I sewed them together, they didn’t come out quite square, but close enough. 

I plan to mail the 6 1/2 inch block to one of the Farmer’s Wife FUN Challenge participants as just an extra, not part of the actual swap since it’s not quite perfect.  I will be using the large 12 1/2 inch block for a civil war repro quilt I am making for my brother-in-law.  Here it is with the two most recent blocks I received from my partner in the Block Swap Adventure. 

I am taking a break from the Block Swap Adventure this year.  It was fun, but I am part of a bee in 2012 and plan to do two quilt alongs this spring which will take up a lot of my free time.

So, onto the actual blocks I made for the FUN Challenge.  I started with this block first.  It was my first block using a template (as opposed to rotary cutting which was in my comfort zone), and it turned out great.  I always make a block for myself before I make one for someone else, just to get my bearings because I want the other person’s block to turn out better.  I was happy with this, so I went ahead and made 2 more.  (Notice anything yet???)

Here they are in all their not-put-together-right glory:

Yes, after not following the Basketweave pattern correctly, I went ahead and made THREE MORE BLOCKS without doublechecking the layout.  This block is called Seasons.  I finally cut into a friend’s beautiful fabric and made a block that doesn’t actually exist in the Farmer’s Wife Sampler!  Luckily I have made a new block with a different fabric combo that is done correctly. 

So, I finally got myself organized and was able to get two blocks done correctly for the FUN Challenge:

Here is a close up of the fabrics and the colors are pretty true on my monitor:

I will be mailing this one out to one of the FUN Challenge participants. 

Farmer’s Wife #4 Basketweave Block

One of the members of the Farmer’s Wife Yahoo Group posted a photo of her #4 Basketweave block on her blog and commented that she thought it looked somewhat Swastika-like.  I decided to make the block just to experiment with the color placement. 

I am splitting the construction of the blocks for the FWS with a partner with whom I swapped fabric, and she is making the basketweave, so I decided to make one that measures 12.5” and then one that measures 6.5” to put in the Farmer’s Wife Holiday Challenge.  The larger block I will include in quilt for my brother-in-law; the smaller block will be exchanged in the holiday challenge swap.

This is the layout with the darker colors in the center:

Ultimately I chose to put the darker color in the outmost position.  My two blocks turned out like this:

And then, ha ha!, when I finally uploaded the photo I realized I  made the blocks wrong.  So, I’ll be getting my seam ripper out and fixing the placement of the quarters and see how it looks.

I enjoyed making those blocks so much that I got busy and made a whole bunch more.  I finally took the plunge and made a few blocks that require using templates and I had so much fun putting them together.

Holiday Handmade Challenge

Jennifer at the blog Taken Patiently is having challenge to make at least 5 handmade gifts this holiday season.  Here are my entries:

For my sister-in-law: 3 jams, a quilt, and homemade dog biscuits for her dog, Elmo.  There is also a skein of yarn I bought for her at the local Maker’s Market called “crayon box” and another skein of yarn from Michael’s (neither made by me).

And here is the quilt on her bed in South Carolina:

For my sister:  a cute chicken pillowcase (I never got around to making a match, but I will) and a tablerunner made from Rise n Shine, Glenna Hailey’s chicken repro fabric, and 3 jams.  Bea picked out the chicken dishcloth at Kohl’s and said she had to buy it for Aunt Jody since my sister raises chickens.  Hence the chicken theme…

Here’s a close up of the tablerunner fabric:

And here it is on her table in Maine:

And here’s a close up of the pillowcase fabric (this was a remnant I picked up at Joanns—the fabric is kind of cheap and thin, but super cute, so cute won out!).

For my best friend:

She asked for a tablerunner with extremely specific dimensions for under her nativity scene.  I made it with really cute and fun Christmas fabrics since she has little kids. 

Here’s a close up of the star fmq.  I am pretty happy with it.

I had to have this mitten fabric!  I love the hearts on the mittens.

And the backing is this Santa Claus fabric:

And since she now is into canning and buying at the farmer’s market, I got her this Farmer’s Wife magazine inspired cookbook:

And the cutest ever apple dishcloth from Target (she is a teacher AND her favorite color is red).

A gift to my mom:

The Farmer’s Wife Pony Club book (my mom does not sew, but she did have her own cart and pony as a little girl, and we moved to a horse farm when I was 7), dog biscuits for her 3 dogs, and a set of flannel teacup pillowcases.

For my dad:

Various jams, two kind of pickles, and two jars of canned tomatoes (his favorite) and a set of pillowcases.  My dad is an outdoor writer and his nickname in college was Drako, so he goes by a nom de plume last name “Drake” so I thought he’d like the duck fabric.  I’m not really sure what kind of fish they are, but it’s from the same fabric line.

So, for my entry, in a nutshell:

• tons of canned jams, pickles, and tomatoes I made this summer
• homemade dog biscuits
• a sheep/knitting themed lap quilt
• chicken pillowcase
• chicken tablerunner
• Christmas tablerunner
• teacup pillowcases
• fish/duck pillowcases

Fat Quarter Shop Challenge

Our Christmas was fun!  The kids and I woke up on Christmas Eve with pinkeye.  We were on top of it and got the first four appointments at Urgent Care…12, 12:10, 12:20, and 12:30 on Christmas Eve!  Four tubes of eye ointment later, we are all clear eyed finally.

Ronnie has been sick, so while holding a sleeping/coughing baby, I was able to complete the Fat Quarter Shop Challenge this morning.  Purple is by far my favorite color, but I have relatively few purple fabrics in my stash, actually none really!  So, it was fun to go shopping!  I am really loving the green dot fabric on the right in the second row and the stripe underneath it. 

I’ll be linking this mosaic back up to Quokka Quilts.

Makeovers

Warning: This is a long post.  Just skip to the end for the sewing part

If you’ve had any kids, you probably know what I mean when I say it’s sheer joy to drop 20-25 pounds in a week.  That’s what I did when I had baby #1 and baby #2.  I was close to pre-pregnancy weight within a few weeks of having them.  I never did get back down to the slimmest size of my life, but close enough!  Not so with baby #3…

I lost about 15 pounds in the hospital (she weighed in at 7) and that was it.  It has been a year now, and I still hover at the same weight.  Enter December Christmas parties. 

Nothing to wear, not feeling particularly attractive, countdown one week to first party, I went on a diet.  I basically ate turkey lunchmeat and water for Every Single Meal and –HALLELUJAH-- I lost about 5 pounds. 

Then I had to decide what to wear.  I still could not fit into any dress in my closet.  So, I went to Target, because I don’t plan to ever HAVE to wear this dress again.  Of course I always have kids with me, and it was taking me a terrible long time to pick anything out knowing that I would be committing to the dress without getting to try it on (since I had kids along).  Veronica (the baby) was getting fussy in the stroller, so since it wasn’t that busy, I let her out and she and Esther played peek-a-boo among the dresses. 

I was frantic trying to find something to wear.  I finally found something I thought I could live with when I smelled the most horrendous smell.  Yes, Veronica was up to her armpits in poop sitting in a display of dresses.  I wrapped her up in my coat, made a beeline for the shoes, picked out a pair and headed to the checkout.  I broke out in a sweat hoping to make it out of there before anyone realized where the stench was coming from!  She rode home in nothing but a diaper after I was through cleaning her up.

That night when I was trying everything on, the shoes didn’t fit!!!  I had grabbed a size 7 instead of 8.  (That’s another thing…my feet are a full size bigger since having kids…and my hair is no longer stick-straight, but wavy).  I called the store in a panic, and a nice woman put a pair on hold for me at the front desk.  While I was talking to her, I asked if she knew if there were any tights that matched.  She said she thought so but wasn’t sure, and when I got to Target a few minutes later, the shoes and tights (which I didn’t ask her to get) were waiting for me.  I love you, Target!!!

Okay, here’s where the sewing part comes in.  The dress was dowdy.  It had a high neckline (I have humungous boobs from breastfeeding) and I didn’t want to be flashy.  The hem went below the knees.  I wasn’t really happy with the dress at all.  Then, I had an idea!  Maybe I could hem it to make it a little younger and stylish.

I have never sewn knit fabric before, so I got out my machine manual and the book “Sewing for Dummies” (yes, I own that book) and got to work.  I cut off exactly how much I wanted, thinking maybe I should go a little conservative in case things didn’t turn out quite as I hoped.  But I kind of go by the mantra, “Go hard or go home,” so I went for broke and didn’t leave any extra!

Then I started sewing with the double needle as was suggested by my Janome manual.  It didn’t turn out how I’d hoped.  I had a really hard time keeping the fabric under the foot.  I think maybe I should have used a walking foot.  I have no idea, but I was getting nervous because we had about 15 minutes before we needed to leave.  So, I just ironed up the bad hem, and used a longer straight stitch with a single needle and it turned out okay!!!  There was some waviness to the (a little bit shorter than I planned!) hem, but I think it was much improved.

And the diet…I have stuck to it pretty well since that night.  We just made Christmas cookies yesterday, so I am going to take a break from it until those are all gone (which shouldn’t take long thanks to Bea and Esther who pretty much are eating cookies instead of real food). 

And speaking of makeovers…today our house is getting a new roof, shutters, and front door, all thanks to the hurricane that blew through here this fall and dropped a few trees on our house.

Giveaway Winner!

Warning:  this post contains a gratuitously cute baby photo.

Congratulations to commenter #238,  Barbara, who won the Sew Mama Sew giveaway!  I have emailed you for your address and will get the jelly roll of Christmas fabric out to you this week.

I finished up another quilt this weekend, dubbed the “Knitting Sheep.”  It is for my sister-in-law who has knitted tons of hats and accessories for my kids, keeping them warm and in style!

I quilted it in fmq squiggles with light gray thread and machine bound it with a Moda Pampered Pooch black, red, and white plaid fabric.  The batting is Warm and White, which is my favorite to use.   The back is semi-pieced and has a custom fabric label.  I am pleased with how this quilt looks.  It is one of my better attempts at making a modern-looking quilt.

Lastly, my littlest girl Veronica turned one last week.  We had her party yesterday.  Here’s a photo of her taking her nap yesterday, still my little baby.

Trying New Things Thursday

I actually have three new things I have done in the past week:

1.  Made a quilt top from entirely stash fabrics blogged about here.

2.  Made my first ever felt flower wreath blogged about here.

3.  Had my first giveaway on my blog.  There is still time to enter here.

Wishing everyone a happy Thursday!  I plan on participating in the Friday Night Sew In tomorrow.  I have lots of projects I need to get finished up and get in the mail on Monday or put under the tree.

Linking up to Happy Quilting’s Trying New Things Thursday.

Sew Mama Sew! Giveaway

Thanks for visiting my blog!  Staying home full time with three little girls is fun, but I like to escape for a few minutes whenever I can to the world of sewing, quilting, and crafting by reading my favorite blogs.  In honor of all the fantastic blogs I find so inspiring and creative, I am having my first giveaway--a drawing for a jelly roll of 25 assorted 2.5 inch Christmas fabric strips.   The fabrics in this roll include Riley Blake, Connecting Threads, Kate Spain, Studio E, Polar Brigade, & Ann Kelle Remix.
This giveaway is open to international entrants as well as US residents and will close on December 16th.  I will announce the winner on Sunday, December 18th, which happens to be my parents’ 44th wedding anniversary.

To enter:

• Simply leave a comment telling me your favorite romantic movie.  Mine is “Dirty Dancing.”
• Followers or new followers can have a bonus entry.

I'll use the random number generator to pick a winning number.  Good luck and thanks for stopping by!

Charmed Prints Quilt Top

Last night during the Friday Night Sew In I finished up the quilt top for the Charmed Prints Quilt Along.  I am really proud of this quilt top! 

It’s not perfect and has some visible errors—two of the pieced blocks on the end of a row were a little too big and points had to be cut off to accommodate the sashing.  But most importantly, I used stash fabrics to create this quilt (the backing and binding are yet to be completed):

• charm pack I won two years ago and forgot the name of
• polka dot sashing I bought on clearance from Connecting Threads
• floral “Whimsy” fabric for the border
• blue Heidi Grace (from Joanns) fabric for the binding
• Kona aqua solid for the backing

It is true that I ordered the butterfly and heart fabric from Fabric.com the week of Thanksgiving, but overall I did a good job using up fabrics from my stash.  And what’s most important is I think they look good together.  There are some projects that I’ve made that I’ve never shared on my blog because they are just…not blogworthy!  Using fabric from my stash is sometimes a real challenge for me because I like the look of all the prints from a collection and am usually less than satisfied with the outcome when I try to pull different fabrics together. 

The sashing is actually while with tiny aqua polka dots, which I like immensely!

Luckily, the quilt does not need to be completed until 12/20, so I’m going to be putting it away for now and working on a few Christmas gifts that I need to get done. 

Computer Woes, A Wreath, & A Quilt Top Finished

Baby Ronnie pulled my mini laptop off the kitchen table earlier this week.  At first there was a line running vertically down the screen and I thought the computer would be okay.  But pretty soon, a quarter of my screen was lines, and then a few hours later, two thirds of the screen was obscured.  It was time to say good-bye to my pretty pink laptop and hello to a new computer.  My hubby ran out to Best Buy the next day and bought me a HUGE laptop.  At first I was kind of sad it was so big and was going to return it and get another mini, but then he told me it might be better for blogging and reading blogs since the screen is so much bigger.  Good thinking!!!  

Esther and I made a pretty felt flower Christmas wreath today while Ronnie speed-napped for 35 minutes.  I saw this beautiful version on the blog Cut to Pieces.  I didn't even have time to Google how to make felt flowers so we just made it up as we went along.  My roses didn't turn out as pretty as the roses on the original (mine were too tightly wrapped), but for a quick project to do with a three year old, they turned out good enough!  I used some pinking shears to cut concentric circles and Esther glued the sparkly puff balls in the center of the flowers.  I used my fall wreath form--just took the orange, brown and cream flowers off since they were only hooked on using alligator clips--and replaced them with these felt flowers and a Christmas-y ribbon.  I'm already looking forward to doing something with hearts for Valentine's Day.

I am linking up to the Friday Night Sew In.  I woke up this morning at 4:30 and sewed for two hours, almost piecing together all the rows of the Charmed Prints Quilt Along quilt.  I just finished them up and added the borders and will post a pic tomorrow after I take a photo when the light is better.

Trying New Things Thursday

My new thing is the churn dash block.  I’d never made one until this morning.  I saw a few examples in the Charmed Prints Quilt Along Flickr group and thought I’d give it a try.

The four blocks included in the quilt are star, pinwheel, diamond, and Greek cross, but a few people pointed out that switching the corner hsts will make churn dash blocks, so I decided to give it a try.  I started working on the layout of all the blocks and can’t wait to get the sashing sewn on.

Ronnie had a trying new things first today, too.  Her big sisters love to paint, but since she’s not even a year old yet, she’s never gotten to participate—except meddling in their paints and making a grand mess of the kitchen floor and windows!  So I sat her up in her highchair with some fingerpaints today and she LOVED it!

By the end there was more paint on her clothes and high chair than on paper, but it was worth it for all the smiles (plus, less paint all over the kitchen)!

I’m linking up this post to Trying New Things Thursday on Happy Quilting.