January Bees

This week I got my January blocks in the mail to Sunni of Love Affair with My Brother for the Stash Bee.  She requested a tree block and a signature block, so here’s what I sent her way:

I added some white borders to the blocks I’ve received so far as part of Beejeebers.  I also requested tree blocks—or house blocks—to make a quilt called “Wonky Town.”

I received three more blocks this week and plan to add the white borders to them this weekend.

And I made some more progress with my Farmer’s Wife Sampler Blocks.  Here are my blocks laid out with the same blocks I made for Sunny in her fabric choices. 

Finally, I completed this quilt for my first finish of 2012.

I am linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish It Up Friday for my bee blocks and my first quilt finished for 2012.  Hope you got some projects finished up this week, too!

#97—Waste Not or Wasteful?

I completed block(s) 97 for the Farmer’s Wife Sampler over the weekend.  Boy was it a toughie!  I ended up with two, not so perfect, blocks.  The second one is wrinkly because it was shy of 6 1/2 inches, so I experimented with sizing spray after making the block to give it a boost.  Now it’s a tad too big and wrinkly!  But I’m still gonna use it!!!!

They are [maybe] mirror images—I’m not sure!  The first one I made is on the left.  I used freezer paper.  First I printed the templates and then traced them.  I adhered the freezer paper to the right side of the fabric and cut.  But when I put the pieces together, it was backwards.  So, I threw away the interior pieces and traced the templates again (the same way) and this time ironed them to the wrong side of the fabric.  When I cut, the block was backwards AGAIN!  That’s the wrinkly block on the right.

At this point I realized I had used solids for the interior of the first block and went ahead and pulled them out of the waste bin.  I just flipped them over and put it together and this time it was not backwards.  What gives????  I know some of the instructions in the Yahoo Group advise you to reverse the templates before you print, but I printed in EQ7 and I adhered the freezer paper to both sides. 

At this point I should tell you that I am pretty good at math.  I graduated from the Naval Academy about 15 years ago and I spent a few very long months learning ship engineering and everything you ever wanted to know about the steam cycle.  I affectionately called that class “Death By Pipes.”  Once I understood exactly why some engines used high octane fuel.  I have no idea why now.  The truth is, I am not very inventive or original when it comes to math.  If someone explains it, I understand, but I don’t do well figuring things out on my own. 

So someone, please throw me a bone!

Here are most of the blocks I’ve finished so far.  There are a couple that are going to go on the back not in this picture (they didn’t make the first string team!).

Block updates

Well, the stomach bug took me by storm.  I always welcome it because I know I’ll get it at least once in the winter and might as well get it over with, and it guarantees a few pounds easy weight loss that I don’t have to work for!

Earlier this week I finished up my first UFO for the new year—the Charmed Prints quilt—but  I haven’t had a chance to photograph it.  I have a hard time getting pictures taken with the kids outside.  Our holly trees have dropped a billion berries on the ground and Veronica is as fast as lightening trying to eat them.  I did snap a photo of all the Farmer’s Wife blocks I have finished so far:

I had to take the photo on our bed because as I was laying them out, Ronnie would pick one up in each hand and high-tail it out of the bedroom, so I had to put them somewhere she couldn’t reach.  (Yes, I have cat flannel sheets and they are super soft and comfy!!!)

I also received my first block in the mail for Beejeebers.  Lindsay from For the Love of Cotton sent me this adorable sock monkey in his house block

and an amazingly generous pile of “scraps” for the wonky log cabin blocks.  I hesitate to call them scraps because there are some really big pieces and some beautiful charms!!!  Thank you so much, Lindsay!!!

On a personal note, Bea turned 6 on Wednesday.  It is hard to believe my baby is already six years old!  (And has already lost 2 baby teeth!)

My sister sent her some Shrinky Dinks for her birthday, which she absolutely loved.

Have a great weekend!!!

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.