Weeks Two and Three of "Farming"

Okay, so I didn't post my blocks last week (shame on me!), but I did get them sewn.  In fact, I'm a little ahead of schedule!  That feels so good!  Even if my deadline is self inflicted...  :)

I'm learning so much about choosing colors through these blocks.    Sometimes I cut out a block and when I'm done it's not at all what I had pictured.  There are a few blocks in my stack which, frankly, I don't even like.   Other times it's crazy *perfect* when I see the finished product.  I feel like I can almost measure my growth as a quilter with my stack of blocks.   Is that crazy?



Oh, and have I mentioned that this quilt is all from various Bonnie & Camille lines?  With a little of Moda's Bella Solids in white thrown in for good measure...  I'm obsessed.

Week Two Blocks

[1] Attic Windows



[2] Autumn Tints
Without the autumn colors...  Should have taken a closer look at the name, I guess.  :)  But I like my version.

[41] Friendship Star



[64] Peace and Plenty



[84] Spool



[107] Windblown Square

Week Three Blocks

[5] Bat Wing

[6] Big Dipper

[7] Birds in the Air
Love the way this beauty turned out!

[8] Bouquet

This is my absolute favorite!

[9] Box

[10] Bowtie

The Beginnings of a Farmer's Wife

I stumbled upon the scrappy, sampler beauty known as the Farmer's Wife quilt sometime last summer.  And once I discovered one, it seemed like all my favorite quilt blogs had done one at some point.  (Did any quilter not succumb to the enticing quilt-along of 2011?  I wasn't quilting then, but I don't think I could have!)   But although I picked up a copy of the book almost immediately, I decided to wait until 2015 to actually begin my blocks.

Well, 2015 is here!  I talked my youngest sister, Kelsie, and my good friend, Beth, into doing this with me, so I think we'll be encouraging (and perhaps racing!) one another to the finish and keeping momentum going strong.  It's fun to work on projects with friends.  :)

My plan is to do 6 blocks a week until…  Well, I haven't decided how many blocks I'm going to make.  I want to make all 111 blocks!  But I don't particularly want or need a queen sized quilt…  I have twins beds in my room, but making two twin sized quilts would require more like 160 blocks…  I've got plenty of time to decide, right?

Week One Blocks:

[4] Basket Weave

[11] Broken Dishes
(My favorite so far!)

[21] Contrary Wife

[62] Old Windmill

[81] Snowball

[102] Whirlpool

Wool Sheep for Mom

I finished a project!  (insert applause here)  I've been working on a lot of projects recently but it seems like it's been quite some time since I actually *completed* one.  So yay for me!

Confession time- I started this wool felt appliqué picture for my mom over a year ago.  It wasn't a hard project, I was just never very motivated to work on it.  Maybe because we didn't really have a good place to hang it?  Maybe because I tend to be a lazy crafter if I'm not struck with inspiration?  Let's go with that first one. Makes me feel a little better about myself...  ;) Anyway, my mom recently rearranged some of our living room and made the perfect spot to hang it.  That gave me the little push I needed to get it done.

Mom and I took the finished shepherdess to the frame shop today.  So it should be completely framed and ready to hang in a couple weeks.  Very exciting!

"E" is for Evangeline

Companion to my mini-quilt M, Keely put together this little E for daughter two who is spunky, expressive, and sweeter than sugar.



Evie also adores elephants, hence the embroidery accent.  Keely freehanded him based on an image we found on Pinterest.  Unfortunately, I can no longer find the inspiration image to give credit, but it was darling.

 

The tiny flower buttons came from Columbia, South America.  We have a dear friend from there (what little Spanish I know is thanks to her!) and she brought us a container full of beautiful little buttons after one of her visits home.  We treasure these little buttons and use them judiciously, but they seemed perfect for this little project.

Daydream Love

No matter how busy I am and despite the fact that there's always something else I should be working on, I can't seem to read a Moda blog hop without participating!  The recent Moda Love Blog Tour was no exception.  I guess seeing a pattern made up so many different ways inspires me to try it for myself.  And since I had some Daydream laying on my shelf with no particular project in mind…

I think I love it.

There were so many beautiful versions of the pattern in the blog hop (Here's the link to the free pattern!), but the way April Rosenthal and Pat Sloan distributed the colors in their quilts really influenced my take on the pattern.  It was surprising how such a simple grouping of squares and half-square triangles could look so very different depending on color placement.  I know I'm not a very spacial person, but still...  They were all gorgeous and oh-so different.

When it comes to half-square triangles, there is nothing quite as wonderful as this Fons & Porter/Omnigrid ruler.  I use this little thing all the time and love it!  Every quilter should have one, preferably two.

I may have pieced this darling when I shouldn't have, but I am going to wait to hand quilt it until after my Happily Ever After pineapple.  Speaking of which, I've worked on several more blocks.  I'm think I'm close to half way done!

Wedding Memento

As we helped clean up after the wedding reception of my best friend, I couldn't help but notice that all the cotton fat quarters that had been used to add color to the centerpieces were being tossed in a box.  So I casually asked about it...



It turns out all that lovely quilters cotton was going home to live in someone's garage because they didn't know what to do with it.  Well, I did!  It's now being turned into a first anniversary quilt/wedding memento!

We had watched The Proposal during the bridal party luncheon and had all ooooh'd and aaaah'd over the Baby Maker quilt.   Although the wedding colors are nothing like the quilt in the movie, I still liked the idea of trying a pineapple quilt.  I made a sample block, but I couldn't picture how the design worked together.  Four blocks later, I have a better idea of what the quilt is going to look like.  And I like it!



Please pardon the fact that it needs ironed.  This little guy decided my project box made an excellent napping spot and I thought he was too adorable to move...



I'm guessing I'll need about twenty-five blocks total to make a full sized quilt.  These blocks are really fun to put together, but they are not quick.  Since I plan to have it hand quilted by their February anniversary, it's now priority one for my craft time!

Spell It With Fabric - M is for Mercedes

I enjoyed reading Moda's blog hop "Spell It With Fabric" so much, that I wanted to do a letter or two myself.  But I didn't want to do a full alphabet quilt, so how could I use the blocks?  The answer: mini quilts for our dear friend's darling daughters!

Daughter one is a thoughtful, pleasant, and fun-loving five year old with a smile that will melt your heart.  Keely rummaged through our scrap bins and pulled out an assortment of fabrics that felt shabby chic, while I modified the M from the blog hop because I felt it just wasn't quite right.  I wanted my M's center to be a bit deeper.

For a little bit of extra charm, I added a little bunting across the top.   It was such a fun way to use lots of different fabrics!  My fray check was old and dried beyond all usefulness, so a dab of Elmer's glue on the edges was all the finishing I did.  It worked really well and dried completely clear.

I used flannel for batting and hand quilted it in an evening.  Such a darling, quick project!