More Farming...

I've been continuing to putter on my Farmer's Wife blocks this past week in between setting up some other projects.  I'm loading another quilt on the frame (time to start emptying out that closet!)  I've also pulled out my other sewing machine to set up for FMQ (free motion quilting).  The hope is that if I have a machine dedicated for piecing and one for quilting, than I can work on both without the hassle of converting one.

Up until now all the blocks I've made have used template sets A & B (which I already own), but now I'm starting to run into blocks that use a set I don't have.  I've ordered it and am waiting for it to come in the mail.  I've still been able to make 9 more blocks though.

#20 Churn Dash, #111 Wrench and #12 Broken Sugar Bowl

#31 Evening Star, #103 Whirlwind and #15 Buzzard's Roost

#51 Hovering Birds, #52 Hovering Hawks and #6 Big Dipper

I started sewing #51 Hovering Birds first thing one morning having cut out the pieces the previous day.  For some reason that block seemed to give me so much trouble.  The first time I made it, it was too big.  The second time I made it, it was slightly too small.  I considered remaking it a third time, but wondered if I was being too picky.  Here's the block that was too big...

And here's the block that is a little small...

To be honest, the smaller block looks more off than the larger one, but that's only because the ruler is resting on top of the seams.  If I press it down, it's closer.  But looking at both of them now, I realize I am being way too OCD.  It's not perfect, but so what?  I think both of them will work just fine.

And here is a collage of the 24 blocks I've finished so far.  I think I'm going to continue to work on these for a while - in between a few other things.  I'm still enjoying them (and I'm going to work on not being such a perfectionist.)

My first 24 Farmer's Wife blocks

Moses is really enjoying the sewing room lately.  The problem is she's very demanding of attention and every time I move a piece of fabric she thinks I'm playing with her and attacks it.  There are definitely worse ways to be interrupted though.

Grace, mercy, and peace, which come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ - the Son of the Father - will continue to be with us who live in truth and love. 

2 John 1:3 (NLT)

Another Detour...

So after deliberating over all those tempting projects, I ended up pulling out yet another one - my Farmer's Wife quilt.  After starting on it with such enthusiasm in the beginning of the year, it has sat languishing ever since.  My goal was to make 1 or 2 blocks a week.  This is week 26 (exactly halfway through the year) and I had made a total of 4 blocks.  (Note to self - I should really stop posting my goals, then I wouldn't be embarrassed when I admit how completely I failed to meet them!)

I'm using the Marti Michell templates to make my blocks.  She offers directions on how to use her templates to make 101 of the blocks.  (If you're interested, you can sign up to receive these on her website.)   It's a little more fiddly to cut out the pieces, but because everything fits together so nicely when you're sewing, I think it's worth it.

She even simplifies some of the blocks so they use fewer pieces.  In the book, the "Box" block has 17 pieces.  Using the templates, my block only has 11 so there are far fewer seams.

I've been moving right along making these blocks and having a lot of fun with it.    I also felt like I was making good progress until I checked the book and realized I need 145 blocks.  I have 15 right now.  Only 130 left to go! Ha! Ha!  Here are the ones I've just finished...

#84 Spool, #81 Snowball, #23 Country Farm and #29 Economy

#9 Box, #41 Friendship Star, #10 Bowtie and #2 Autumn Tints

#69 Practical Orchard, #61 Northern Lights and #34 Flock

I'm not sure how much longer I'll continue to work on these.  I suppose as long as I'm enjoying it.  As for my next project?  That's still up in the air.

This is one of Moses' favorite hiding spots.  She can nap here and not worry about the other pets disturbing her.  She particularly loves to go here if someone comes to the house.  She's almost 10 years old and I don't believe my parents have ever seen her in person.

The heat and humidity that accompany summers in North Carolina are definitely here right now.  A lot of people are complaining about it.  However, after the extreme cold of last winter, I'll gladly take it.  Of course, if my air conditioning broke, I might be singing a different story...

Search me, God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:23-24 NIV

A New Year's Resolution (Sort Of)...

Usually I don't make New Year's Resolutions.  It's just too easy to break them.  I figure if there's something I want/should do, why not start it then instead of waiting until January 1st?  That being said, I did delay the start of a 'new' project until this year.  (Although technically it's been in the planning stages for a couple of years now - picking out fabric, getting templates, etc.)  This week, I finally started my Farmer's Wife quilt.  I'm hoping to make the king-sized version, which needs 144 blocks, so I was thinking I would make 1 or 2 blocks a week.  It will still take a couple of years, but at least I'll finally be making progress on it.

Farmer's Wife fabric, book and templates

Several years ago, I signed up to receive the free conversion charts from Marti Michell to use her templates to make these blocks.  I had heard through the grapevine they were easier to make that way.  (If you're interested, you can still sign up to receive the next set of these emails on her website.  I can't speak from experience whether this is true or not, because I didn't try out the templates from the book.)  It does take a while to cut out the pieces with the templates, but almost no time to sew together.  Here is my first block cut out...

#16 Calico Puzzle

To be honest, my first block finished at 6 1/4" x 6 1/2".  In order to get my points to match up perfectly when I sewed my rows together, that's just how it turned out.  I was disappointed, but I made another one and used a scant, scant 1/4".  It came out perfectly.

Excuse David's tail!

It seemed like a lot of effort to pull out all of the fabric, book and templates to make just one block a week, so I kept sewing.  In a few hours, I finished another 3 blocks.

#21 Contrary Wife

#70 Prairie Queen

#72 Railroad

I was little iffy on the templates after my first block, but found them really helpful once I got the hang of it.  Although each of these blocks had quite a few pieces in them, the next few look to be simpler.  And I think working in groups like this will work out better than just making one or two at a time.

I'm really excited to have finally started on this project!  I hope I can keep up momentum on it throughout the year and have a nice pile of blocks to show for it by the start of the next one!

By the way, for those of you that are Downton Abbey fans, I just heard that the Season 4 DVD is coming out on January 28th and is available for pre-order at Amazon.  This means you can watch the entire season before it finishes airing on TV here in the US.  My husband and I prefer to watch an entire series at once rather than wait week to week.  I'm less likely to forget parts of the plot that way!

But the wisdom that comes from above leads us to be pure, friendly, gentle, sensible, kind, helpful, genuine and sincere. 

James 3:17 (CEVD)

Shopping Spree...

This is the season where retailers are bombarding you with sales and special deals trying to entice you to buy, buy, buy!  So far, I've been very good at resisting.  So good in fact, that I'm behind on my Christmas shopping.  But the other day, I finally found a sale that even I couldn't pass up.  Funny thing is, it wasn't even supposed to be on sale.

I'm fortunate to live within an hour of around 10 quilt stores.  I got an email from one of them advertising a clearance table for an additional 75% off.  I knew they carried a number of bolts of Indigo Crossing by Minnick & Simpson that I've been collecting for my Farmer's Wife quilt (which I have yet to actually start by the way).  They had already marked these bolts down once, so I called to see if they had placed any of them on the clearance table.  She told me they hadn't, but if I was willing to drive out there, I could have them for 75% off too.  Even though it was a very cold and rainy day, it was enough to push me out the door (and entice a friend to accompany me), because believe it or not, that made the fabric $1.50/yard.  I ended up buying 37.5 yards and between the two of us, we bought everything she had.

I'm not going to keep it all for myself though.  My mom would like some (blue is her favorite color), so we'll split it up between us.  I'm planning to make a king size version of the Farmer's Wife quilt and I had already collected all of the fabric below.  I'm bound to have enough by now!  (Although to be honest, there is one print I don't have that I would still like to get a yard of...)

My previous collection of Indigo Crossing

I've already washed all of the new fabric and it's just waiting for me to bring it upstairs and iron it.  I wonder how long it will take me to iron almost 40 yards of fabric?  Not that it matters.  I kind of enjoy it.

I'm still being tempted by all the other fabric sales going on around town and on the internet, but hopefully this spree will help me to resist them.  I really do need to buckle down and finish my Christmas shopping though.  Is anyone else still struggling with theirs?

Here's another 'Where's my breakfast?' photo of Sam.  She has the grumpy look down pat.  I actually caught her breaking into one of the cat food bags last night.  I've been convinced my husband wasn't closing it correctly, but now we know she's figured out how to knock the bag over, climb on it and use the air pressure in it to pop open the ziploc seal.  Then she eats as much as she wants.  She's a kitty Einstein!

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:7 (NLT)

Temptation...

Note: If you'd like to leave a comment to win the free rulers, go here.  Also I'm out of town this week, so I won't be able to respond to comments until I get back!

I've been trying really hard this year to focus on my UFO's and not to get distracted by new projects.  But boy is it a struggle!  Every time I turn around someone else is starting a new fun/interesting/gorgeous quilt along.

• For example, how about the Scrappy Trip Around the World quilts everyone has been making this year.  I really like both Sherri's version from A Quilting Life and Camille's from Simplify.
• And have you seen the Bee in My Bonnet Row Along by Lori Holt?  When it first started, I wasn't all that tempted (I'm not usually big on row quilts), but as I saw row after row and then saw them put together...  Well, it's just beautiful!  And after such a long, cold winter, it's a breath of fresh air.  I'd love to have made this quilt.  You can find photos of different quilts as well as links to the instructions here.
• As if that weren't enough, the same Lori Holt has now started another quilt along called 'The Quilty Barn Along'.  She's currently on block #3, so it's not too late to catch up!  Each block is a barn with a quilt block on the side of it.  How cute is that!  Just adorable and so very tempting to make!  I'm having a hard time resisting all of these.
• Besides all of the quilt alongs, I'm seeing some gorgeous quilts being made on other blogs.  After visiting Satu's blog Quilttales and seeing her version of 'Milky Way', I must confess I ordered the pattern!  I have no plans to make it this year, but I just love the look of it and would like to eventually make it.

So despite all of this extreme temptation, I've thus far managed to resist starting any new projects.  Sort of.  I did end up purchasing this lovely bundle of Indigo Crossing last week.

I figure this will give me a good start on a Farmer's Wife quilt.  I'm planning to make the king size version (of course).

I'm not really counting this as a new project simply because I've been looking for the right fabric for it for over a year now.  I almost went with American Banner Rose also by Minick & Simpson, but held off on it.  I like Indigo Crossing better, so I'm glad I did!

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm also extremely tempted to make the new Schnibbles selection 'Hat Trick' that Sinta and Sherri have picked for this month.  I'm on the fence about and not sure which direction I'll end up falling.  As I said, so much temptation out there!  Argh!!!

Speaking of temptation, I happened to have a pack of crackers under my sewing table and Sam was having an awful time trying to get them.  It took me a while to figure out why she kept trying to climb under there!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you're enjoying Springtime wherever you are!

Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. 

Psalm 100:2 (NLT)