A day for getting things done

Today so far has been a day for getting things done.  A great big hurray!!!  I finished quilting my big queen sized log cabin quilt!!!  Pictures will follow once I finish the binding.  I made the binding and sewed it on by machine.  Now I need to tack it down by hand.  I am really so excited about this finish. I haven't finished a quilt of my own for a very long time.  My daughter is excited too, because now I can start quilting her quilt.

As I had the walking foot on the machine from sewing the binding on, I decided to finally finish the remaining pot holders that I started a little while ago.  They turned out good.

Later after I make lunch, I am thinking of sitting down and tacking down the binding of the 3D pinwheels quilt.  The baby shower is coming up shortly.  Can't show up with an unfinished present.

Happy thoughts to everyone on this cloudy day.

Working on quilting my Log Cabin quilt

Today I am working on quilting my Log Cabin quilt.  It's going great so far.  I have all the dark halves done and I have just over half of the light halves done.  I'm liking it so far.

For the dark side, I've decided to go simple with straight lines following each log.  I also decided to do the light side simple, but this time with all curvy lines.  I am quilting daisies and a vine to connect them to each other.

The daisy design is called Tropical Vine Bdr. by Laura Estes in 3 1/2" size.  I like it.  As I did the dark with lines, it is making the light side stand out so much.  I used a light taupe coloured thread so that it would blend with both the dark and light side, as well as the backing which is beige.

I am taking a short tea break, and I'll be back to it.  I am trying very hard to get this one completely done today.  What are the chances?  Don't know but I will give it a good shot.

I have my daughter's grey backing fabric in the washer now for her 16 patch pinwheel quilt.  I need to pin it and start sewing in the ditch to secure it.  She is still trying to finalize her choice for the quilting designs.

Stars lap quilt

I found another quilt I made.  I had forgotten about this one.  It sits on the back of my chair in my guest room/sitting room.  I sit in this chair often while I do my handwork.  The reason I forgot about it is that I my Sewing Machine Appliqué wall hanging that I am working on, is draped over top of this quilt.  I haven't worked on the wall hanging since....well I don't know how long, but a very long time. I think it hasn't been since before last summer when I received a couple of boxes to sort out and make or quilt some quilts.

This quilt was started back in Jan/05 and was finished in Dec/10.  This quilt was something that got started from the sample squares mail out.

There used to be a store in St. Jacobs, Ontario that you could sign up to receive a 2 1/2" square from each of the fabrics they got in during the month. Some of them came to me by mail each month.  Maybe about a year into it, the store announced that they were closing.  They had a big going out of business sale.

That's when I picked up some more packages of these muddied greens, browns, blacks, reds and some blues.  I rounded out the squares with some fat quarters that I picked up at Quilter's Fancy and started making the quilt.  The start date is from the time I started collecting the fabric, until I finished quilting the quilt.

I like how the blocks go right into the border and the middle of the quilt seems to float on the border. I used a autumn themed flannel black fabric for the backing.  Below is a picture of a close up.  On the right is the black border fabric. 

This was an easy quilt to make.  I figure I may make it again, this time with brighter colours.  The lap size quilt is a great size for give away quilts.

I will have to do some more thinking.  Maybe I have a couple of other quilts hiding around that I forgot about, though I doubt it.

My version of The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt, block [22]

Last month is when I actually decided to get back into making these Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks.  This first attempt back did not go so well.  My block was [22] called Corn & Beans.  Now if your not a quilter, you may not know that some squares, especially the blocks with a lot of small pieces and even the ones with a lot of half square triangles, can be tricky.

With these blocks it is especially important to make sure your pieces are precise and your 1/4" seam is a 1/4".  If you are off even just a 1/16" it will make the difference between a successful block or a frustrating mess.  If you are off by only 1/16", compounded by the many pieces means that somewhere along the way the pieces will not fit.

I started making this block.  I had all my pieces cut out and laid out in order for piecing.  Well I started with the middle, which turned out good.  I started on the half square triangles.  That is where I ran into trouble.  I had the centre pieces together and tried to put them onto the middle piece, but it just wouldn't work.

Well I am back today to give it another try.  All of the half square triangles were off only 1/16" and that equated to being 1/2" off when I tried to put the large line onto the middle piece.  So, now I recut the pieces, or most of them anyways.  My eyes are starting to cross though, so I will have to finish this maybe tomorrow.

The pieces at the bottom of the above picture are the error pieces.  I will just use them in a scrappy quilt.  Until next time, enjoy yourself.

My version of The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt, block [51]

There are a bunch of books and clubs out there that provide multitude of blocks from the public domain to create a quilt.  The two I know off hand are the Dear Jane quilt and The Farmer's Wife Sampler quilt.  The theme is to challenge yourself by making all the blocks, of various skill levels.  Most are pieced, but some are appliqué.  The Dear Jane blocks are 4.5", which finish at 4".  At the time that I saw this club for the first time I thought, these people are insane!  Now it doesn't faze me. 

In the middle somewhere, I came across The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book.  These blocks are 6.5", which finish at 6".  I thought ok, this is more reasonable.  There are still some pretty small pieces in some of the blocks, but still more reasonable than the 4" blocks.  So, I bought the book and started making some of the blocks.  I didn't want to make all the blocks and I didn't want to duplicate the quilt on the cover.  I just wanted to get my hands working with all these small blocks and see what all the hype was about.

It is quite nice when you can finish a small block with all the small pieces.  Some of them are very challenging.  The book gives you the picture of what you have to make and the pieces you will find on the CD.  But you have to be able to translate the picture into a block, because they don't give you any further directions on how to construct the block.

There are 111 blocks in the book.  For the design that I have come up with, I needed 52 blocks.  I went through the book and decided which blocks I wanted to do.  I wrote them on a paper and put them in a jar.  Each time I wanted to make a block, one of my kids would pull a tag out and I would make it.  A while ago it ended up being put aside for other deadlines.

I little while ago I decided I wanted to finish this quilt, so I set a reminder on my tablet, for once a month on the second weekend of the month, to complete a Farmer's Wife block.  I started this quilt in Nov/2012, and for a while I was regularly making these blocks.  At this point I had made 39 blocks, leaving only 13 more to make.  That is 75% of the block made already. Yay!!!

Yesterday, I got the reminder and pulled out a tag. Block 51 is what came out.  This is one of the more simple blocks.  In the book it is called Hovering Birds.  Keep in mind that older blocks can go by numerous names depending on the area that I came from.

This is my version of The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt, block [51].  I made this one low contrast in colour.  All of my blocks are being made in old civil war type fabrics.  I haven't made a quilt in this look yet.  For my design, each of my blocks is going to be surrounded by a dark brown border.

I will show you the design in another post down the road.  This month I finished my block.  One done, now 12 more to go.  Maybe later I can show you some of the 39 blocks I already made.

Enjoy your evening everyone.

Second part of Tiny Town block three done

The second part of Tiny Town block three is done.  I just finished all the hand embroidery on the bird cage.  It doesn't look like much but it took me all morning to complete it.  Later, I will put the mail box block and this bird cage block together. 

Next, I will tackle the last part of block three.  This one has Sun Bonnet Sue and her dog.  This section goes below the mail boxes.  Once I am done this section I can basically put together the top 1/3 of the quilt, as I will have blocks one, two and three done.

So far, I am on schedule in meeting the deadline for our next class.  After this block, I have three sections for the seventh block to do.  As you can tell we are not doing them in order.  As per the instructor, there is no particular reason why. Just because she wants to do them this way.  I think it is so people cannot get too far ahead, to keep everyone working at the same stage.

Tiny Town progress on block three

Tiny Town progress on block three.  I have been working on my block whenever time would allow.  Who knew it would take this long to do three simple mail boxes.  I certainly didn't, but again I didn't know it was going to get this crazy busy at work either.  I'm not complaining mind you, because this business keeps me in my job.

I'm reminded that this business may continue on until the fall, so I'll let you know now that my posts may come in drips and drabs.  When I am not at working, taking care of the family or doing my hand work, I am still working on quilting my Log Cabin quilt.  That will take some time still, but it is looking very nice so far.  The Log Cabin quilt is going to be for hubby's and my bed.  I am not letting anyone talk me out of keeping this quilt.  I really like it and I think it will make a nice autumn quilt.

Until next post, enjoy the beautiful weather and spending time with your family.