WIP Wednesday-Down on the Farm

The first 55 blocks for the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along

After having the cold that kicked my butt for almost 2 weeks straight (made me lose my voice and everything) I finally felt like sewing this past weekend.  But the only thing I managed to work on was my Farmer's Wife Quilt Along project.  I had gotten a little behind on these blocks and then the group decide to take a break over the holidays.  I imagined I would get caught up during that time but instead I worked on other projects and so with the group kicking it back into gear today I felt the pressure to use this weekends sewing time to get caught up.  Get ready for some pictures in no particular order.

Block # 25 Cups & Saucers

Block #56 Maple Leaf

Block #51 Hovering Birds

Block # 2 Autumn Tints

Block #103 Whirlwind

Block #107 Windblown Square

Block # 23 Country Farm

Block #98 Waterwheel

Block #108 Windmill

Block #73 Rainbow Flowers

Block #111 Wrench

Block #29 Economy

Block # 1 Attic Windows

Block #83 Spider Web

Block #31 Evening Star

 Yup I made all but three of those on Saturday and Sunday.  One of the blocks (Windmill) was done but it had a block turned the wrong way.  Turns out I had to rip out like 7 seems on Sunday to fix it but now it's made the right way.  The other two blocks (Maple Leaf & Hovering Birds) I sewed together Tuesday night.  I had cut out all the pieces for Hovering Birds in between commercials on Sunday (you know the real reason to watch that thing called the Super Bowl).

Be sure to head over to Lee's and check out what everyone else is up to this week. 

WIP Wednesday #10

I haven't been spending much time in the sewing room lately.  It just seems as though there are a million things competing for my time and attention.  This weekend I got to experience what it was like to have a hot water heater dump itself in my laundry room/pantry floor.  Luckily there was no damage other than the tank that had to be replaced.  Which was a two day very expensive venture but in the end it turned out just fine but left little time for sewing.  Here's a look at what's going on in my sewing space.

I'm working on this quilt still for my mother's Christmas present.  She knows I am making it so that's not a surprise but unfortunately I can't share more details because I really don't want her to know much more than that.  Luckily for me I previously gave her a few options for the layout but she doesn't remember which one she picked so that should amp up the surprise factor just a little bit.

I'm still married, to the farmer that is.  We haven't been spending a lot of time together lately but I'm hoping to make up for my neglect in farm wife duties this week by making a few extra blocks.  Last week I only made one new block and then I took Whirlwind apart for the umpteenth time because my mom pointed out one of the squares was turned the wrong way.  I still can't believe no one else here or on flickr pointed it out to me.

Do you see it now?

I wish I would have used fabrics with more contrast here.

And then of course I am still debating joining in on the dead simple quilt along.  I thought I knew what palette I was leaning towards until I saw another picture on Corey's blog today of her fabrics and her palette.  I'm going to try and only work with materials from my stash and since that is incredibly lacking in solids and diversity at the moment I may need to rethink the palettes all together and go with what I know.

After seeing this bag this week I have ideas to make one of my own.  I have a Fossil Bag that I LOVE that my brother and sister in law gave me last year for Christmas.  I'm thinking a mix of the quilted solid and corduroy for the top and straps will be just dreamy.  Do any of you have a bag pattern that you just love?  I'd like to avoid zippers because well I'm lazy and I don't know how they work.  Someday maybe I'll tackle them.  And I need a large size bag because I'm always carrying around a ton of stuff.

 Check out what everyone else is up to by stopping by Lee's.

One Block

The farmer and I aren't fighting much lately.  In fact we haven't really seen that much of each other.  Between a storm that was a brewing (Irene) a vacation with my real hubs and all the preparation that went into those two things I haven't been making much time for the farmer.  I gave myself a pass for the last two weeks because I knew I had made extra blocks early on and that I wouldn't really fall behind if I allowed myself a break from the Farmer for a little while.  I must admit I didn't plan to take two weeks off or that now approaching the third week I would have still only made one block within the last three weeks.  And actually I made this block while Irene was gusting outside of my sewing room window before the power started to surge and I was afraid something awful would happen to Bertha.

Block # 103 Whirlwind

This block was simple enough to make but I'm still unhappy with the way a few of my points line up.  You know that feeling when you think that could be a little better but you take it apart and do it again and it's almost worse.  Well every time I took this one apart (I lost track after the third time) it got a little more off than the time before so finally I decided to leave well enough alone for now.  I still may go back and remake this one before putting the final quilt together.  I'm not sure what blocks I want to work on next so I am hoping a little inspiration will strike me this week.