The Farmer and I

The farmer and I sat down over the weekend and had a nice long heart to heart about our relationship.  I told him I felt like he was dragging me a long on an emotional railroad what with all these ups and downs in our relationship and the hard times we had been facing over the last two weeks or so.

Block # 72 Railroad

He told me not to be such a sour puss and that if I would pay more attention to him instead of silly little things like scrubbing the linoleum we might have a real chance at making a go of it.

Block # 71 Puss in the Corner

Block # 55 Linoleum

 I agreed to try and by the end of the day we had decided it would be best if we did not waste our love.

Block # 30 End of Day

Block # 97 Waste Not

Most of these blocks went together with very few hitches.  Waste Not was made using the templates and overall I am happy with it.  That one point their on the left hand side could stand to be just a little sharper but I'm thinking it will correct itself since it will end up a little bit in the seam allowance anyway.  It's not as sharp as some of the ones I saw that has been paper pieced but I'm pretty happy with it.

I know this post is a few days early but it was such a cute little story I had to go ahead and share it with you all.  Hope you are having a wonderful weekend and I can't wait to see how everyone else is progressing with their farmers.

I'm Moving!

It's decided the Farmer and I just can't play nice together so I'm taking my ball and going home. Back to the city even. No I'm not giving up on this quilt along just yet but this week really has made me doubt my abilities to see this quilt through to the queen size beauty I was imagining. I'm thinking a twin (throw) might be a better goal at this point.

I made this first block up earlier in the week with little to no trouble. I hung it on the wall and I was quite proud of that little block and even went so far as to name it my current favorite. I like that it has some small pieces so it wasn't the easiest block I had made but there is also something about the fabrics in this block that I think just set off the pattern and make it a happy little block.

Block # 12 Broken Sugar Bowl

Later in the week I was consumed by preparing for a yard sale and then a sick puppy. The yard sale went well but who knew it would be so much work. My mom and dad saved the day by bringing up portable shade Friday afternoon which came in handy on Saturday as I tend to get sunburn just from seeing the sun on tv. Still no clarification on what is effecting the bulldog but I've been doing some research online and my best uneducated guess is that it's a mild case of canine drop jaw. The vet has no idea what it could be. This brings me to Sunday when I decided to sew up my second block for this week so that I would have something to tell you guys about today. So here is the story of my EPIC FAIL.



Oops those aren't long enough



I started by selecting Block #88 Star of Hope it looked easy enough and some quick math led me to make 8 1 1/2 inch HST and a 5 1/2 inch square. It made sense at the time but oops those side pieces aren't long enough.

Fail # 2

Rather than scrap the tiny HST I searched through the book and found Block #93 Swallow. Again I did some math cut the remaining pieces and went to work. Maybe I need to take a refresher course in math because clearly this did not work out well either. So I called it a night. Monday night I was determined that I was going to make my second block for this week. I had heard a few times about Lori from Bee in my Bonnet and her tutorials so away I went. I read through all the tutorials made a trip to Office Max to get some graph paper and then got to work on Block #50 Honey's Choice. I drew it all out and figured out how big the pieces needed to be. I realized that I could use those same 1 1/2 inch HST but I was feeling lazy and rather than unpick that seam I just made some more. Everything was moving along smoothly. I realized I made a mistake in cutting my center pieces 1 1/2 by 3 instead of 2 1/2 so just a quick snip to fix the problem. I finished the block and I was pretty happy with how the pinwheels were lined up and then I went to square up the block.

Too Small

Tears were shed and that was the end of the night for me. The block only measures 5 3/4 instead of 6 1/2 like it should. So I am 3/4 of an inch short all the way around. I'm guessing I can take this apart and just cut the middle pieces a little bigger to correct the problem but hey what did I miss? On the graph paper it all lined up correctly. But then again the graph paper is drawn to the finished size of the block and not the unfinished size so maybe those pinwheels were suppose to be 2 3/4 and not 2 1/2? It's all so confusing to me. I wish I knew how to paper piece better so that I could make some of these blocks that way. In the mean time I don't guess I will be taking any more short cuts but rather cutting each and every template.

WIP Wednesday # 9

Well I can't believe it's already Wednesday again.  I haven't had much time to sew as of late with all the stuff going on around here but I did manage to make a small dent in the WIP list this week.  I managed to finish my July blocks for Do.Good Stitches just in time for the end of the month.  Sometimes it is the blocks that look like they are going to be easy to make that leave me frustrated and spending way to much time with my frenemy the seam ripper.  In the Grace circle for July we were asked to make these wonky cross blocks.  Well I don't really like crosses to be wonky so I'm looking at these more as wonky plus sign blocks.  Personal preference.  But boy oh boy did these little buggers put me through the ringer.

Wonky Plus Signs July Grace Circle Do.Good Stitches

I'm still working away on my Farmer's Wife Quilt Along blocks.  I have to say that I am really enjoying this sampler and the skills I am learning and practicing.  I will admit that after seeing Camille's blocks this week two things happened.  (A) I was wishing Ruby was out already.  I mean come on enough with the teasing already.  (B) I found that there is another sampler book based on Civil War love letters.  I mean really love letters, and the calm colors of Ruby.  Yes I'm already plotting adding the book to my Amazon wish list for Christmas.  Can you blame me?

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along Week 10

I managed to get caught up to block 5 on the Summer Sampler Quilt Along.  I know still very far behind but I am really liking the look of these blocks so far.  And goodness you should see some of the suggested blocks popping up in flickr to make in order to increase the size of this quilt.  Some of them are just amazing.

1st 4 Blocks Summer Sampler Quilt Along

I'm adding a new project to the list as well.  After seeing this quilt I knew I had to make one.  In celebration of my promotion (yes I got one, no it doesn't really mean anything) a fat quarter bundle of Joel Dewberry's Heirloom made it's way to my house.  I can't wait to get started on this one.  I picked up Kona Maize, Butter, and Champagne Tuesday during lunch in hopes of getting started but the two yellows aren't right and I can't decide if I like the Champagne or if it just makes the fabrics look dirty.  I really have to love this quilt as I am making it to sit out year round on our couch.  That's the plan anyway.  I wanted something more unexpected than off white but not too dark.  Suggestions?



Head on over to Lee's to see what everyone else is up to!

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along Week 10

So since the farmer and I are still recovering from the bumps in the road last week I decided I better stick with two fairly easy blocks for this week. I didn't really want to mess with templates and since I've already discovered my paper piecing skills leave much to be desired I figured I better do myself a favor and go with easy. I ended up making these two little blocks and the only part that required much thought on my part were the center hourglass blocks. Easy enough, I ended up making them larger than necessary by mistake and then just trimmed them down to the right size. All in all I am happy with the way the blocks look.

Block # 109 Windows

Block # 69 Practical Orchard

I found a little bit of Fresh Cottons online and placed an order for a few pieces to give me a little more room to work with. But I am still very much considering adding in another line as well. I reached out to my good friend Corey because I know she loves Fig Tree as much as I do and I knew she would have some on hand to compare. She suggested mixing in Buttercup as it will add blue to my range as well as some peachy tones of pink. I'm thinking the touch of blue might be just the thing so now I am on the hunt for just a little bit of Buttercup to mix in.

WIP Wednesday #8

I know I missed WIP Wednesday last week but the trouble was I started writing my post and really had nothing to say.  I don't want to become so redundant that you guys stop reading.  Maybe it was because of that I decided I might actually sew something this week.  Trouble is most of my sewing time has been absorbed right now into packing and cleaning time as we get ready to move and with the hubs celebrating his birthday this past weekend family time was pretty much non optional.  So that all equates to not much sewing time.

On the Design Wall:

20 Farmer's Wife Quilt Along Blocks (I'm missing photos of 5 of them)

I did manage to continue progress on my Farmer's Wife Quilt Along despite a few bumps in the road with the farmer.  I currently have 25 blocks done which means I am almost a quarter of the way through this quilt.  It's funny how addictive these little blocks can be.  I love seeing them all together there and am excited at how this quilt is progressing.

Pure Elements

I received this beautiful stack of fabric in the mail from a good friend which gave me the opportunity to start working on the Summer Sampler Quilt Along.  I know I know but really what's one more project.  Since I'm just getting started and the group is already on block 7 with a rate of 3 blocks a week I know I won't be able to get caught up and finish this one along with the group but I'm hoping not to run too far behind schedule.

Block # 1 Star of Virginia

Block # 2 Greek Cross

At the Quilter:
Spring Weekends (I still need to order that thread)
Central Park
Max and Wiskers in Fast Forward

Gathering Dust:
Mod Times Quilt Along Quilt
UNC Quilt for the Hubs

In the Minds Eye:
Anchors Away
Verna Stars
Origins Lattice Quilt
Sunny Trails

I think that's it for me.  Head on over to Lee's to see what everyone else is up to this week.

PS-Is anyone else still having trouble with blogger not letting them leave comments?  I've been locked in a never ending loop of logging in for the last two weeks whenever I try to comment and it's really driving me bonkers.  Suggestions as to how some of you fixed that problem welcome, I don't like not leaving comments almost as much as I don't like getting them.

Edited to Add: Thanks for the tips ladies!  I was able to log out and log back in with out the box checked and it seems to have worked.  So silly how such a little thing can make such a difference.

Farmer's Wife?

Last week I read a funny little blog post about the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along and a trial separation.  I laughed at all the humor of the post and remarked in the comments that I was sure before this was all said and done I was going to be taking my turn at separation little did I know that this week I would move right past that and be at the courthouse with divorce papers in hand.  I want to leave my farmer this week.  It all started harmless enough when I decided I would try and paper piece one of the blocks.  I'm not very good at paper piecing and it's not something I really enjoy.  Of course you normally get all these nice pretty points and beautiful blocks but not me.  I end up with extra fabric in my blocks somehow and everything in reverse.  So I tried to start with what I thought would be an easy enough block and chose square dance.  I mean really how hard could it be it's really just four flying geese and a couple of squares.  I hated it so much I chopped it all up to reuse the fabric without even taking a picture.  My points we all cut off and I hated it.

Next I tried using the templates again.  Once more I started with an easy block because the farmer and I were already on the rocks and it was the hubs birthday so I didn't have a ton of sewing time.  This time as I was trimming up the block I cut too much off one side and now that block in 1/4 inch too small.  Not a good thing for this farmer and me.

I did finally manage to sew up a few blocks with little incident so I have something worth while to show you.  So here they are my week 9 blocks.

Block # 48 Homeward Bound

 For Homeward Bound I did change this block a little bit since I was making it without the templates.  Those 2 1/2 inch squares in the corners are tiny 4 patches in the original block but since 3 of the squares are the same fabric I just sewed two small squares together and then cut a 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch strip for the other side.  Does that make sense?

Block # 62 Old Windmill

 

Block # 70 Prairie Queen

I know I'm not going to have enough Fresh Cottons to make all of the blocks and sashing for this quilt so I am debating adding another Fig Tree line to my blocks.  If anyone has suggestions of which line you think will blend nicely with Fresh Cottons let me know because I am open to suggestion.  Since this is such a long term project I'm thinking I need to find something a little newer since Fresh Cottons is already proving difficult to find.

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along Week 8

Week 8 Group Shot

I don't know about you but my fields could use some extra water this week.  I only managed to sew up three blocks worth reporting on.  I sewed one more but it turned out a smidgen too small again.  I was having a lot of trouble with my blocks coming out just a little short of the 6.5 inch block when I used the templates.  Moving to a scant 1/4 inch seemed to help but then after making another block this weekend which came out short even with the scant 1/4 inch seam I went back to the discussion boards.  I thought my printer was printing correctly since my square templates were all printing at the correct sizes.  Turns out it was shrinking them down after all.  Once I discovered that I made up two more blocks using templates and they turned out fine.  My total block count right now is 22 done.  But I am considering remaking 2 of them to make them a perfect 6.5 inches and 2 more blocks are in the running to be remade because I used a solid in them.  I can't decided if I should remake them or just mix in the solid to more blocks going forward so that they will all blend together.  It's just some Kona Snow and it looks fine with the fabrics.

Block # 15 Buzzard's Roost

Block # 20 Churn Dash

Block # 39 Friendship

And just for fun I would love if someone could tell me the difference between Block # 20 the Churn Dash and block # 111 Wrench.  I swear to you I don't see a difference at all.  I thought this was amusing because she mentions needing one more block and not wanting to pick a favorite to have a duplicate of.  I guess subconsciously maybe Churn Dash was her favorite.