My traveling project

We have been helping to take care of my husbands grandparents. On Sunday's we travel to their house. While my husband takes pop grocery shopping, I stay with Nan. I do a quick cleaning, its easier without the guys and then I sit down with nan.


Our conversations go like this:
Nan: What are you doing?
Me: I am taking perfectly good fabric cutting it into smaller pieces and sewing it back to together again.
Nan: That's stupid!
Me: (She has dementia, so I take this with a grain of salt) I proceed to show her one of the completed blocks.
Nan: That's crazy!

In a way this quilt has been crazy. There are no real big instructions and the whole process takes a lot of time. No rotary cutting here!

My process was this. I would trace the templates on to the fabric, cut and place my pieces in a labeled envelope. I would maybe get one or two done while talking with Nan.

On Monday, I would sit down at my sewing machine and sew a couple of blocks together.

It was like working on a puzzle. I would sit with the book and my pieces and match everything up.

Often my seam ripper was my best companion during this process. Over the months my pile of blocks grew. And it was finally time to put the whole thing together.

 This is the helper who may have been a quilter in a past life. If there is fabric involved she is right there.

I just couldn't resist laying the top on my bed when it was complete. I felt completely crazy during the process at points. But the reality is that it was all worth while. Now on to the hand quilting. My patience should be really built up after this project.

 Will I take on another tedious project like this... hmm, ABSOLUTELY!!! Just give me a week or two, I'll be dreaming up something.

Linking up with Crazy Mom quilts for a Friday finish.

FWQAL- Week 8

Lately I have seen bow tie's all over the blogsphere. They seem to be the new hot thing for summer. So I made one too, for my FWQAL of course!  I can see how this block can become addicting. Simple yet stunning, there is alot to like about that combination. But I'm going to just stick to this one. At least for now.

Block 10- Bowtie

Block 70- Prairie Queen

Sometimes's it's hard to resist the urges of the internet. There is so many good projects out there.

Block 98- Waterwheel

Do you feel the tempation to start something new? Even if you do have plenty to finish first.

Is it because of something you seen, or just because you feel the need?

Block 93- Swallow

Personally I have somethings on my creative wish list that is stronger than the desire for chocolate. That means something right there, because sweets are one of my weaknesses. With this in mind, I would love to know what creative thing is temping you? 

Summer Bug & FWQAL week 7

I was going about summer in my usual fashion, each day there was plenty to do.
The garden has and still is abundant in cucumbers. More than we can eat each week. So I made some bread and butter pickles.

Each of the boys have had doctor's appointment's, so we have spent plenty of time in waiting rooms. They are two healthy boys, or they should be after these appointments.

I managed to make 2 blocks for the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along. This seems to be the only quilting I manage to get done these days, and even this seems a challenge.

Block 84- Spool

How is it when there is more time to be had, I still can't seem as productive as when I have less time?

Block 91- Strawberry Basket

Anyway when I was busy doing all of these things, I got a bug bite. It got red circle and  I ignored it. Then it caught up with me in a big way. I started to run a temperature of 101.5. Once I got to this point I was getting nothing accomplished. It took everything I had to make through the doctor's appointment. There is a possibility it could be Lyme's disease, or just a really bad sinus infection, or both. As of right now I'm on a great antibiotic that should knock it Out!

I sure hope this summer time bug never bites you!

FWQAL Week 5

When I first started this I was being really confident with adding colors together. As I go along, I'm becoming more predicable. Like this one here. In my mind I thought the colors would pop. Reality is it all blends together. I thought about pulling it apart and starting over. I just didn't have the desire, maybe later.

Block 32- Farmer's Daughter

Now this block could be one of my favorites. I think that I'm just drawn to the orange. How could someone not be happy around a color like that?

Block 28- Cut glass dish

Because I missed last week I decided to make 4 blocks this week.

Block 20- Churn Dash

Do you see what I see? It's a mistake. Two of the birds are flying the wrong direction. Must have forgotten something. Maybe I'll tear it apart one day or keep it just for honesty and giggles.

Block 7- Birds in the Air

Sometimes it hard to see how something will come together, especially  since I am trying to break out of my traditional color pattern. I tested all of the blocks out together on the design door. It gave me a lot more confidence to see it this way. What do you think?

Week 3- FWQAL

This week seems to have flown by. Suppose that happens when you’re having fun, or installing ceiling fans. But really I can't believe its Friday all ready when did that sneak up. This week late last night, I did manage to get done two of my blocks for the farmer's wife quilt along. This week with things being busy, I am thankful for the quilt along to keep me on track. Sometimes it's good to be accountable to someone or something. The group over at Flicker is now 327 strong, Wow!


A big Thanks goes to Happy Zombie, for a blog button.

As for this time I used some fabric in my stash that seemed to go along with the color scheme. I'm not really sure if it is part of a collection or not. Just that for my purposes, it works. Today that's all that matters.

Block 72- Railroad

I also tried a more complicated block, something that I needed to print a new template for. Let me just say that these little half squares are only an inch and a half. I think this was my first experiment with teeny.

Block 38- Four Winds

As for the weekend, I have so much more I want to accomplish. There is quilting, lawn mowing, sewing, fishing with boys, quilting, laundry, sewing...maybe a drive in movie with friends? And we can't really forget that it's Father's Day this weekend. What are your weekend plans?

Week 2 - FWQAL

On Wednesday Angela from Fussy Cuts blogged about week two of the FWQAL, you can find her post here. We talked by email and she was absolutely wonderful  and welcoming about joining in with the group. No standing on the sidelines of the playground with this.

So with her lead I'm following up to show you what I have done this week.  I was able to make three blocks, your really only asked to do two. But sometimes you just have to go with it.

Block 9- Box

In case you notice, the center square is pieced. I started this using a charm pack, and I'm trying to use and stretch every little bit.

Block 21- Contrary Wife

I've been working through based on the templates that I allready have printed out. That is the one issue that has frustrated me up to this point. Each template is on a seperate piece of paper, so 116 templates/pages. This seems like such a waste of paper. Surely there must be a better way. I'm putting figuring that out on my to do list.

Block 41- Friendship Star

  Seeing how I started all of this with two charm packs. I am definately going to need to order more. Now comes the hard decision. Do I stay with these two fabric lines or should I go completely scrapy and add more and different bright fabrics?

For now it's time for a refreshing glass of iced tea, and a lawn chair. May you have a fabulous weekend.

In the knick of time

For the past couple of weeks I have been working on a quilt for my son. Even though I really, really wanted to make him a quilt. I was struggling with the fact that I put the things I wanted to do on hold. Typical mom situation right.

Block 1-Attic Windows

I wasn't working on the quilt blocks that I promised myself. I had stalled out and started something new, and there was some serious guilt there. I mean after all you would think that I would be able to at least manage a block or two, they finish small. Why not fit in that little thing for me?

Block 2- Autumn Tints

But just when I needed it, blogging came to my rescue with a Quilt Along. Check out more here: Farmer's Wife QAL The best part is that I found it while still in the first week, which means for once I'm ahead of the game, okay, okay!  maybe just on time- remember I'm just a human behind this computer screen.

Block 16- Calico Puzzle

Block 34- Flock

So here is what I have at this point, 9 blocks made out of Deb Strain's fabric "Fresh Flowers" and Riley Blakes fabric.

Block 35- Flower Basket (still needs a handle)

I also have added a list to my sidebar. So when I get one completed. I'll add it there too.

Block 39 - Friendship

Block 61- Northern Lights

Block 62- Old Windmill

Anyway it has given me a renewed sense of vigor, pisazzz, pop! Wish me luck! or better yet, come join in too.

Block 102- Whirlpool
I may go back and fix that one triangle point.

A farmer's wife

A farmer's wife, I am not! For we do not have acre's of land, or large amounts of animals. Although there is chicken's out in the yard, and seeds started on the windowsill.

I think I like the idea of being a farmer's wife more than I would like the reality. Especially as this past week I have spent more time with my tissue box than anyone else.

Thankyou weeping cherry tree. Your bloosms are beautiful. But you reak havoc on my sinuses!

 Anyway I have decided to start a new project. A sampler quilt from : "The Farmer's Wife"

The blocks finish at 6" so it's a nice little project to work on for a while. I do have a few complaints about the book. But I will share those for another day. At this point I have 5 blocks done out of 111, so I may be at this for a while. But if you look at mine. You will see a huge difference.

They are bright and colorful. They are more representative of me, a rural/suburban wife, a happy go lucky wife,maybe today!  an urban ... humm, I guess there really isn't a good classification for me and my life. Maybe that's why it's called a sampler?