Some Farming

I am happy to report that I did some farming this week. By farming, of course, I am referring to working on the Farmer's Wife quilt as party of the Farmer's Wife Quilt-a-long that is being hosted by fellow blogger Angela @ Fussy Cut and one of her friends. I am so far behind it is almost overwhelming to think about, so I am not going to think about that anymore. I am just going to chug along at my own little slug pace over here. 

For those of you who are new to the blog, I am participating the the Farmer's Wife Quilt-a-long. You can check out my initial blog posts on the whole QAL here and here.

This weekend I worked on block no.12 - Broken Sugar Bowl!

 

As noted in my previous posts, I am working up these Farmer's Wife blocks exclusively in Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush, Loulouthi and solids. 

I swear, the most TEDIOUS part if this whole process is cutting out all of that fabric. Does anyone else find it almost unbearable??? I actually cut these out like months ago, when I had some free time, and then whipped up the block in less than an hour. If only the entire project came pre-cut, that would be a DREAM. But then again, it's not about the destination, it's about the journey bla bla bla.

I was proud of myself, because when making this block I did some string piecing for the first time. It was sooo easy and just totally made sense. Can we say that's one knocked off the bucket list? I am trying to learn as many useful and time-saving techniques as possible and this was definitely one of them!

Too see all of my completed projects, food, etc. check out my flicker account as well as the "Finished Projects" page here on my blog. 

Here is a shot of all the Farmer's Wife QAL blocks that I have finished so far! I like some of them better than others, but I think that's just how it goes. Anyone out there have a favorite???

HOLLER!

Try, Try Again

Reluctantly, I tried this block again. There was no way that I was going to cut all those pieces again, so I ripped apart the entire block and re-did it. 
 
I am not entirely happy with how it turned out. All of these triangles were wicked tough for me. Some of my points look alright, but then I look at all of the mess-ups. Oh well. Looks like I will have A LOT of practice with triangles while working on this quilt-a-long.

AND I absolutely love the color combination. I want to do an entire quilt with this deep tealy blue and olive-ish green.

I do really like how all of my blocks are coming along. The only one I really don't care for is the Block #1 Attic Window. It is the block on the far left corner there. Yellow middle. 




About once a week we have a big Caesar salad with grilled chicken and croutons for dinner. I think that it's my favorite meal. Take a look at our homemade croutons.

Just another looksie --

Check out my flickr photos for more Farmer's Wife Quilt-a-long photos.

Holler!

Block #7 Birds in the Air?

I started working on block number 7, Birds in the Air.

 

 (Fabric: LouLouthi and Anna Maria Horner solids)

Holy CRAP were there a lot of pieces to cut out. I think that there were 40 pieces in total. Phew.

Started piecing:

All done piecing, almost!  Doesn't that look fantastic? I am really digging this color combo.

And then....oh no! What happened here? Why are my #8 templates so much smaller than my pieced #13's? AHH.

Does anyone know the answer? I mean, I meticulously pieced this baby. I used my 1/4 inch foot and still measured seams to make sure that I was in line. Boo.

Also, see the picture above? Umm... yeah.... apparently my tension was WAYYYYYYYY off while piecing this entire block. I may have to scrap it entirely and start all over. I really do not want to do that because cutting all of those templates out was not exactly enjoyable.

Anyone else have this issue? Any suggestions?

Holler!

FWQAL Block #6 Big Dipper

Here is the second installment of my Farmer's Wife Quilt-a-long blocks for Week 3. I hope you enjoyed the Bat Wing block from yesterday.

Block #6 is the Big Dipper block:

Here are the fabrics I chose. I am still second-guessing myself:

 

I only needed one template for this baby, but boy did it get a lot of use. I needed to cut out 16 of the same pieces:

Here are all of the pieces laid out and ready to go:
 

 Here is the block! Overall, it went together pretty easily. Although they call this block the Big Dipper block, it is an hourglass block pattern and I LOVE IT!
 

Here are my week 3 blocks:

Here are all of my blocks so far from weeks 1 thru 3:

 You can see all of my progress thus far at my flickr account.

Have a great weekend!

xoxo

FWQAL Block #5 Bat Wing

I just finished up week 3 of the Farmer's Wife Quilt-a-long and I am loving it. Well, not all of it. Cutting out all of those templates are pretty brutal!

 

Here is the page from the book:

I decided to use these fabrics. The print is an Anna Maria Horner print from her Innocent Crush line and the solid is one of her AMAZING solids:

 

Here are the the templates that I had to cut out:

Here are the pieces, all cut and ready to go!:

This block was super easy to sew together and I think that it came out pretty accurately:

 

See all of my Farmer's Wife Quilt-a-long progress at my flickr account.

xoxo

FWQAL Block #1 Attic Window

I finally got my hands on my book and all of my fabrics and got going on this quilt. I am so excited!

I am going in the order that the blocks are in the book, therefore I started with Block #1 called Attic Window.

I had to cut out all of the templates. I did this onto old folders. 

Here is the block all put together! I quickly realized that I do need to be a bit more precise with my cutting next time:

Nothing a little trimming can't take care of. I trimmed up this block to measure 6.5 x 6.5. I think that I really like it:

What do you think? Am I on the right track?

Check out my Farmer's Wife QAL pictures here.

xoxo

Farmer's Wife Quilt Fabrics

I came home from work last night to find a package from Hawthorne Threads waiting at my doorstep! Yess! I ordered prints from Anna Maria Horner's new LouLouthi line to base my Farmer's Wife Quilt on. I am so excited, these prints are fantastic!

Opening the package...

Showing off the fabric:

 (Do all cats want to sit on everything you own?)

 (Don't these fabrics look juicy???)

The fabrics I am using from the Innocent Crush line:

Then I decided to play around with some fabric combos. Keep in mind that I still have the solids from AMH that I ordered to compliment these prints... 

WOOOHOOO! I cannot wait to get started. I am just waiting on my book and some solids and I will get going soon! The book should arrive by June 25th (ahh!) so stay tuned!

I just thought that I'd give you a little peak into our garden pickings this morning....mmmmmmmmm!
 

 

xoxox