Farmer's Wife 1930's QAL: Mrs. Lloyd

Kerry of verykerryberry is smart and knows I have a little thing for samplers.  My first Farmer's Wife quilt (based on letters from the 1920's) is still in the hand quilting process.  My Farmer's Wife Pony Club blocks should make an appearance on my sewing table again soon, and just this last week I worked on my Gypsy Wife Sampler.  How could I ever resist the 1930's Farmer's Wife book?  Obviously I could not.

Jay McCarrol's Habitat City Planning in teal

Michael Miller Cotton Couture in Jewel and Paprika.

Kerry asked me to post my version of a block last February.  At that time, I decided to make this quilt with vivid color in a single value.  After making that first block, I pored over my stash to find prints from my stash that could work.  Then I dug through my solids color cards for Kona and Michael Miller Cotton Couture and ordered all of the vivid solids in that value. 

At the DCMQG guild meeting this weekend I cut and pieced a few different sampler blocks. 

 My first version of Mrs. Lloyd

 Jenny

 Aunt

Caroline

For the Mrs. Lloyd block, I didn't do anything fancy with the piecing.  I measured the templates to cut the squares and pieced them.  For the flying geese portions of the block I used the rectangle and two squares method to make them.  I did use a lot of starch because starch is my best friend when it comes to precision piecing.  As I mentioned in previous posts, Michael Miller Cotton Couture and starch don't always get along.  I used a liberal amount of liquid starch on the fabrics before cutting.  Then after piecing I only used a spray bottle with a mix of vodka water to get crisp pressing of seams.

It turns out that I'm not loving the single value and vivid color look in fabric combinations other than my original three.  I'm not sure why. 

Some experiments are good to stick with and follow through to the end.  And some are not.  I remade the Mrs. Lloyd block with my original fabrics. Now I'm changing my sampler plan to using only three fabrics. (!!!)  If you know me at all, limiting my palette to three is crazy hard.  I think this could be a fun new experiment.  Eventually I hope to share more about it here.

If you haven't started the Farmer's Wife 1930's Quilt Along, join in now!  I only have two blocks done so it won't take long to catch up to me!  Don't forget to tag your Farmer's Wife blocks on Instagram with the hashtag #fw1930sqal, and tell me about your sewing experiments in the comments. 

Farmer's Wife 1930's QAL: Grandma

Kerry of verykerryberry knows my weakness for samplers.  My first Farmer's Wife quilt (based on letters from the 1920's) is still in the hand quilting process.  My Farmer's Wife Pony Club blocks are packed for our move later this month, as is my in-process Gypsy Wife Sampler.  So, why not start a new sampler?

Last summer, Kerry was kind enough to invite me to blog for her quilt along.  She started sewing and blogging her blocks in September.  For five whole months, I've been meaning to join in, but I was stuck on a fabric theme.  Soooooo stuck, epic, quicksand stuck.  What would make this sampler new for me?

I finally figured it out four stinkin' days ago.  Based on an inspiring instagram photo from Monica of mountainofthedragon,  I decided to use vivid colors with very little value difference.

Jay McCarrol's Habitat City Planning in teal

Michael Miller Cotton Couture in Jewel and Paprika.

Value is determined by how light or dark a color is in grayscale--baby blue vs. navy, pink vs. burgundy, peach vs. dark orange.  When there are many colors in a quilt, you can look at a black and white picture of the fabrics to help determine if you need more value changes in your fabric selection.  In my sewing, I tend to choose a lot of medium value fabrics and need to push myself to add lights and darks.  In sampler blocks, it is generally accepted that using a mix of light, medium and dark fabrics helps highlight the piecing and design of the blocks.

This time, I decided to ignore that advice and am using a single value.  I'm really excited about this experiment. Check out this black and white picture of the three fabrics I chose for this block:

I have a thing for starch in my sampler blocks.  Frequent starching allowed me to use templates to piece nearly all of my first Farmer's Wife quilt blocks.  Some previous FW and Pony Club blocks were so stiff they could nearly stand on edge.  However, I have found that the Michael Miller Cotton Couture does not play nicely with repeated starching when pressing.  The fabric is fine and smooth, doesn't accept starch well and tends to bubble up along seam lines.  I decided to starch my fabrics just once and then paper piece this block.  That allowed the fabric to play nicely yet gave me a smooth finished block

I precut my fabrics for paper piecing by tracing the triangles a little bit bigger and then measuring the bigger size square to cut them from.  I colored the paper piecing directions, too.  It's a good thing I did because I still had to start over with section A once and B twice!  I guess I'm out of practice with paper piecing. 

So, this first 1930's Farmer's Wife block was a long time coming, but I think it was worth the wait.

Tag your Farmer's Wife blocks on Instagram with the hashtag #fw1930sqal, and tell me about your sewing adventures in value in the comments. 

For Pink Sakes

I am participating in the For Pink Sakes Blog Hop hosted by Anna of Life Sew Crafty.  Anna is collecting pink blocks to make a breast cancer quilt.  Her mother-in-law has been fighting breast cancer and she has more information about that here.



For my block, I used the bra block pattern at Paper Panache.  I just fell in love with the duck and duckling fabric and now I wish that I had a bra like this.  Unfortunately, a bra made out of quilting cotton would probably be uncomfortable...

If YOU would like to contribute a pink block to Anna's quilt, please find more information on her blog.  Anna will also be hosting a giveaway on August 2 for anyone who has participated by reposting, sending a pink block, contributions, etc.  The giveaway items are pretty cool, so click through on this link and consider pitching in.

Now go check out the other bloggers on the blog hop!

May 10
Anna of Life Sew Crafty
Sarah of Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Robin  Miscellaneous Thoughts
Kathy of Kwilty Pleasures

May 24
Jess of Quilty Habit
Melinda of quirky granola girl
Kristyn of Melon Patch Quilts

June 7
Amy of The  Calico Cat
Leanne of Devoted Quilter
Terrie of Quilting Nonnie

June 21
Carla of modern bias
Meli of Munchkin Quilts
Stacey of The Tilted Quilt
Julie of The Crafty Quilter 

July 5
Erin of Sew at Home Mummy
Lyanna of Blue Striped Room
Heather of Quilts in the Queue 

July 19
Katie of Swim Bike Quilt
Sarah of {no} hats in the house
Katie of Snuggle Up with a Dish from Karma

The last few Farmers Wife blocks

I finally returned to my Farmers Wife quilt.  I had a few more blocks to remake and most of them were paper pieced, so I stalled for a long long time. 

The yellow in the chicken fabric above just didn't work with the other colors in the quilt.  At first I thought I could calm the yellow with a blue, but that didn't work, then I tried a different blue floral with the red plaid below and that didn't work either.  Thankfully this block is not paper pieced because 4 tries was bad enough. 

I definitely had to paper piece the flower garden path block.  I kept the same fabrics, but this time the block didn't end up as a rectangle with wonky center points. 

I lost a number of the triangle points on the corn and beans block above.  The background gray didn't work with my chosen sashing either.  Even with paper piecing, the seams in the block below are thick so the block doesn't lie perfectly, but it will have to do. 

For my first version of the garden path block, I thought that the yellow fabric was far too prominent and the other fabrics were too tropical.  I like the second version much much better. 

And, lastly, I made this paper pieced version of the spider legs block.  I didn't even try to make this one with the templates so it is the first try for this bock.  I love the purple and peach combination.

I have the quilt top pieced together, but it needs a lot of pressing before I try to take any pictures, so you'll have to wait a few days.

Miscellany

I'm getting caught up in Ringo Pie bee blocks.  This one is for Charise's Paris theme.

This one is for Marit in Ringo Pie with her butterfly theme. (Inspired by Anna at Life Sew Crafty)

I took a picture of the bee blocks I've received from my Ringo Pie bee friends.  I feel like the luckiest girl in the world!  These will end up in a very special quilt for Henry. (Blocks left to right starting with the top row are by Amber, Penny, Leila, Charise, Anna and Kerry)

And, lastly, here is a picture of Charise and me from my recent visit to Seattle.  It was so much fun to hand off her block in person and it was even more fun to go fabric shopping with her.   I guess I have no shame when it comes to fabric.  I bought 48 fabric cuts!  Thank goodness that a lot of those were 1/4 and 1/8 yard cuts.  

So, there is a lot of little bits of progress over here. Well, except for any stash minimizing. I can't seem to manage that at all.

Flitting like a butterfly

Henry has recently fallen in love with The Very Hungry Caterpillar all over again.  And now we play "cocoon" twenty times a day.  I ask him to "lay down like a caterpillar" on the couch, cover him completely in a quilt and then flip the quilt back as we declare the he is a "beautiful butterfly!!"  We are still working on the graceful sweep of the arms to mimic wings flapping.  I think (at nearly four years old) that this is his first pretend play and I am so proud.

Anyway, I was thinking about that as I flitted between sewing projects today.  I was trying to decide what I should work on next.  I could continue my progress on my rose star blocks.

Or I could finish Charise's Paris-themed bee block for the Ringo Pie Bee (those darned y-seams have me procrastinating).

Or I could decide what solid to use to put a border on this long-overdue quilt top.  (You'd think I could be bothered to iron this quilt top before taking a picture and sharing it here, but no.) 

Or I could work on piecing some blocks for my husband's quilt.  (It sure was fun to come up with the new fabric combinations.)

Well, this butterfly will settle on something soon. Maybe some more hand piecing tonight and continue to procrastinate on the bee block? Hmmm...

 How do you decide what to work on next?

Catching up to the curve

I was sick most of last week and then I was just behind the curve of life for a few days after that.  But I'm finally feeling better and ready to share a few photos here.

This is a block I made over a week ago for Cynthia in the Pastiche Bee.  She asked for old school graphic design art supplies.  I fear there isn't enough contrast between the prints for the background and the arms of the compass, but I think some targeted quilting could take care of that.  

I made this Farmer's Wife block over a week ago, too.  It is a remake of this block.  Just four more blocks to go!

I've been working on the quilting for my Mommy Neighborhood quilt for a few weeks now.  It will take a l-o-n-g time to put all of the quilting in that I want.

And, lastly, when I was feeling too crummy to sit at the machine or to wrestle with perle cotton, I've been working on expanding my green hexies.  I cut out another 100 hexies for this project.  I think I may have too many green fabrics....

So what's new with you? It has been too long since we chatted.  :)

Nearly a year in the making...

Ayumi had her month in the Ringo Pie Bee last year March.  And I let myself get intimidated.  Making a block for the queen of paper piecing can really affect your my confidence.  I got overly ambitious with the curved seams and y-seams.  And then I just lost a chunk of the block (still don't know where that went).

Finally it. is. done.

Ayumi's theme was the grocery store.  She especially wanted a cashier or cash register.  And, because it is for Ayumi, also the queen of cute, I pulled out the full force of my pink stash.

So, Gina wins the stamp guessing game with her guess of "teeny, tiny typewriter key."  I'll be sending you an email and then a scrap package, Gina.

........

On the opposite end of the piecing spectrum (from a block that was due 11 months ago), here is a baby quilt top (40x40") that I pieced in two days.  Granted the green is a jelly roll and I had sliced and diced my vintage sheets into various precuts a few months ago.  But going from zero to quilt top (and basted!) in two days is pretty impressive for me. 

And, lastly, here is Henry getting off of the school bus today.  He is rocking in his school shoes just like Pete the Cat (Please ignore the part where I didn't get his shoes in the photo.  Catching my guy looking at the camera is quite an accomplishment.)

2012...

...was a challenging year for me.  Henry's autism diagnosis, starting early childhood school, therapies, fixing up our house, moving to Maryland and then selling our house--whew!  It was a year of personal life growth for sure.

But, it was also the year of creative growth, too.  I feel lucky to be among such talented company in the Cocorico, Pastiche, and Ringo Pie Bees.  The monthly themes challenged me to my limits, but my sewing skills kept growing to match what I imagined for my design. 

You'll notice that these mosaics are a little thin for bees that I've been in all year.  I still owe 4 bee blocks for 2012.  Luckily my bee-mates are patient with me. 

This was also the year of the Farmer's Wife quilt. I wish I could say that I've finished it, but that is not the case. Maybe I can finish it by spring?

 I did a little knitting this year. Most of it was very tiny, but I do have the one big shawl to warm me up.

I finished a couple of quilts to cuddle up in, but I did gave them all away except for one (my AMH voile quilt is covering my lap as I type this (bottom right).

And, lastly, there are some other sewn items that I'm proud of from the year.




2012 was supposed to be the year of the finish.  I had nine items from 2011 that I wanted to complete.  Unfortunately I only finished of those nine!  So, I officially declare that 2013 will be the year of completion.  All projects from 2011 will be done this year as well as some from 2012.
Really.
I mean it this time. 

I'm grateful for this space to share my adventures in sewing.  Occasionally I need a space where I am a mom but I'm a person, a designer and a sewist first.  Thank you all for joining me over the last year.

Please, take a minute to tell me what you made this year that you are most proud of.  Do you have any specific plans for 2013?

A bit frantic

We are moving soon. I've lived in Wisconsin all of my life, and now we will be making the big move to Maryland, perhaps as soon as the beginning of December.  I always like to close up loose ends by the end of the year, but packing up an entire house in a matter of less than three weeks is a bit much.  So today's post is a jumbled mess of about four posts all jammed together so I can focus on packing for the rest of the week.

First up is my sunglasses block for Tamiko in the Ringo Pie Bee.  She asked for Magnum P.I. themed blocks.  This block was due in June, but it took me quite awhile to find the right fabrics and the right techniques to achieve my vision for this block.  I hope she loves it as much as I do.
 

Next up is a recent distraction.  I've been collecting fabrics and perusing patterns for a quilt for Ben for many months now.  He is a mathematician and a birder.  He loves camping, patterns and lists and taking notes about the birds he sees.  I fell in love with Leila's Boy's Nonsense tutorial for the Value Added project and everything came together perfectly. 

I made eight blocks this weekend and now I'll have to pack them all up to save for another sewing day after the move.

My Trim the Tree Ornament Swap mittens are done.  I added a little detail work with size 8 perle cotton.  I hope my partners like them.

And you saw this quilt a couple of weeks ago.  It will be traveling to...

...the Pine Ridge Reservation along with the quilt below to keep a couple of babies warm this winter.  The quilt above was my first ever attempt at baptist fan quilting.  The one below was my second attempt.  I think things got better, but I still need a lot of practice. 

Okay, I'm off to pack up my sewing and crafting mess into boxes.  I'll have to save a few hand projects and maybe a couple of other tidbits to work on.