Latest work in progress...

I found this beauty at an antique store in LaCrosse on my crafting weekend with Melissa (one third of the Knitting Sandwich).

The cords need some attention.... 

Her name is Ruby, and I adore her. 

She doesn't have a foot pedal. She has a knee lever instead, but I don't know how to use it. 

I love the big handwheel.

This work in progress is a beauty, don't you think?

Recent Finishes

I Spy Quilt #2 (of four).  I finally got this quilt out to Henry's buddy, Oliver.  He's two and a half, so I doubt he'd have seen a post about it, but it still seemed like bad form to show off a quilt online before he got to open it.

Close up of some of the prints for the front.  I used Kona medium gray for the solid squares.

I used an IKEA solid for the back and Connecting Threads solid for the binding.


And the full quilt:

Here is Henry's recent accomplishment.  I heard him working hard on this from the other room.  When he was sticking the pegs in the holes he said, "almohts," and then, "did it."  After awhile I went back in to the room to check out his handiwork.

me:  "Tell me more about this, Henry."
Henry:  "EYES!!!  eye, eye, eyes!"    

So true.

Fancy Block Friday

I'm posting my fancy block on time this week!!   (I'm even interrupting my crafting weekend with Melissa to do this post.)  I'm so pleased with how this block turned out that I want to shout from the rooftops.

Here is my sketch from Wednesday night:

And here is the block I finished just a half hour ago:

This is a bee block for a friend in the May Moms Bee.  She sent me cool colors plus red with the instructions to make a block to represent February.  I'm not big on hearts, but paper piecing letters was right up my alley.

Now I'm off to make a potholder for my mom.  Must craft as fast as I can before I get home to the toddler tomorrow.

P.S.: Melissa can attest to the amount of mistakes I made last night in trying to remember how to paper piece again.  There was quite a bit of mild cursing, also.

P.P.S: Amanda made her block on time, too.  I'll have to ask her if there was any cursing on her part.

popping in

I can't talk much.  I'm packing up some fabric selections (and a toothbrush, I guess) to meet up with a friend for two days.  I'm bringing Margene and she's bringing her knitting needles and we are meeting halfway between our homes for a crafting getaway.

But, before I decide if I have room with the fabric stash to pack some clean pants, I wanted to post my latest Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks.

Gotta run!  I'll be back on Friday or Saturday with my fancy block :)

Bewitched

The Farmer's Wife Quilt-a-long has taken ahold of me. Because the blocks are so small and because it was designed as a scrappy sampler, I feel freer when sifting through my stash and scraps. Any fabric that I like is fair game. That freedom is overwhelming at times. It can take me a long time and many trials to pick the right mix of fabrics for a block. But, I'm having a blast. This is my second post for the quilt-a-long and I made one extra block to catch up since I should have 6 finished blocks for week three.

I hope to have 3 more to show you next week so I can be all caught up.   Check out the flickr group to see more blocks from a ton of talented quilters.

Resolution Broken

On Wednesday, I pledged for the second week in a row to not join a new bee, swap or quilt-a-long.

Then, the exact same day, I saw the blog posts by Ayumi, Tamiko, and Lynne. I followed their links and learned more about the Farmer's Wife Sampler quilt-a-long group on flickr.  Angela and Amanda are hosting the QAL on their blogs and they are running the group on flickr.  I was immediately smitten. 




It all starts with this book. The author designed a sampler quilt based on letters written by farmers' wives in the 1920's. Forty-two letters are included in the book.  There are 111 six-inch blocks in the quilt. I can't say that the colors in the book inspired me, but seeing the new interpretations of these classic blocks really made my head spin.

So...later on Wednesday, some fabric fell into my etsy cart and I placed a hold on the book at the library. By Thursday I couldn't wait for the book a minute longer so I went out and bought it. On Friday I finished some other sewing on my table to make room while checking in with the quilt along flickr group at least eight times that day. And yesterday I finally sat down at my machine to sew some blocks. Whew!

For this quilt I'm just going to pull out all of my favorite yardage and all of my treasured scraps and I'll see how it turns out. Every square inch will be fabric that I love, so it has to turn out great, don't you think? (Like a fabric lover's I Spy?)

The plan is two blocks per week and the quilt along is in it's second week. These little squares can get addictive, though. You may see more than you care to as I plug along.

Now, you've all learned that I have no willpower when it comes to pretty quilting blocks.  What don't you have willpower against?