Progress on two quilts – well actually 3 I have worked on Star Crazy too but no photos on that one – still the same area that I am working on there. I did put in an hour of quilting last night.
Farmer’s Wife, I know I said this was going to be my quilt group project to have on hand for quilting but I decided of course to quilt on it when I feel like it also 
I never last with whatever I say on quilts do I?
The area that is quilted is in this area.
Always hard to see in the photo that covers a large area, individual blocks – all the white blocks have the same stenciled flower – there are two or three of these finished.
I have never been able to figure out this block – what is it? a butterfly maybe?
Yes a couple points got chopped off – I’m not worried about it so don’t you be either!
A little of springtime in my kitchen – springtime LOL, well we had nice weather for all of January, now for the next 4 or 5 days it is winter, in the 30’s and 40’s, maybe a little ice or snow by Monday I think – it will be short lasting – Tuesday will be in the 50’s the forecasters say. That is where the stackable teapot set that my daughter got me for Christmas stays when I am not using it.
The newest row of Joseph’s Coat laid out on the floor before I start to pin together segments to make it easier to work on.
The whole thing, I had to finally drag the coffee table out of the way so I could work around it.
A close up of the two new colors – I didn’t have enough for the whole row in either color so they are sharing this row. I had to do that with some of the other colors so it will work out ok in the end.
Is it too early to mention that I am going to the Paducah Quilt Show this year 
Mike is not working right now but he has a contract most likely coming up in May this year so we really need to take a trip before that right! I mentioned yesterday what did he think – a short trip to the quilt show? He asked when was it, I gave him the dates and he reserved us a couple nights at a campground nearby – it looks like we will be making that 6 hour drive over to Kentucky soon in the motorhome! (so much easier to find a campground than a motel room!!!!) I did remind him that if I went to the quilt show I would have to buy something LOL and he said that was ok he would be back to work soon I’m sure that if the weather cooperates and is not flooding rain like it was last year we will make several other stops and see some other campgrounds and things too. I don’t spend the whole 4 days at the show like some of you. I go to look at the quilts and the vendors – I don’t go for the classes and lectures which are probably all booked up already anyhow. I just like to look at the quilts and see what is new that the vendors have and how things work. And a nice stop to Hancocks of Paducah is normally a stop also of course (pick up some Quilters Dream batting and not pay shipping and handling!). We will be in the Paducah area for a day and a half.
If any of my readers are going let me know, maybe we can meet up at the show and say hi and put a face to the name and see if we have bought some interesting stuff!
Yesterday I got a little bit done on all four projects.
Thursday and Friday I quilted on the Farmers Wife:
The back shows up a little more:
Five more blocks on the “I’m So Dizzy” quilt – the design wall must come out, it is getting too crowded over here! I’m just pinning them where I can. I think it is time to take them down and stack them up until I get the wall up for the final design placement now.
A little quilting on Star Crazy and I need to get back to work on this one and keep trying to quilt every day, I am already going through my normal slack off rate on the 3 roller that I usually go through. I will have to watch that so that a day off doesn’t turn into a week or two away from it.
And last night some work on Joseph’s Coat – big mistake on that one. I went to start putting the diagonal row on it as I had finished piecing it only to find out I had turned a piece around on one that I had to take off, then I realize I had stitched two whole segments wrong and had to take that of – turned out 3 pieces had to be taken off and re-sewed down correctly. I finally did get started stitching the row down but I would have been further on it if I hadn’t had to take some of it apart first! Just all balled up here on the couch waiting for me to do some stitching – most likely I will get busy with it while the super bowl is on – I wait for the advertisements and get up and down doing other things while it is on
I’m sure y’all are getting sick of Joseph’s Coat (yes I am keeping that name for the quilt for now) – but I really have not worked on much else recently. I got a lot of circles prepped last night and this morning and last evening I sat for about 2 hours stitching! I have 14 more circles to prep for this section of the quilt top that is done – that feels great!! After I get those attached I will get back to work on more rows so there will be changes coming up.
This is the only area left that needs circles on it.
Overall view.
I think I will get the remaining circles done this weekend, next week is kind of up in the air on what I will get done. My mom is having surgery on Monday and will be in the hospital for a night or two then home. I will be there on Monday and then maybe on Wednesday and Thursday. We are kind of playing it by ear right now as to how much care she will need after surgery. She might surprise us all and be just fine. If she needs me to stay with her for a day or two day I intend to bring the Farmer’s Wife quilt with me to work on. I have it ready and it is easier than bringing a bunch of pieces. I can quilt in between helping her out a little.
I hope you all have a great weekend!
Progress made yesterday on several projects even though it was such a screwed up morning and I wasn’t able to get around to my quilting projects until late afternoon. Our truck has been having some health problems 
Mike had taken it in to the shop the other day and they said a part is ordered but that it was well enough to be driven if he wanted to come back and get it and then bring it back later in the week when the part arrived he could. Well that was a mistake! We decided that I would drop him off to get the truck and I would then go to the fitness center and the grocery store. I drop him off and get to the other side of town only to have him call and say come back and get me the truck can not be driven! So back across town I go to get him. Sit around and wait awhile only to have him come back and say they are giving him a loaner – well that is good but has delayed us both from the start of our day. By time I got in a work out I need to get some lunch before shopping because I was running on empty by then. Had a few other errands to run and got home by 1:30.
I finally got started to put my batting together around 3 in the afternoon. After reading a couple of the comments I was reminded that I have the heat press tape to put my binding together instead of sewing it. I knew I had it but I find it a little hard to hand quilt through – then I remember the previous times I used it I put it on both sides of the seam area and I thought I would try just one side this time – that is what is said to use but seeing as it is mostly used for machine quilting I thought for hand quilting because you are handling it so much more than maybe two sides was better – now I will find out how one side works.
So this is what I was doing yesterday:
pin the backing to the carpet so it will be wrinkle free (I do this only with small quilts for the hoop and use the 3 roller for large quilts)
I smooth my batting over it with no pins and then the top which I pin down to smooth out wrinkles.
Then I get the basting pins out and get busy pinning – the whole operation took about an hour from start to finish. Now this quilt is set aside and will be taken to quilt groups on Fridays – the project will take awhile to finish but that is ok.
I made more circles and got busy with appliqueing them in place while Criminal Minds and CSI were on last night, I have run out of circles and need to make more, I think I need about 50 more for this last section before I start to make more rows.
My newest quilt book arrived in the mail on Tuesday while I was visiting my mother so I was able to get it out yesterday and give it a good look over – I love it!! So many bright ideas for borders – Judy did a great job with this book. The author is Judy from Patchwork Times of Design Wall Monday. It can be purchased from her for an autographed copy or from your local quilt shops I assume. This will be a quilt book I will use I am sure – I am trying to not buy books either – I am trying to be frugal this year and control spending on all fronts!!
After reading all the comments yesterday on what you do with your batting it seems that the biggest use for scrap batting is either sewing them together to make more quilts or to use them for table runners/mug rugs. There are some of you that throw them away almost immediately though.
I am leaving bright and early in the morning with my daughter – who actually has a day off for a change! – to go visit with my mom and youngest sister for most of the day. So I am scheduling this post – any comments that need to be approved will be done so in the evening.
Instead of a nice warm day it is going to be cold! Here the high is around noon I believe and in the 50’s – up there – what the heck – 38 for a high and that is around 7 AM! I think it will be about 32 degrees when we head for home. It is sometimes hard to believe what a cold front can do, putting one part of the state in the 30’s and 100+ miles away in the 50’s.
Thank you Nedra for posting on your blog that you were turning your 50 Farmers Wife’s blocks into a quilt and setting on point. That got me thinking of my 20 that I had finished in the middle of last year and not touched since. I just did not want them hanging around waiting for more blocks to be done.
I have been working off and on the past several days on the Farmer’s Wife and it is complete – not perfect – but complete. Finished size is 52 inches x 65 inches. Not perfect I say because those darn setting half square triangles on the sides went and stretched a little bit and I was too lazy to take the offending ones out and re-do. My excuse – this is not a show quilt – and I use the 100% cotton batting that shrinks up just a little bit and gives it that vintage look – it will not be all that noticeable after it is quilted, washed and dried.
The border – 1 1/2 inches of the same white used in the quilt, 1/2 inch of Fairy Frost reddish/orange and 2 inches of black. (these are finished size measurements)
If you want a show quilt do not do as I do – fix the offending areas immediately 
but if you just want to have fun and make quilts like I do – don’t worry about it!! There is too much to do in life without stressing out over your quilts.
The only UFO’s I still have hanging around my house are 2 Little Brown Bird blocks which will be turned into something before the end of the year and the Pineapple paper piecing blocks that I intend to make more of this year. Also on the list of course is the applique border for the Red and Green Quilt and quilts to be quilted – are they counted as UFO’s I wonder – the tops are made so in that respect they are not unfinished – but they need to be quilted.
Next up this week – I need to baste some batting together to have a piece big enough for this quilt. I know I have several fairly good pieces in the bag that I save them in. After Christmas I got rid of a lot of the small pieces by using them for wrapping some of the decorations in for storage. I still have some good size pieces though to use up. Then I need to piece a backing, I have no wide backs and I’m not going to buy any. I want to get this quilt pin basted and then start having this be my quilt group project for awhile and continue at home quilting Star Crazy and working on Joseph’s Coat. By Wednesday my fingers should be healed enough to once again get back to quilting.
Well I took a break yesterday and plan to again today from both Joseph’s Coat and Star Crazy. Instead I spent off and on all day yesterday and will again today – Monday working on putting together the Farmer’s Wife blocks!
I got a lot done on Sunday. I have all the blocks organized and sashing on. Today I need to put all the half square triangles in place and then sew the rows together. From there I will decide about a border.
Early in the afternoon Sunday this is what it looked like. The black just really makes these color pop I think.
Monday morning I am this far, I am delighted with the progress made. Some of the blocks I am not satisfied with as they had a bit of black on the outside edges of the blocks and the sashing is black also. The black is a different color of black – but there you go. I am working with fabric on the shelves and I’m not buying anything new. One of the blocks that looks black is actually a dark green but that doesn’t show in the photo and one has a tiny print of pink in it which also doesn’t show up in the photo. When working with scrappy blocks though you can’t always find a color that you haven’t used – especially not always having it in your stash. I can live with this quite easily.
Run on over to Judy at Patchwork Times and see what everyone else is working on today.
These nice open white blocks in between the scrappy blocks will have a nice quilted motif of some sort on them to stand out.
Gasp! yes I am thinking of another quilt. I don’t know when I will put my blocks together. But today I was taking a break from the two quilts I have been working on. I wanted to see what my Farmer’s Wife blocks looked like and how many did I have. It has been so long since I worked on them that I didn’t remember what I had! I’m not even sure when I looked at them last. I have seen quite a few people putting their blocks together lately and it got me to thinking of my forgotten blocks 
I do not know when I will put these blocks together – but I do know that one day I will need to take a day or two or three break from hand quilting – fingers get sore you know. What better to do on a break then put together a small top. I have 20 blocks completed and they are the only ones I am going to make. I’m afraid after doing 2 Dear Jane quilts and a small version of Dutch Treat I have grown weary of sampler blocks – I like what other people are doing with them, but I need something totally different.
I do want to use my blocks though and not just toss them aside for years. Here are the 20 blocks on point – I love how Nedra of Cactus Needle is putting hers on point and that is the way I want to do mine as well. I will do mine a little differently though – she has more blocks than I do.
I plan on putting a thin black sashing around each block and then put white squares in between each – the white isn’t a pure white it has a light gray swirly type design in it – hard to see.
The blocks are hand pieced but I will machine sew the sashing around the blocks and attach the white blocks and rows together by machine – this will be a project for my fingers to take a break. I might get started tomorrow or maybe next week – we will see. This could be the take along project to work on at quilt groups – hand quilting a small quilt in a hoop is ideal for me for that. You don’t have to think about what to bring and how to arrange things so you don’t loose your place in piecing (Joseph’s Coat fits this category).
I have been neglecting the Farmer’s Wife quilt. I had not worked on it for two weeks. This morning my Friday morning group was meeting – two weeks ago I had prepped 4 blocks and had finished two so that still left two in my box to work on. I was glad as it gave me something ready to bring with me. I got one done and the second part way and finished it when I got home.
Here is block #19 – I see someone moved some of my pieces around while they were looking at what I was doing and I didn’t notice it until now!! darn it, well I am not taking anything apart they will stay as it. I didn’t have the two polka dot pink/brown next to each other nor the two pink/brown on the left side. I can’t believe the lady that was looking at these moved them out of place 
I guess that will teach me to pay attention to what I am doing. I was showing another lady how to hand quilt and one of the ladies had moved over to where I had been sitting and she was looking at my blocks and my book. I guess she picked up some pieces and didn’t realize she didn’t put them back exactly how I had them.
And block #20
That is all that will get done on this quilt for awhile, I’m not sure if I will take any of these blocks along on our trip. I have the Kansas Dugout blocks to work on and they are all prepped and ready to go. I don’t think I want to bother getting anything else ready.
For those that asked we are going on a trip to Colorado, Utah and maybe into New Mexico – not sure on all the destinations and will plan some of it as we go.
I had one Farmer’s Wife block that I had started yesterday and hadn’t finished at group so I went ahead and finished that one before working on any other quilting yesterday – this is number 18, I thought it was 20 but I checked and I didn’t have that many done. Kind of an odd arrangement of the colors – but it goes with how the photo in the book was.
I have all the rows sewed together for the Joseph’s Coat to the point I am now and I added another section diagonally of the next shade of Orange – those are just stuck up there ready to sew. I now see though that before I get any more of the shades of orange prepped for the printer I need to spread the fabric over the table next to the design wall and see which will go next as I think I got them out of order after what is already up on the wall.
Getting the colors in order will be a weekend job I think. I doubt I will get to it today. We decided to go see the Planet of Apes movie that is out. We will do that this afternoon and maybe go shopping again. I can see if I can find a new set of dishes seeing as I have already looked here and didn’t have anything pop out at me. Conway has more shops so many more choices to see. Dishes are not actually a high priority as I do have some so I can take my time until I find something I really like – which might be today or next year 
who knows.
We had another rainy, thunder, lighten night but we didn’t loose our power so that was good. We are getting caught up on our rain and it I soaking in the ground good. They took us off of the burn ban area and moved us from high fire warning area to medium I believe. The grass is growing and will need to be cut – but it is too wet to do it today – maybe tomorrow?
Have a good weekend everyone!
I have been running all day it seems. First there was quilting group this morning. Then met Mike for lunch, then to the fitness center to work off lunch 
stop at the grocery store and then home. Here it is the middle of the afternoon and I have been busy all day.
From this morning quilting:
I don’t know if this photo is any better than the ones I took the other day. There weren’t many there today so I didn’t ask anyone to help hold the quilt up.
June’s quilt back from the quilter she uses, now she needs to square and trim up and then the binding.
Janet’s quilt – a mystery quilt that she started last year and finished up, she got this back from her quilter a couple weeks ago and has the binding finished.
I got this Farmer’s Wife block done this morning and started on another. I haven’t worked on these for awhile and I think I really need to try to stick with working on these on Friday’s. It is something easy to bring along to group and have something to work on and ready. If I get some prepped up that is! I’m not sure but I think I have about 20 of the blocks done and will go ahead and finish the one that I got started on shortly before we ended our morning later today.
We had 3 days of rain for about a total of 4 1/2 inches here and each day was nice and cool. I could have done without loosing power 2 times in that time period but there you go. Today is very humid and tonight = maybe more storms – I think our drought and heat wave might be over although we will still be in the 90 degree range – much better than 100+
