Farmer's Wife Friday & Linky Party!

We were going to hit the road for President's Day weekend, but it turned out the girls did not have Friday off of school (even though my boy did, why does that happen?)! So we stuck around town.

But I wasn't too broken up about it, it actually makes for a relaxing time at home and I got some sewing time! Even though I have a few WIPs that I should've been working on I was in the mood to work on Farmer's Wife Blocks. So I went for it!

 

I ended up with 10 blocks! I think that's the most I've ever done in one "session". It feels like such an accomplishment. The best part about it is that I've reached the halfway mark! I'll choose to look at that with a glass half full mentality instead of how many more blocks it means I need to make. :)

I tlhink my favorite of the bunch is #51 and then #57. I just like the way the fabrics turned out to look. Sometimes the fabrics you pick look good "on paper" but when the block comes together it just doesn't look right. I like the way those two look. Number 59 below is also pretty cool.

What can I say these little blocks just make me happy! I love moving forward and I'm determined to finish this quilt this year! Is anyone else out there still working on theirs?
I would love to see your progress! I'm going to start a linky group so we can keep each other motivated!
 Here's how it works:

• Link up your blog post about your progress on your Farmer's Wife Blocks.
• Link back to my blog in your post. You can use this button in your post or add it to your sidebar. 
• Let everyone know come here and add their links so we can see each other's progress!

 Here is the button, just copy the code on my sidebar and add it to your blog!

Let finish this amazing quilt together! I can't wait to see how yours is coming along!

Doll Quilt Swap 13

Just wanted to share the little quilt I make for Doll Quilt Swap 13! When you are given a partner you are also given their likes and dislikes. My partner said she liked optical illusion quilts. That threw me a little bit because I've never made something like that before. So I set to work to find a pattern that I could figure out!

I decided to try this paper pieced star I found on Craftsy called Good Luck Star. I love stars and I love how it had a rounded affect. I have only tried paper piecing once, so I knew it could be a challenge, but I was up for it. I chose bright fun colors and decided on a text background fabric.

 It took a few tries to get comfortable with the process of paper piecing. It's like doing everything backwards! But the result of paper piecing really is amazing. I can see why people get hooked on it. It allows you to be so precise and make really incredible art that you wouldn't be able to otherwise.

On the back I wanted to keep that same rounded effect so I stitched some curves to a point. This was a little tricky too, but I used paper as a pattern and it worked out.

For the quilting I followed the lines of each section of the star. I appliqued a hexagon in the center of the star and then outlined that. It worked out really cool in the center!

 Along the scrappy border I did a simple up and down continuous pattern. And outlined the red outline.

For extra goodies I gave my partner the triple zip pouch that I just made for the Triple-Zip Along, a little bag of hugs and kisses and a red tape measure.

 

All in all it was a great project! I enjoyed working on my paper piecing skills, working with fabulous fabrics and getting a project completed! What can I say, swaps are fun!

Valentines 2013

Happy Heart Day!!

Valentine's Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. Anything involving hearts, pink and chocolate, hey I'm in! I also loved giving and getting Valentines as a child. So it's always been so fun to help the kids put together their Valentines.

It's down to just the three girls now, and every year I hope to get them done early and post ideas on the blog way before Valentine's Day. But it never fails that we still end up putting them together the night before (sigh).

We just found out a couple days ago that our 7th grader was even giving out Valentines this year. So we tried to come up with a few ideas. We settled on Ring Pops and thought it would be funny to use the Beyonce song for the saying, "Put a Ring on It".

Here is the back, where there is a space for your child to sign their name.
To download a free PDF of this printable, click HERE.

 

For my 4th grader I had seen these really cute wooden spoons online with a little heart on them. So we decided to give a spoonful of hugs and kisses. When the spoons arrived they were teeny tiny! So I ran to Party City to grab some red plastic spoons (not as cute, but they would do right?). But I found these wooden bamboo spoons that were a little big, but actually pretty cheap! And we just drew a little heart on the top with a red Sharpie. 

  We added some Hershey Hugs & Kisses and tied the tag with baker's twine.
To download this free little printable, you can cli HERE.

Last but not least it is our preschooler's first year to give Valentines. The school she goes to has outlawed candy! I get the idea, but I think it's kind of sad on this holiday.
I saw this darling glow stick printable and Charlotte thought it would be fun. You can find that printable HERE. The red glow sticks were from Party City. My favorite part is that she signed them all herself, so cute!

  On a recent trip to Costco I saw this heart shaped ravioli and knew I had to get it! So last night we had a pre-Valentine's heart meal with the pasta, homemade heart bread sticks and green beans (yes, from a can, the hubs loves canned veggies!) The kids loved it and we had yummy heart sugar cookies for dessert.

 Tonight we will have our annual Valentines breakfast for dinner. I'm cooking up some good stuff! I'll probably post a pic or two on my Instagram. If you are an instagram-er, you can follow me HERE!

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day filled with hearts and chocolate!

Zippies!

 I made my first zipper pouch as a challenge for a swap at Sewing Summit. I couldn't believe how simple it was and what a quick process too! So when Debbie at A Quilter's Table invited me to the Triple-Zip Along I knew I would be on board.

 While I would love to make one for myself, I thought this would be the perfect little giftie for my Doll Quilt Swap partner. So I was thinking of her when I picked out the fabrics. I had also seen a darling tutorial for a little heart zipper wristlet on the Sew Mama Sew blog and decided while I was at it, I had to make that too!

 The triple zip sounded scary and complicated, but it actually came together pretty quickly. I did end up using the "alternate ending" posted by Marci Girl which made the ending a little easier to understand.

I added a little scripty tag on the side to hold onto while your zipping away. This is the perfect size bag to hold hand sewing projects or make-up on the go. I love that with three zippers you could actually keep things organized!

Each pocket is lined with alternating fabrics and I matched the zippers to each lining. The fun part is picking out the fabrics and zippers. There are literally a zillion possibilities here. My daughters have already made requests. We'll see. ;)

  Next up is the little heart zippy. Isn't it the cutest thing? The minute I saw it, I knew I had to try it. And I couldn't resist using strawberry fabric similar to what was shown in the tutorial. I love hearts and frutiy fabric, maybe that's why I fell in love with it!

I have to admit the tutorial was not perfectly clear on the ending wrap up. Usually on a zippy you sew the lining together and then the outside together and flip it inside out, but this was sewn all together and turned inside out leaving a seam inside. But you don't see the seam and stitching around the outside edge holds that seam together well.

  I used a gingham fabric inside and as the D-ring tab, I can never use enough gingham.You can see with the coins how bitty this is. I would actually love to make one that's bigger!

I plan on giving this to my littlest sweetheart, Charlotte on Valentine's Day and maybe hide some chocolate inside:).
If you'd like to join the Triple-Zip Along, feel free! It's ongoing at Flickr and it's fun to see all the different designs popping up.
Happy Zipping!

Doll Quilt Swap 13 Recieved!

 I got Happy Mail! One of the best parts of being involved in swaps is getting a package in the mail. I'll admit, I love getting packages! My heart does palpitations every time I see that big brown truck in my neighborhood. ;) Well I got my package, a doll quilt for the Doll Quilt 13 Swap!

This is the River Rose quilt made by Polka Dot Mermaid. Isn't it beautiful? And that's not all, it is HAND pieced and HAND quilted! That takes a lot of work people! I feel truly blessed to have something that took that much time and effort. I can feel the love that went into this and not just because of the darling hearts!

 She also sent me these fabulous goodies! A lovely card, yummy chocolates and the cutest little pin cushion I have ever seen!

 I mean seriously, is that not the cutest little thing? And the darling pins too!? I might just have squealed at the cuteness.

 Here is the back of the quilt where you can see the wonderful hand quilting. I hand quilted a quilt once and I know the work and sore fingers involved! Thank you Tina for all of your hard work and love that went into this quilt. I LOVE it!!

Here is a sneak peak of the quilt I am making for my partner. I had to wait on some fabric to bind it and then off it goes!

do. Good Stitches February Blocks

I got a jump start on this months blocks for our the do. Good Stitches quilting bee! The Faith group being led by the fabulous Debbie of A Quilter's Table (I got to meet her at Sewing Summit and she is so sweet and supportive!) is doing a Half Square Triangle quilt. Here are a couple of the inspiration photos:

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

Gorgeous right? It's such a simple design but the results are stunning! Our instruction was to use solids in "cool" colors. I was lucky because I don't have a lot of solids, but I did have a few and they were all in green/blue tones, whew!

 So these are my two blocks. They are made using 10" squares, sewing two together and cutting down the center. That leaves you with two 9 1/2" HST squares. Put 4 of those together and these puppies are a whopping 18 1/2"! Probably the biggest single blocks I have made.

 And like all of the do. Good Stitches quilts, I can't wait to see this one put together. My blocks are probably a bit brighter/lighter than the others, but they might make a good pop!