Farmer's Wife Friday Link Up (and my girls:)

I have had the busy excuse a lot in the past couple of weeks. Summer officially began for us last Friday, but this week has been crazy! In all the best ways of course.

 Charlotte had two weeks of swim lessons and LOVED it! She went from never having swum without wearing her swim jacket to swimming the length of the pool and being the champion diver of the class! It was so fun to see her progress and she is so excited to go swim!

 We also had three dance recitals in two days! Yes, the joys of being a dance mom. ;) Charlotte was in her first recital dancing to "Singin' in the Rain". Maggie had a beautiful ballet performance and her first jazz performance. I didn't get the best pictures of the actual performances, but loved this jump shot I got of Maggie catching air, wooo hoo!

 They both did such a great job. Maggie just LOVES being onstage and lights up with a huge smile when she's there. Charlotte was a little more solemn and very technical, but that will certainly pay off in the future.

So instead of new Farmer's Wife blocks, I thought I would a couple of mosaics with most of the blocks I've already made! This gives a good idea to how the quilt itself will look.Wow, right? It also helps me see which colors I need to bring out more. I'm thinking more blue!
Want to make one too? Just go to www.bighugelabs.com and click on Mosaic Maker. It's super easy! 
Have you been able to make any blocks this summer? Show us! Here's how to link up:

1. Link up any post or picture from the past week that features your Farmer's Wife quilt progress.
2. You must LINK back to this post within your post. You can also grab a Farmer's Wife Friday button (on the right side bar).
3. Have fun reading all the posts! Don't forget, everyone loves a nice comment! 

An InLinkz Link-up

I am so looking forward to going out of town next week and not having ANY schedule, that's what summer means to me! Have fun!

June Do. Good Stitches Blocks

This  first week of summer has been a busy one! Swimming lessons, three dance recitals, beach trips, youth conference send off, and I finished a t-shirt quilt (finally, I will share quilt with you next week:)! But I still had to get this month's Faith group Do.Good Stitches blocks done. I did them just in time! It was Debbie's month and she chose do use this tutorial to make a quilt just like this fabulous quilt!

Isn't it gorgeous? It was made by the Cheer circle and finished by Claire at Sewing Over Pins. Our assignment was to use like minded colors, orange, hot pink and yellow or red.

 I noticed Debbie had been getting quite a few orange blocks so I decided to make a hot pink one! For the center star I used a fun Paula Prass print that I've had for a while that had all the colors in it. And a pink swirly print that coordinated well.

 I didn't notice any yellow blocks so I thought that would add a nice light punch and I coordinated that with an orange star. Every time I try a new block I end up loving it and wanting to make a whole quilt of my own with it! But there is only so much time and WAY too many fun blocks.

Next week we are heading to St. George, UT for our annual 4th of July trip. Can't wait to be with my family, go to the rodeo, watch the small town fireworks and visit all the incredible quilt shops! The only thing I'm not looking forward to is the heat! They are in the 115+ range right now, yikes! I think I might melt.
Hope you're staying cool this summer!

Farmer's Wife Friday - Finally!

Finally, the Friday I've been waiting for - it's the last day of school!! My two girls are finally done and it's time for summer to begin! It's so hard to wait when you live in Southern California and the weather is perfect and the beach is calling. Finally we can join in on the fun. Yee haw!

 Jumping right into my Farmer's Wife blocks. So I have a confession to make. Most weeks Thursday night rolls around and I realize, I've got to make my blocks for FWF! Not that I don't want to be working on them. I do! And that's precisely why I started this link-up, to keep me going! But I end up staying up way later than I should to work on my blocks to post for Friday. And then I'm so exhausted the next day! I was determined for that not to be the case this week.

I think the saying goes give a busy person something to do and she gets it done? That's how it went this week. Very busy with swim lessons, end of school parties, dance rehearsals, etc. But baby, I got some blocks done! And because I wasn't sewing them in the wee hours, they came together so much nicer and I think look so much better than they have been looking. I finished the second block from last week, #88. And finished both of this weeks blocks.

I decided to use red and green together, not a combo I use very often. Because I'm so near the end I've been trying to pick out colors and combos that I need more of and I thought red and green would work this week. Still can't help but think of Christmas, but together with all the other blocks I don't think it will be okay. My favorite block this week is this Storm Signal block. You never know for sure how blocks will look when they're done, and I just like the way this one turned out. I now have 90 blocks done, WOW! Can't believe it. I'd love to know where you are in the process, link up and let me know! Here's what you need to do:

1. Link up any post or picture from the past week that features your Farmer's Wife quilt progress.
2. You must LINK back to this post within your post. You can also grab a Farmer's Wife Friday button (on the right side bar).
3. Have fun reading all the posts! Don't forget, everyone loves a nice comment! 

 

Hope you have a fabulous weekend, it's summer, yay! 

Farmer's Wife Friday, TGIF!

Welcome to Farmer's Wife Friday!  It's been a full week and it's so nice to get to the weekend! This week included the last day of school festivities for my high school-er and my pre-school-er, a new job at my church that I'm transitioning through, a graduation party at my house for my bestie's son, starting 5K training with my son and I'm still getting my two charter school girls off to school everyday. Like I said, glad the weekend has arrived!

 Because of the craziness of my week, I only finished one block. I thought it would be fun to do a patchwork on this one. I have liked when I have done that in the past. I also wanted to use two colors together that I hadn't before, blue and green! The green fabrics were great for this, but I realized that almost all of the blue fabrics have red in them! So it ended up being a three color block and a bit jumbled. But it is predominately cool so I'm okay with it.

 

Another reason I only got one block done is because of this little culprit. The dreaded triangle #13.  This block had a total of 48 of these triangles! 48! It took me a bit longer than I thought it would just to cut this block out, so be warned! When I see this block listed, I know it's going to be a long night. :)

Were you working on a more laborious block this week? I'd love to hear about it! Share your Farmer's Wife posts here. The rules are:

1. Link up any post or picture from the past week that features your Farmer's Wife quilt progress.
2. You must LINK back to this post within your post. You can also grab a Farmer's Wife Friday button (on the right side bar).
3. Have fun reading all the posts! Don't forget, everyone loves a nice comment! 

Here's to a fabulous weekend! 

 

Mini Bow Tucks Bag

 About a year ago my daughter Sophie turned twelve. In our church that means she gets to move to a special group just for young women ages 12-17. It's a neat time for these girls and I wanted to make something special for her. She and I decided on a tote for her scriptures and young women booklets she would take to church each Sunday. So I bought the pattern, and found really cute fabric that was perfect for her at the time. Well, long story short, I never got to making the bag :(. I know, bad mom. Flash forward a year and I found the happy little stack just waiting to be made and decided I needed to get it done!

 The pattern I used is the Mini Bow Tucks pattern by Penny Sturges for Quilts Illustrated. It was the perfect size for what I was trying to do and thought it looked like a great pattern.

Sophie's favorite colors and green and aqua and she loves the outdoors. When we were originally looking for fabrics we found the perfect fabric line by Riley Blake, "Good Life". 

It even had this print that included the Young Women values that she was using at church.

 

We had also picked out an aqua polka dot, but when I was pulling together the fabrics, Sophie thought this orange print would be a little more fun. But not to use it "too" much.:) So I followed orders and used it for the base and opposite side of the handles. She wanted more green, so I used a green ribbon accent and ribbon for the bows on the side.

The inside has plenty of room for her scriptures, notebooks and YM booklets. You can undo the ribbons to let out more room on the sides as well.

The pattern was easy to follow and I love the way the bag itself turned out. BUT....there are some things I would've changed. For one thing I would've put the orange onto the outside of the handles. Even though she didn't want too much orange I think the contrast would've looked better. And in the end since a whole year has passed Sophie has actually matured since then. She IS a teenager now, yikes! And even though she still likes the fabric I think she would like something a little more "hip" (that's not even hip to say is it?). And she really doesn't like the bows on each side. I'm trying to figure out what I could do to change it up and remove them. Something with elastic? Any ideas? So all in all, I'm glad I got it done, but not sure if Sophie will ever use it. I guess that's what happens when you wait so long to get a project done!

Farmer's Wife Friday Link-Up!

This has been a rough week! My two girls go to a charter school and they are on a different schedule than my other two. While I've been seeing all kinds of photos and posts on how everyone is starting their summer, we've still got a couple of weeks of school left! Last night was Open House so the past week the girls were given all kinds of extra projects. Let's just say we had more than one late night working on things. So while some people are jumping into pools, I'm still making lunches! Can you tell I'm feeling sorry for myself? Doesn't help that the weather here in SoCal has been perfect. Okay, enough venting. I feel better.

 I did get a couple of blocks made this week! I loved the simplicity of Square Dance. And I loved that there was one large block. I have been dying to use the large gingham print again. But with so many tiny blocks I couldn't showcase it very well. So this block was the perfect chance to use it, yay! And paired with my favorite floral, it's just lovely.

This block was easier to put together than it looks, but I think using a gingham background fabric makes the imperfections show up a little too much. The strips look a little crooked but I think it may be just the way the gingham was cut. I'll keep it for now, but maybe I'll fix it later.

What blocks are you working on? Now's your chance to show and tell! Here's all you need to do:
1. Link up any post or picture from the past week that features your Farmer's Wife quilt progress.
2. You must LINK back to this post within your post. You can also grab a Farmer's Wife Friday button (on the right side bar).
3. Have fun reading all the posts! Don't forget, everyone loves a nice comment! 

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I'm so grateful to have gotten through such a busy week! Here are my girl's and a couple of the projects they did. Hope you're enjoying the start of your summer, wish me luck for the next couple of weeks!

Pillow Talk {Swap} 10 Recieved!

 I couldn't wait to share the perfect pillow I received from the Pillow Talk {Swap} 10! Isn't it gorgeous!? I just adore all of the fabrics, the kaleidoscope design and the colors! Who knew so much happiness could come from a little pillow.

The happiness began when after stalking my mailbox everyday the package came! (you should know that I LOVE getting packages in the mail;) That happiness continued when I saw the return address label. Sew Deerly loved! I knew immediately which pillow it was and I had been wishing for it!

If you don't know who Sew Deerly Loved is, you must! Kerri blogs at Lovely Little Handmades and has the cutest fabric store! And guess what my bonus gifty was? Fabric of course! She knows a sewer too well, fabric is the best gift to get and I love little florals.

  Kerri has always made the most adorable pillows for the swap and I have always hoped I would get one of her creations. Wished granted!

 

 The back of the pillow is about as cute as the front! She made it in an envelope style, but I just love how she added the binding on the edge of the flap. I will always do this from now on. It just adds such a nice finish.

 

Her is a close-up of the darling little blocks. I not only love florals I love fruity fabric and these are all my colors! How cute are the sweet little deer?

 My daughter has already planned to kidnap it for her room, and I have to say it looks pretty cute in there. But it's mine all mine! Thank you Kerri, for a beautiful piece of art and I appreciate all the work that went into it, LOVE!! Aren't swaps the best?