Four More Down

More blocks for the Farmer's Wife Sampler are done. Tonight was an even split between regular piecing and paper-piecing. I might have finished more, but a good number of the paper-piecing templates on the Yahoogroup don't seem to have been reversed correctly. I'll have to redraw a number of the blocks in EQ7 to get good paper-piecing templates.

#055 Linoleum

This was regularly pieced, using all Connecting Threads fabrics. I really do love that company's products. Their fabrics are so buttery soft!

#102 Whirlpool

This would have been a much easier block, but I under-estimated the thickness of the white and blue fabric. Still, it turned out pretty well, and I like the play of of the different shades of blue. This one was also regularly pieced.

#029 Economy

Another do-over, and paper-pieced for accuracy. The center is fussy cut, while I let the outer triangles be what they wanted to be. Very easy, very quick. Just my speed tonight.

#039 Friendship

I'm not in love with my choice for the blue quadrant, but I'm leaving it. It's a rather large print for this block, but I've got to use it somewhere. At least in a sampler I'll be less likely to keep staring at it and growing more frustrated.

I'm hoping to get more blocks done later today, as I have no intention of hitting the gym. I have one helluva sinus cold that's making me a congested mouth-breather. For now, though, I'm off to try and be productive.

A Kick in the Pants...

... for Generation Q Magazine.

If you've been following the Generation Q Magazine blog, then you already know what I'm talking about. GenQ launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the printing of their premier issue and to appear at the International Quilt Market in Kansas City this May.

If you've never heard of Kickstarter, prepare to be amazed. It's a way for smaller ventures to raise capital to attain their goals. The amazing thing is that this capital comes from you and me. See a project that you want to come to life? Pledge some funds.

And Kickstarter is an all or nothing deal. Either the base amount requested is attained, or the individuals who pledged money to a goal never spend a dime. As with most fundraising efforts of this sort, there are bonuses for different pledge levels. (Gen Q won me over by promising fabric - go figure!)

In an awesome example of how giving our online community of quilting bloggers is, the Gen Q Kickstarter campaign has already raised over $13,000 in the first 48 hours that it's been live!

I decided to pledge, because since its inception, I've enjoyed the content of the Gen Q blog, and would love to see a printed publication that appeals to a wider aesthetic. I love the way the Gen Q blog is written, and hope that carries over to the printed publication. Plus, I'm actually in a really good spot in my life, and why not share the joy a little bit? Especially when the people benefiting clearly have a passion for and commitment to quilting, which has been my creative haven for years!

So, anyway, check out the video. I'm not saying you have to donate, but maybe you will, and that would be pretty awesome. And, of course, there are many, many deserving projects on Kickstarter looking for funding. Maybe you'll find something that resonates with you. And remember, it doesn't have to be a fortune that you pledge. Pledges of any amount are appreciated.

Fresh Sewing Day, March 2012 Edition

1. The Complete Quilt, Front, 2. The Complete Quilt, Back, 3. The Quilt Label, 4. Not available, 5. Progress Thus Far, 6. #091 Strawberry Basket, 7. #069 Practical Orchard, 8. #103 Whirlwind, 9. #098 Water Wheel, 10. #089 Steps to the Altar, 11. #064 Peace and Plenty, 12. #107 Windblown Square, 13. #070 Prairie Queen, 14. #062 Old Windmill, 15. #061 Northern Lights, 16. #068 Postage Stamp

It's the beginning of a new month! Which means it's time for Lily's Quilts Fresh Sewing Day. I thought it would be fun to go over what I'd posted in February that was actually sewing-related, and not about stash enhancements.

Right at the beginning of February, I was able to post my first (and may only) finish of 2012! Cheating on the Farmer's Wife sprang out of my need to do something fairly simple to piece. It went along swimmingly, and quickly.

Until I got to quilting. Then I decided that I had to do straight line quilting throughout the entirety of the quilt, and only 1/2" apart. Still, I'm really happy with it, despite the stupid amount of hours I put into it.

Nine more Farmer's Wife blocks done through out the month. I'm nearly done with the blocks that are easily rotary cut. I think I have maybe a dozen more like that. After that, everything is either a paper-pieced block or on a grid that makes me go a little crazy. Those will probably end up being paper-pieced as well.

Pretty good progress. Now I need to get cracking on my WIPs and UFOs. It'd be nice so have something else finished this year.

Busy-ness at Its Best

Yesterday was kind of long, and it was my own fault. I didn't get enough sleep Monday night, so I was a zombie at work all day. On top of that, once I was done working, I went to the gym (and boy! am I sore today!). I spent an hour and a half there, doing a full circuit on the weights and biking six miles.

I should have been thoroughly pooped at that point, and I was! Still, took the munchkin for dinner at McDonald's, because he'd reached the crabby-because-he-was-starving phase (you'd swear the kid never eats sometimes). He played and ate. I ate, and limited myself to the chicken sandwich and a few fries (pretty easy, because I've realized that I don't like McDonald's fries).

After that, it was a trip to the grocery store for soup for the hubby. Hubby has an abscessed tooth, and had to drive himself to work. That meant that he could take his antibiotics, but couldn't take the prescription pain reliever. Needless to say, he was a bit of a crab-apple at that point, so I volunteered to go get him some chicken soup.

Shopping trip done, we headed home. Kiddo fell asleep in the backseat (yay!), but woke up as I hefted him out and carried him upstairs (boo!). Still, he'd been pretty awesome and was incredibly love-y, so we watched some train videos before Mama put her (not so) big foot down and said he had to go to bed. Kiddo protested, but only because he wanted to sleep on the couch with Mama.

I'm a sucker, so we cuddled into Cheating on the Farmer's Wife, and we both passed out. About an hour later, hubby moved kiddo to his bed. Yes! We've gotten kiddo to sleep alone 90% of the time. It is AWESOME.

So anyway, I blinked crabbily (my turn!) at him for a bit, still wrapped up in Cheating on the Farmer's Wife, before I decided that I ought to do something with all that fabric that I had cut Monday evening. So, at around 11:30 PM, I flopped off the couch and made for the dining room, a portion of which has been carved out for my sewing space, now that we've managed to move most of kiddo's accoutrements into a bedroom for him. I'll take some photos once I'm done rearranging and decorating to my satisfaction.

#061 Northern Lights

Northern Lights is a do-over, in order to have this block conform with the overall color scheme of the rest of the blocks. I'm still not in love with it, and it's not the fabrics' fault. I just don't find it to be a very pleasing block, geometry-wise. It feels clunky and lopsided.

#062 Old Windmill

Try as I might, I don't see a windmill in this block. I see two whole pinwheels, and one fractured along the middle, but no windmill. Either way, super happy with my fabric choices. There needed to be a lot of contrast between the colors for this block to shine.

#068 Postage Stamp

This block is completely different from the layout presented in the book. In my head, a postage stamp quilt will always be as many different 1" finished squares as possible. So that's what I did. Eighteen of the patches are neutrals that have appeared in other blocks. The other eighteen were primarily out of the scrap basket.

I could see myself doing an entire quilt top like this.

Obviously, I didn't go to sleep for a while, but I'm okay with that. I have a feeling that tonight will be a rinse/repeat of yesterday, workout included. Hopefully, I can avoid the impromptu shopping trip though!

Still Chugging Along

Only a brief update today - I've been attempting to work on a hand applique project, but have had less success than I would like. I tried a new fusible product to cut the shapes out, and I'm less than pleased with the bulk it creates, and it only exacerbates the issue of the shapes not lying flat when the piece is laid out.

So, it's back to the drawing board, sort of. I'm going to try glue basting next, and switch to plastic templates to ease up on the bulk. I absolutely refuse to give up on this project. My stubborn mule side has kicked in.

In other news, I've completed two more Farmer's Wife blocks:

#070 Prairie Queen

I'm really liking the Happy Mochi Yum Yum line.. I might be tempted go look for more... On second thought, I need to work through my scraps before adding yardage.

#107 Windblown Square

Yes, I'm obsessed with that particular black and white fabric. And, yes, some of my new fabrics are totally making their way into these blocks.

I spent a good chunk of last evening cutting and prepping fabric for more blocks. Once I'm done with this batch, I'll only have those blocks that require paper-piecing or are on an awkward grid for a 6"-square block to do.

Back to the Farmer's Wife

Last night, I treated myself, since it was just me at home. Sushi, solitude and sewing! Well, not so much sewing, but cutting. Stitch N' Bitch was today, so I spent the evening cutting fabric so that I could just spend today piecing.

And piece I did!

#064 Peace and Plenty

I really need to vary up my grays in these blocks, but I love this particular gray and white print!

#089 Steps to the Altar

More new fabric. Lots of strip piecing.

#098 Water Wheel

This is one of the few white background blocks that I've done so far for the sampler. I need to make a few more to ensure that they don't look like holes in the top.

#103 Whirlwind

An ultra modern print combined with some fussy cutting and I'm happy!

#069 Practical Orchard

I really like the citrus-y fabric I used here, but I'm almost wishing I'd fussy cut those squares... I might yet go back and do that.

#091 Strawberry Basket

Very similar in construction to Steps to the Altar, so I cranked this one out. I'm really digging the mustard and the raspberry color together.

So, now I'm forty-five blocks in. A few more white background blocks, because I need more blocks that are brighter. There a good range of medium value blocks to dark blocks, so that's good. I'll probably end up re-making the Basket Weave block again, because I don't like the cream in it. Same with Attic Window. I want this quilt to be crisp.

I Fail at Fabric Dieting

It's that magical time of year, far better than Christmas or birthdays or anniversaries (at least for me).

It's tax rebate time!!

Now, I was a good adult and paid off all of the credit cards and got caught up on the bills. I bought a (truly awesome) dining set for a steal because we needed a real place for us to gather as a family and eat together. We bought our son a new Cars bed and a Cars toilet training seat, because he's currently obsessed with Lightning McQueen. We replaced headlights in cars.

So, in short, we've done all the things we should have done with our refund money.

Then, because there was a little money left over, and I really, really, really want to make Erin Russek's My Tweets (the link leads you to Erin's Etsy shop for the patten for the center). This was Erin's Block of the Month for last year, and I faithfully downloaded all of her patterns (which are now also available in her Etsy shop).

Anyway, I digress from the point of this post, sort of. In my quest for the perfect fabrics for this pattern, I went on a little buying fling... Well, more of a spree.

Okay, honestly?

I went crazy.

I started at Joann's:

 

And found this really nice blue solid, a whole bolt of it. And I had a 50% off coupon. So I bought everything on the bolt. There was something like 9 3/8 yards. I also found the print on the right, which I decided went perfectly with the solid, and bought three yards of that. 

There was a 30% off the cotton prints sale about a week later. I treated myself to a half yard each of the fabrics pictured above. There's sort of a plan emerging here.

But it wasn't enough!!

Because I realized I was super low on white thread. Connecting Threads to the rescue:

Ten spools of white in my cart later, and I still needed more in the cart to make the minimum for free shipping. So I hit up the clearance fabrics:

I ended up with a half yard of each, except for the last fabric. I got a full yard of the gray and yellow scroll fabric.

And, still, not enough!!

I paid a digital visit to Fat Quarter Shop. BIG MISTAKE! Not that I could be dissuaded from hitting the 'Buy' button. I've never purchased so much designer fabric in my life:

The orange is Happy Mochi Yumyum. The two on the right are from Joel Dewberry's Heritage Line. I can't remember what line the gray came out of.

Everything else pictured below, I got a half yard of. Apparently, I'm experiencing an obsession with Pat Bravo at the moment, because I ended up with a ton of her prints.

There is now a ridiculous amount of fabric on my table waiting for me to get busy and start cutting.

I can't wait to get home!