Farmer's Wife - Week 2

More blocks.  I'm catching up blogging, so these are pretty picture heavy.  I'm loving doing these, with no pressure to finish.  I can cut while watching TV, and sew them up a bit later. 

Expect a lot more of these....

Farmer's Wife Quilt-Along

I'd been eyeing this quilt along from afar, when about a month ago, I looked out into my backyard and saw this...

Vegetable Garden:

Tomato / Herb Garden:

And then I realized....I already was a farmer's wife.  It didn't matter that this is the suburbs. :)  So, I went out, got the book, and jumped right in.  Here's the first five blocks I did.

I hate cutting out template pieces, so I'm doing the math on most of these (probably why the points don't all match).  I'm doing WAY more than two a week right now.  But, I'm sure I'll slow down sometime. 

I do keep forgetting how small these pieces end up.  Some of my larger scale prints are getting lost.  But, it's making it interesting.  I plan to do about a twin size, and any that I don't like, I figure I can use on the back and re-do it. 

And this is why I can't join the Patchwork Prism QAL, even though I really want to....

April Blocks do.good stitches

Rachel picked polaroid blocks for this month. I thought I was going to have trouble, but it turns out I have more fussy cut-able fabric than I thought.  Picture frames are Kona white, and the backgrounds are Kona medium grey, coal, and charcoal.  Time consuming, but these are so stinking cute, I might have to make a baby quilt out of them....

Festival of Half Square Triangles.....

Have you seen this festival?  I do love me some half square triangles.  Pop over and see all the fun.  

I was in the middle of this quilt top anyway, so I hurried up and finished in time to enter.

It's a big baby quilt, small twin size.  I didn't get time to quilt it yet, but making the top is always my favorite part anyway.

I'm calling it friendship zag.  It's traditional friendship star blocks, with 1/2 square triangles in the corners.  Each full block finishes at 9".  I set it in a brick type setting, which led to 1/2 stars on every other row end, and that secondary zig-zag pattern across the quilt. 

The weather wasn't great today, so the colors are a bit dim, but the oranges are so bright in real life. 

I managed to take pictures along the way, so if there's any interest in a tutorial, let me know.  I'll leave you with a few close-ups....

Scallop Sewing Machine Cover

I was going to use the scallop quilt from Curves class for a wall hanging, and made it to match my dining room.  Once I was done, I realized that I didn't really know how to quilt it, and it was slightly big for the area I had planned....

So, since it matched the room I do all my sewing in, I made it into a sewing machine cover.

I just laid the top over the machine, and trimmed away the excess.   I sewed a backing on it, and turned it, rather than binding.  I did add 4 ties, 2 on each side to allow it to hug the machine better.

It looks good, since that machine sits there ALL the time.

Improv Chevrons - Love Circle March Block

For the March blocks, the Love circle at do. good stitches is making these improv chevrons.  I could not wait to get started, Natalie picked colors that were in my stash, but nothing I would have put together myself.  I love how these turned out!  I normally am a very precise, template type of sewer, so this was fun to do.  I plan to do more.  And this color scheme might be one of my new favorites.  I'm thinking these same fabrics, maybe a few more added in, in a simple charm square type quilt....

Anyway, here are my two blocks.  The first one had some issues with the bottom disappearing when I cut to size, but still looks good.  The second one I planned a little better.

Lou Lou Thi Grid

I splurged when this fabric line came out and bought the whole line.  I've used quite a bit in other projects, but I wanted this quilt to be made with just this collection.  I loved how it looked with white, so this design was born.

I wanted to try sashing without using long strips, so each block is outlined on two sides, then I layed it out and figured out which blocks needed three sides, or four sides outlined.  This was slightly annoying, since I don't have a design wall, and had to use the living room floor.  But, I love the finished product.  It's sunny.  I didn't realize how much yellow is in the collection until you see the whole thing spread out.

Quilt stats:
4-1/2" finished squares, all Lou Lou Thi fabrics.
1" finshed width Kona Snow sashing
Backing - a lot of random fabrics
Binding - scrappy, Lou Lou Thi - I picked the smaller prints for this.
Size: Huge.  The picture above is on a king sized bed.  There are two rows hanging off the bottom and sides, with about a foot left uncovered at the head.
Quilting: Straight lines along the short side of the quilt,  about a 1/4 in on the inside of the sashing.