Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt Sew Along, .......Long overdue post

September 29.  SEPTEMBER 29.....can you believe that I haven't really done anything on this quilt since my last post!!!!

Actually, I've sewn a few blocks, but not enough to brag about.  Thought I'd share a bit of my plans to maybe not get completely caught up, but well on the way.

The logical thing in my mind would be to sew each block in order.  The lovely folks at Gnome Angel are setting the schedule.  So, to keep from getting confused, I've put a little line to the right of each block that has been released as per the schedule. Some of those blocks have a cross hatch meaning I've sewn that block....Woot Woot!  AND I've put a "P" to the left of each block that I've printed to paper piece.   I'm starting to think that Paper Piecing may be a more efficient way for me to sew these blocks.

My first paper pieced block was Autumn. I printed the paper pattern and trimmed each section down.

From experience I've found that keeping the paper attached to the block until each edge is stitched to something else, keep the block from stretching the seams from coming undone.

I'm using the setting from the book, but I want to make a large queen size quilt.  I don't really want to make more than the 100 blocks, so I'm going to add a narrow sashing strip between the block rows. As I complete each block I'm going to sew them together into strip sets.  The idea is that once the blocks are done, the quilt will be done too!

I've printed up a number of blocks and will soon sit down (I hope) and stitch these up.

I may never get caught up, but I'll plod along anyway.

The Splendid Sampler #1

OK, OK, so participating in the Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt along isn't enough, I have decided to ALSO do The Splendid Sampler.  More 6" blocks....goodie!

Debby Brown was telling us about this sew along last week when she was in Calgary teaching at the WonderFil Threaducation Centre.  She showed us a couple of the blocks she has already sewn and I was hooked!

I'm thinking of hosting a monthly or bi-weekly sew time, where I can get together with others and sew the blocks.  We would offer help and support to one another as we work on the blocks.

Last week when Debby was here we took a drive to the mountains.  No drive west is complete without a visit to Sugar Pine Quilt Company in down town Canmore.   I ALWAYS spend a few minutes upstairs and pick up a few batiks.  I think they have the best selection around!  So, I  picked up a bunch and have chosen a teal/blue/green colour scheme for this quilt.  Here are some of the fabrics and I am sure I'll add more as time progresses.

The first 5 blocks are cut and ready to sew.  I think I'll try to cut and store in plastic bags so that I will always be prepared and can sit down and sew with minimal prep time.

Finish 2016 #2

I'm well on my way to finishing some projects during 2016.  Although I have listed a few projects I WANT to finish this year, I am keeping the book for just FINISHED projects.

So one of the quilts that I had on my list to get done from a few years ago was one I called "garden path".  I quilted it, then over quilted with a heavier thread to quilt some flowers.   I didn't like it at all. Then it ended up folded on the floor under my ironing board and my puppy Boots used to lie on it and keep me company while I was sewing.  Boots went to camp during the summer and the quilt has been just hanging around since. 

 

I was pinteresting one day and saw a whole bunch of posts about making foot stools.  So, this quilt has become 2 lovely foot stools for my living room.  This will keep us from putting our feet up on the coffee table.

I used the following links as the basis for my foot stools.

bean bag cube

square floor cushion

fabric poof ottoman

I measured from the floor to the top of the couch cushion at 14".  I have a 15" square ruler, so it was easy to cut the 15" squares and use the width of my sewing foot as my seam guide.  I cut 6 squares for the cube.  I sewed the squares together into the cube, leaving an opening along one edge.  I had some bean bag pellets left over from making my granddaughter's bean bag chair in the summer.

This is where my plan fell apart!  Have you ever tried pouring a very large bag of bean bag pellets into a small opening all on your own?   Doesn't work very well!  I've made a real mess, but I got it done.

  

Once I had filled the bag full enough, I hand stitched the opening closed.

A lovely sewn pouf and a practical project as well. Now to clean up the mess.

  

I had some of the quilt left over and instead of just pitching it, I decided to sew another pouf.  This time I rotated the ruler a little bit and cut the squares on a bit of a diagonal.

Stuffing the pouf was way easier as I used up scraps from the rest of the quilt and some class stitching samples I had laying around.

I still needed more to stuff the pouf so folded and added some old towels and other scraps.  One of the posts I found had suggested to fill the gaps with fibre fill. Since I couldn't find any at home and I wanted to get this pouf done, I just sewed it shut.  This one is a bit softer and will make a really nice seat for a little one.

All that's left to do is print a picture or two and record these in my FINISH 2016 book.

Debby Brown was in town.....

AND I learned so much!

I had the extreme privilege of hosting Debby Brown at my house and at the WonderFil Threaducation Centre this week.  Debby is a very experienced and talented Quilter and Teacher.  She taught classes for 4 days and presented an evening trunk show.  I took a few pictures and lots of notes.  I now need to quilt, quilt and quilt.

Here are some pictures of Debby and the other lucky students in her classes.

Diamonds class

Not an Artist Class

Micro stitching

Debby Showing us how she does it.

We had a full house for her trunk show on Wednesday evening.

Loved her stories

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More Stories

We had a power failure on Thursday morning during our Feathers class.  This didn't stop Debby from teaching.

A loved quilt!

Over 22 years ago very good friends brought home a beautiful little almost 2 year old daughter.  To commemorate the special occasion, I made a quilt for Marylyn.

Yesterday, I found this now 24 year old snuggled under a very faded, tattered and well loved quilt.  I don't have a picture of the quilt when it was first finished, but I do have some shots of it now.

My rule is that if I make a quilt for you and you use it and abuse it....I'll gladly make you another one.  I've already made Marylyn a 2nd quilt and that one stays on her bed.  

I feel blessed that my work is still being loved!

FINISH!

Last year I saw post about people choosing a word for the year.  I didn't think much of it till the end of 2015 when I started thinking about my goals and new year's resolutions for 2016.  Way back when...... I made a list and posted it of projects that I NEEDED to complete within the year.  I've added to the post as I've worked on some projects, but I didn't finish my list.

This year, 2016, my goal is to track my FINISHED projects.  I don't want to know how many unfinished projects I have.  It's too depressing.  I want to know what I have accomplished and FINISHED!!!!!

So, I sat down on Monday afternoon and made myself a FINISH 2016 Journal.  In this book I plan to record my activities and my finished projects!   Wish me luck!

I fused some Sharpie dyed fabric to a heavy stabilizer (Fast 2 Fuse, I think) and did a few lines of decorative stitching including the journal title; FINISH 2016.   I fused a light hand dyed fabric for the inside of the journal cover. I used a wide and short zig zag stitch to finish the edges.  I think I stitched around 3 times total.

I used two sets of 5 sheets of printer paper, folded in half for the journal pages.  I hand stitched the pages in place.

My first FINISH of 2016 is a scrappy Quarter Log Cabin Quilt.

I started it last year in the hope of whittling down some of my scraps.  My goal was to get rid of all my "printed" fabrics and just concentrate on batiks and hand dyes in the future.  The problem with this goal is that I always need to purchase more fabric to finish a project and then will have leftovers. The border and binding of my quilt is a lovely red print. When I see something I can use for a backing/binding, I'll purchase 9-12 meters.   I have about a meter left.....I'll try to remember to post when I use up the last bits of this fabric!

In all truth, I got bored!  I got bored making the blocks.  I did have plans for a much bigger quilt and imagined some really funky arrangement.

In the end, I ran out of block making steam and what you see is what I got.  I felt that this arrangement needed to be put on point.  For some reason I like floating my quilt blocks on a background/border.  These side setting triangles and the 4" border were quick and easy.  I only  made one mistake.  Do you see it?  Not unpicking and not fixing!

I quilted this yesterday on the Handi Quilter Avante at the Wonderfil Threaducation Centre. I used one of our new Pantographs that I ordered from Urban Elementz.  I had fun stitching this panto.  I think it was the perfect blend with the border/backing fabric.

The quilt measure 74" square.  The borders were trimmed to measure 4" finished.  Does anyone else sew bigger borders onto their quilts and plan to trim down a bit?

I am lying a bit here......have you  noticed in the pictures that I have't stitched the binding yet?   I wanted to get something posted as early as possible this morning.  I am off now to do that binding.

Can I call this my first FINISH for 2016?

Houston....We have absolutely no problems!

Today is my last day in Houston, Texas!  I came down on October 22 to spend time in the WonderFil Specialty Threads booth at the International Quilt Market and International Quilt Festival.  I have never been before and I had a BLAST!!!!

I commented to Bernadette, my roommate, that my hubby usually made coffee for me every morning. Look what Bern made for me each morning!  I'm a lucky girl!

We missed most of the effects of Hurricane Patricia early in our trip to Houston, but the rain and wind were quite something.  This picture had us doubled over in laughter. We were loaded down with bags, coffee and fought the wind and rain!

So, I had to share a better picture of Bernadette!  Here she is confidently demonstrating on the Handi Quilter Avante with some of WonderFil's newest Fabulux thread.

We had a lot of fun playing with the new threads.  I was able to snap a few pictures of this length of sample fabric.  I forgot to get any images of the other quilted strip. 

Yesterday, before Bernadette left for Calgary, we went for a walk around town.  We were side tracked by the stained glass windows at the Methodist Church near the hotel.

 We had to touch the outside of the windows.  The glass is embedded in concrete and don't look much from the outside in daytime, but from the inside......

 ....from the inside, they look incredible.

We walked up to Buffalo Bayou Park.  Apparently, there has been a lot of rain lately.  It looks like there should be a pathway along here somewhere.

Here is a long shot of one of the foot bridges across the bayou.  Notice how high it is over the water?

Now look closely and see the garbage (grass) that was swept along in the high water.  Glad I wasn't anywhere near it.

We had a chance to look through the quilt show on the last day of the festival.  I'll post pictures of some of my favourites later.

Our hotel was a good 10 minute walk from Convention Centre and everything in the Centre is on the other side of the building.  I passed my activity goals each day.  I am going to have to challenge myself to keep up the walking.