The Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt

Today seemed like a good day to pull out my Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt blocks that I started last October or November….I can’t remember exactly when for sure.  I started with the goal of making 2-3 blocks a week, and was doing pretty good when I had to get all of the throws my mom made quilted before Christmas. I just packed them up and put them away…..It was fun to get them out and look at them. I’d only had about 10 of them done, and I finished three more today. They are so much fun to make. I would say the only problem for me is that they are made using templates, I absolutely hate using templates. Just give me the measurements and I’ll get my rotary cutter and get to work. The book: The Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt comes with a CD of all of the templates, so you just have to print them and then use them. The blocks are supposed to finish at 6 inches, I’m not sure if they mean 6 inches unfinished or 6 inches finished. The book does not explain things very well, so if you’re a beginner I would say this is not the book for you. My blocks are 6 1/4 inches unfinished. I think the templates are printing a little bit smaller than the size they actually should be. I’m having fun doing these, but at the same time I’m very frustrated too.

These blocks will be set together on point, with 1” setting strips and a cornerstone. There are 111 blocks in the finished quilt, so I have a long ways to go! I’m trying to use just scraps for these blocks……..that’s part of the fun of this quilt too.My hexagon flower quilt is growing! I’ve got to get busy and get some of the lighter colored flowers done, those are the ones I seem to be running out of. I’m still making 2-4 of these flowers every day, so I haven’t gotten tired of them yet.

I’m enjoying being inside, it’s very hot and extremely windy today. Well, it’s back to my sewing room!

Happy quilting, Kris

I love English Paper Piecing

As most of you already know…I’m working on a Grandmother’s Flower garden quilt using the English paper piecing method. I’ve made hundreds of hexies so far and I really enjoy working on them when I’m sitting in my easy chair in the evenings after work. While in a quilt store a few weeks ago…my sister and I saw a new book titled ‘English Paper Piecing’ by Vicki Bellino….there was a table runner in it that my sister Susi and I immediately fell in love with. It was made using the Aunt Grace’s fabric from the Garden Party BOM I just finished a couple of months ago.  I knew I had to make this table runner…..it just stuck with me and that’s all I could think about. Vicki Bellino designed the Garden Party BOM and she also designed the next BOM I’m starting in June called ‘Vintage Rouge’. I had quite a bit of fabric left over from the Garden Party BOM so I decided to make one for my sister and one for me. I just finished the one for my sister today. I like how it turned out, the little dresden plate flowers in this runner are kind of small and time consuming. I think I’ll wait a few weeks before I start on  the one for me. I only had to buy 1/4 of a yard of fabric to make two of these runners….Not too bad! The flowers, leaves and vines were all hand appliqued, it would be pretty easy to sew them down with a machine, but I think that sometimes doesn’t look as good as the hand applique.

And here is a picture of the runner and my sister Susi who I made it for. She loved it. It made me happy to give it to her!

Happy Quilting, Kris

Here it is!

At last…it’s completely done. It will make it to Kansas City this coming weekend, and I’m glad to get it finished. I learned a lot while making this quilt, in piecing and in the free motion quilting. I realize I have a lot to learn yet, though I’m pretty happy with how this turned out. I think Lesley will like it.

The label on the back of the quilt….wish I would have thought it out a bit more…..but it was sewn in before I thought about the changes I’d like to make to it…so I decided it would just have to stay in! The battery went dead in my camera, so this is the only shot I have of it done. Now, my next free motion quilting project will be my Aunt Grace’s Garden Party or my Snow Days quilt that is for my mom. I’d like to get them both done right away if possible.

Happy Quilting, Kris

Retro Flower Quilt will be done this week!

Well, it’s true, the Retro Flower quilt for my daughter Lesley will be at her house this coming weekend. I just finished quilting it and have the binding on…just need to stitch it down now. This has taken me a couple of weeks to complete, I’ve done a little bit every day.The binding isn’t sewn on yet in this picture, it’s very colorful and made from 5 different fabrics. I’m anxious to get the hand stitching done on it.

A couple of close up pictures of the quilting, I feel like I did an okay job….I like the overall look of it, but I’ve got some minor little glitches. I’d say a good job for the first large quilt I’ve attempted to free motion quilt. I think I like the back side as well as the front!The second BOM from Primitive Gatherings…I am really having a wonderful time doing this quilt. I’m anxiously awaiting the June BOM! I love the wool, it’s so bright and colorful.

My hexagon flower quilt is growing! I try to sew a few on every day….I’m really liking it! This one I’m keeping for myself.

My birthday was Friday, I ended up working until  almost 9p.m. that day…..I was delivering bunches of flowers and Sherrie’s Berries to Moms for mother’s day. It was a stressful work week. I do love my job and am hoping it will calm down this coming week!

Off I go to get some binding sewn down!

Happy quilting! Kris

Free Motion Quilting is kinda fun!

My free motion skills are improving. I’ve got a long ways to go, but I’m having a great time practicing and learning as I go. I’ve decided that I will never be a FM quilter who uses stencils or follows a pattern. I’m just kind of the type of person who is going to ‘go with the flow’! It’s getting easier to just go with my instinct on what will work. I’m still not as neat as I’d like to be, but overall my quilts look pretty good, as long as you don’t look too closely. I hope with time, that will improve too.

I’m about a third done with Lesley’s Retro Flower quilt and I’m excited about how it looks, I think she’ll love it when it’s done.. This is what I’m doing in all of the flowers, I think I could do this in my sleep now!

This is the back of the quilt, I think it looks pretty good, and should look even better when it’s been washed a few times.I think Morris is just as bad as Wilber….they both like to lay on my quilts!

I’ve started sewing my hexie flowers together! I’m excited to get far enough along that I can start planning how I’m going to do the applique in the border of this one. It’s slow going doing all of that hand stitching, I try to sew a few together every morning before work and  also in the evenings when I come home from work.  So far I’m sewing 12 flowers in a row and we’ll have to see how big this will be when I put the white border on, I’d like this bigger than a wall hanging, but not huge either.

Happy Quilting! Kris