Talk about a great day to stay inside! Very high temperatures here…..so far today 109 degrees.

Well, after yesterday and working in temperatures of over 113 degrees, I am  glad for the day off today. I’ve been watering my garden and just staying inside and getting stuff done. I’ve heard we had the nation high yesterday.

My young friend Lauren and I have been making juice from tart pie cherries and rhubarb. I love to make jelly, so I’ll put this away in the freezer until the weather is a  bit cooler and I have the urge to make some jelly! I absolutely love rhubarb jelly, and so does my family. My daughter Karmon requested some today, so I thought I’d better get to it while the rhubarb was still good. This hot weather is taking it’s toll on my rhubarb. It seems tougher than usual and a bit stringy. I got a quart of rhubarb juice and almost 2 quarts of cherry juice. I also froze a couple quarts of pie cherries. I’m a real happy person because I found out my neighbor has an apricot tree in their alley and all of the apricots were just falling to the ground and rotting. I picked them off the ground…they were very nice and I froze about 3 gallons of apricots…I’ll probably make Pinecot and Apricot Jam this fall.

And on the quilting front….I’ve been happily making my Farmer’s wife quilt blocks. I’m up to #66 now and am anxious to get them all done. It’s been a fun quilt to do.

I have this wool BOM over half done, and I’m enjoying every minute of it too! I love to embroider….I think it’s relaxing….

Happy quilting….Kris

Happy Birthday to my Mom!

I made two Red Work Samplers from Bird Brain Designs….My mom saw them and really wanted one of them. Since her 79th birthday is Tuesday I thought it would be a great gift for her. I finished one of them today, so I’m all set. I really like how they turned out. I think I’ll finish the other one for myself and hang it in my sewing room.

I also got my Primitive Garden June BOM on thursday, I was starting to get pretty impatient. Now I wonder when I’ll be getting my July BOM…..in another week or in 4 more weeks. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see! Since it’s so hot outside today, I’ve decided I’m staying inside and doing whatever I feel like doing. The house is clean, so I’m a free woman.

I’ve got everything ironed on the fabric, so now all I need to do it stitch everything down. I wasn’t sure about the background fabric I got with this BOM…it’s striped brushed cotton. I didn’t like it at first, but it’s starting to grow on me.

Well, off to get some stitching done

Happy quilting, Kris

Farmer’s Wife Quilt! I’m havin’ me some fun!

I am really having a great time working on my Farmer’s Wife Quilt. I’m enjoying digging through my fabric stash looking for pieces that might work in one of the many different blocks I’m making. You never get bored because the blocks are all so very different. I have a feeling this is a quilt I will be keeping for myself…..I’m up to block number 58 now, so I’m over half done. The next big decision will be deciding on what sashing fabrics to use. Here are the latest blocks I’ve made. I love to see what some of the names are….It’s pretty interesting.

Jackknife

Grape basket

Linoleum

Homeward Bound

And I’ve finally gotten both of my Redwork Samplers done. The one on the right was using DMC #8 perle cotton and the one on the left was using Valdani #12 perle cotton. I think I like the DMC the best. I need to wash and press these now, I’m not sure what I’ll do with them yet. I had fun doing these….I finished while sitting in the hospital with my daughter on my day off this week, she had her gallbladder removed. I didn’t get much done this past weekend either since I helped her with her 18 month old son…She couldn’t lift over 10 pounds…so lifting him was out of the question. Walker and I had lots of bonding time this week. It was fun!

The hexagon quilt is coming along also. I just keep plugging away at it. I’m not bored with it yet, which is a good thing. This is another ‘scrappy’ quilt. I feel good using up all of those old scraps…it’s nice not to have to buy any fabric for a quilt.

And here is my new BOM…..I haven’t even looked at it yet! I’m still waiting for my June BOM for my wool Primitive Garden quilt. I’m excited to get the mail everyday, and then I’m disappointed when it doesn’t come….they said they’d have it sent by the 15th, so I should be getting it anytime now. I can’t wait!

My garden is taking up some of my quilting time now too. It looks real good considering how hot and dry it’s been. I’m having to water everyday.

Happy Quilting! Kris

Farmer’s Wife Quilt

I’ve been working on my Farmer’s Wife Quilt this past week and I’m sure enjoying myself. When I look at the finished blocks hanging up on the wall it makes me happy! I will say that I’ve noticed that you make lots of half square triangles for these blocks, and tiny ones at that. When you figure that these are a little over a 6” block and then you start counting the pieces in each one….it’s kind of mind blowing. Since all 111 of them are different I don’t get bored and I’m always ready to start on the next one. I’ve got over 40 of them done so far, so I’m doing pretty good. I’ve done a couple of them over because I just wasn’t satisfied with the quality of my work…..second time around was a success!

I find it very interesting to see the different names of the blocks. I wish there was some way to label the blocks with their names. Sometimes I laugh when I see what the blocks are called! I’ve even kind of gotten used to using templates…..I don’t mind it near as much as I did when I first started this quilt.

I had a day off this past Wednesday and I used it to sew baby blankets and burp pads……I had a couple of special orders and I figured I might as well get it over with. I also used one of my pedicure gift certificates that my daughter Karmon gave me this past Christmas.  I’ve been watering the garden, so that’s why my feet look dirty!

I still haven’t got my Wool ‘Primitive Garden’ BOM for the month of June, I’m getting a little bit impatient. They told me they send the BOMs by the 15th of every month, so I should be getting it this coming week.  I’ve also been working on my Grandmother’s flower garden quilt and am slowly getting it done. Every stitch is hand sewn, so it’s pretty time consuming.

Well, hopefully it will rain this week, my garden is getting pretty dry. I’ve been watering every day.

Happy quilting! Kris

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