Primrose Prairie Update

Finally.  Yes, finally, I have finished all 244 pieces that will be used for the sashing for the blocks of this quilt.

I started sewing the pieces together a few months back and it has taken a lot longer than I ever thought it would to get done.  Now I have to sew 8 pieces for each set a total of 24 sets (to go around 12 blocks.  They are scrappy, looking like a weird accordion!

The blocks will require sets of sashing and corner posts.  Not sure if I shared the corner posts in the past, but here are what they look like:

I put together (sort of) one block, so I can get an idea of what the block will look like with he sashing and corner posts.  I had to take it outside to lay it out, because my sewing table was too full of projects to get a good picture.

I'm liking this more and more, the further along I get in completing the quilt.

Warmes...

Leftover NFL Prints

I have, left over from some holiday sewing, some Pro Football team prints.  I decided to make up some pillowcases with them and put them on my ETSY site.  I had three team prints, and enough to make a set or a pair from each print.

Baltimore Ravens:

Seattle Seahawks:

Dallas Cowboys:

There are a zillion free patterns out there on how to do these pillowcases with french seams, just google it and choose one that works for you.  Many of them claim you can make one in 15 minutes, but it takes me about 25 minutes including cutting it out, sewing it, and pressing it properly.   My biggest tip for you would be to use the Clover Wonder Clips.   They hold the rolled top step of making the pillow case so much simpler and speeds up the rest of the project.

Warmest...

Weekend Report

well, I said I would be back to report the sales for the weekend.  Drumroll......One.  Yep, just one blanket!   But everyone at the show did poorly.  The customer crowd was low, because the weather was just beautiful.

But "A" for effort, and I am willing to give it another time or two of trying.

Warmest...

A First

I have never done a "craft" show before, and what I am doing the weekend really isn't a "craft" show, but rather my hubby's trade show.  Only this time, I get to take some of my wares, as the venue has some extra tables.  Another reason for attempting to sell my wares this weekend is the location of the show is the area.

I live in Oregon, and the trade show is in Eugene this weekend, which is home to University of Oregon and their team the Ducks.  If by chance you follow college teams, the Ducks is one of the nation's top favorite teams, especially so here in their home state.  The team fans also are some of the top spenders on anything made in Duck colors or fabric.  (FYI: both Oregon colleges, University of Oregon and Oregon State have their own team shops all around the state)

Moving on, as I am trying not to bore you.  I first started making items related to both colleges when to get my Etsy store off the ground.  I will say that I do sell more Ducks items rather than the Beavers, which is why I have more related Duck items than the other.  One of my best and biggest sellers is a baby fleece blanket with a crocheted edge around  it.

So, since we are going to be in the Ducks territory, I am taking some of these to see if I can sell them outside of my ETSY shop.  

When I got some success in selling the Oregon college blankets, I branched out some and started doing other specialties, such as camo related prints, NFL teams, Licensed fleece, and NBA teams.  If you are interested in seeing all of these different ones, then you can go to my ETSY shop by clicking here.  I will be taking all of these as well as the Ducks blankets just in case people have different likes and I might have it available.  I have been really busy this week getting my inventory beefed up, just in case I sell lots this weekend.

I'll be back on Monday to let you know how it went and how many I sold, if any.

Warmest...

Spring Has Taken Over

I have a confession to make, when I read different bloggers who start out a post something along the lines of "Life has gotten in the way of my blogging" I have always judged the blogger rather harshly. Who doesn't have the time to sew, I always make time to sew.  So this this an apology to all those bloggers, because this Spring has taken over my life, and has caused me not to even take a step in the direction of sewing,  quilting and then blogging about it.

I started a new task  hobby, that I thought would not take up  as much time.  Ha! Ha! It  really turned out to have gobbled up time and more time and even more time as the hobby progressed.   If you remember, my wonderful hubby built me a greenhouse last fall, just in time to use it in around mid winter and early spring.  Little did I know how much time would be spent starting over 500 seedlings from scratch and then the effort it takes to get them from seed into the ground is monumental.  The learning curve was rather large, and hopefully I can do better in time management next year. (I have pondered this some, and it is not looking too good right now.)

But the end result is all my new plants in the garden have been either saved from previous years and planted directly in the ground, or seeds that have been grown and nurtured in the greenhouse and then planted in the garden boxes.

Here is a picture of the garden as it stands last week when I planted 56 tomato starts.  (I even gave away several plants to my neighbors and my hubby's coworkers.)

This picture is a pano pic of the whole one side of my back yard.  Starting at the left is my chicken house and yard, then the garden is in the middle, then the greenhouse is next to the back of the house.  It is all nicely fenced off and in sections, making it nice to keep out the dogs, and gives the chickens some area to live freely as well.  

This is just the food garden area,  I have three large flower beds around the property that I also grew annual and perennial flowers and plants that have been set out and planted as well.

So, in closing, while I am so delighted in the outcome of this endeavor, I have also had to sacrifice time in the sewing room to accomplish this new hobby of mine.

P.S.  I did sneak an evening of sewing one day last week, but I worked on the pieced sashings for the the Prairie Primrose quilt that I have been working on since last fall.  I did't want to bore you again with a single post about them, as you have seen several posts on the progress already.

What I like about this little project is that, I can just sit down and start sewing without thinking about how to sew them up, as I already have the pieces cut out, and I know how to sew them without looking at a pattern and it gives me a sense of accomplishment in the area of my sewing life.

These are old pictures you have see before, but it gives you an idea of what I worked on the other night.  My box of pre cut pieces is almost empty, I think I have 6 sets left to get sewn up, and then I will be ready to piece it together.

Warmest...

Talented Husband

My hobby is much easier to do and spend money on when you husband has an expensive hobby too!

He does stained and fused glass works / art.  He is very talented, and has made several just beautiful things.  He made several small dishes awhile back, and they have just been sitting in a bag, as we didn't have the best outlet to sell them on a regular basis.  So, today I have finally gotten around to getting them listed on my Etsy site.  This way they can "sit" and let the whole internet seekers see them and hopefully purchase them.  You can view the whole collection here.

I thought you might like to see the fused glass dishes he specifically patterned after quilt blocks.

First up is a version of the nine patch:

Details here

Details here

Details here

Then we have some half square triangle blocks:

Details here

Details here

Details here

He has made me some other awesome fused glass works that you can read about it here.

See the fused glass plate in the background, and how it matches my table runner?  Pretty darn cool, if you ask me!

Warmest...