A Little of This and A Lot of That

First up is a lot of that, yes, more of those pesky little Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks.  Remember the sew-a-long is releasing two blocks a week, but I am trying to do more than that, so I can be done with this project.

The biggest reason for wanting to get done with this project is I have become to really dislike the technique of making them.  I swear and promise, I have done everything in my power to like this Paper Piecing way of making blocks, but it is just not coming to attrition.  I still have all the same complaints that I have written about before, the waste of fabric, the time it takes to make a block, and the difficulty I am having making the paper pricing to work.  The learning curve should be over by now, as I am a fifth of the way done with the project, and it still is difficult.  Blocks are taking three to four hours to complete, I spend more time ripping out the pieces over and over again, and thinking opposite and backwards in laying down the fabric before sewing is not how my brain works.

I enjoy quilting too much to be spending this torturous time and effort on this project, or paper piecing ever again.  But, if anything, I will see this project through to the end and to do so, I will have to do several blocks a week.  

The weather has been so overcast here, so much so, that I haven't been able to take pics of the other projects I have completed.  I have done an apron, another completion of a UFO BOM that I started back in 2009, and quilt block Christmas ornaments for a charity.  Hopefully in the next few days I can get pictures of these and get them posted.

Warmest...

Leftovers and More

I had lots of leftover fabric from the basket quilt from my last post.  I decided to stitch it up into a nine patch scrappy.  It is under my needle getting quilted this week.  

I have also kept up on the weekly blocks from the Farmer's Wife 30's Sampler quilt along.

Not sure if any of you remember last year when I participated in Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt, Grand Illusion, but it was so much fun, that I decided to participate in this year's mystery quilt.

This year's mystery quilt is called Allietare, based on her tour she went on in Italy earlier this year. if interested, click on the highlighted Allietare and it will take you to her blog and you can find out all the details.

Again, this year, I am determined to use up fabric found in my stash.  But looking into my stash,  I found that I didn't have some of the colors Bonnie recommended (see the paint cards in the picture).  So, I pulled full yardage pieces (as opposed to scraps or fat quarters) and ended up pulling some Moda Fig Tree pieces from various collections.  What is nice with Moda's lines of fabric, that even if it is from several collections, the colors and patterns will generally match and go together just fine.  So this will be more of a matched mystery quilt instead of a scrappy one.  If interested in viewing what other quilters are pulling from their stash and their scraps, you can see lots of pictures on Bonnie's Quiltville Face Book page. The actual clues and sewing doesn't begin until the day after Thanksgiving, and the revel on New Year's day.  I will be posting the progress when the fun begins.

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Picture Always Shows The Flaws

Can you see it?  The big blaring MISTAKE!!!  Let me tell you all about it.

This project was what was called a "counter BOM" meaning that the local quilt shop would give you a free block pattern each month if you bought the fat quarter out of the fabric line that was chosen for the  quilt.  Patterns in this quilt were 12 different basket blocks done in a 30ish to 40ish reproduction line of fabric.  Project happened from 2007 - 2008.  I sewed all 12 basket blocks and 12 nine patch blocks / setting triangles.  I had a few squares left over, so I stitched them up into a different layout of the nine patch using only four prints.

Fast forward to 2015, the year of catching up and finishing up old UFO's, and I picked up this one and put it all together.  Yippee!  Right!  

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!  See that brown 9 patch with only 4 square of the print instead of 5 squares? Yep, that one.  I picked up one of the "leftover" blocks that I had made instead of using the correct one.  I cannot believe how blaring it is once I took the picture.  That wrong block throws off the look of the whole quilt.

I am really glad that I take pictures when the top gets done, just for this reason.  Finding this kind of blaring mistake at this point can be fixed, not so once the top is quilted.  

So, out came the seam ripper, the correct block is put in place and ta da!  We have a new and improved version:

Oh what a difference one little block can make.  I have some plain 60"wide muslin on order to use for backing, and I can mark this one off my UFO list.

On a side note, I also got started on the 2015 Leaders and Enders project from Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville site.  I have four rows of 17 pieces in each row done, and will continue to work on it until I have about 20 rows done.  About the size between a double bed size and a queen bed size.  It should go pretty fast as the blocks are around 5".  I am not doing anything special, like doing a light one then a dark one.  I am just picking up one off the top of the pile and sewing it on to the row and then picking up the next one on top of the pile.  It is proving to be interesting, but very freeing from following a pattern of contrasts.

Hectic Life This Week

Life really has been busy this week.  Here is a recap:

I did manage to get these blocks for the Farmer's Wife 30's Sampler Sew Along.

This is so far, one of my favorites.

This one looks a bit confusing to me, probably my choice of fabrics.  The pink/red flower print was too big to use in such a small block.  I think overall though, it will blend in when the quilt is put together.

This had "Y" seams.  Doing it paper piecing.  "Y" paper piecing seams should be a four letter word!!!

This one reminds me of summer.  

Then I spent a couple of days getting my garden area ready for winter.  I spread two bales of hay along the paths between the raised beds, and covered my carrot and onions.  When I posted this on Facebook, I had a friend tell me to roll my hoses and drain the pipes.  It usually doesn't freeze until late December or January, and I still need water on for the chickens.  

Then towards the end of the week I had cataract surgery.  Yep, at age 55 I had to get this surgery.  It comes as a result of getting cobalt radiation when I was a child.  I am doing fine, and can see much better.  I am going to get the other eye done, as it won't be possible to do a prescription for glasses, and the other eye has the normal start of a cataract, so they will just go ahead and get it done in about 3 weeks. Definitely not my best photo, but wanted to capture the look right after surgery that day.  Smile!

Since moving my parents up here to live with us, I have been having my dad work on this sewing cabinet.  Remember when I posted about my Sister In Law gifting me the Singer Rocketeer?  And remember the old dingy varnish looking desk it came with, including the water rings and cigarette scars?  Well, Dad spent hours sanding off the old varnish, priming it, and then painting it a very light blush  rose color.  I also had him change out the drawer hardware with knobs and handles with pretty rose motifs.  What a transformation!!! I couldn't be more excited.  He did such a good job.

Well, onto another week of busyness and working on all kinds of projects.  

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More Paper Piecing

Ya know, I am now on the fence about this paper piecing way of putting a block together.  I am not sure I like the process of getting to the finished block, but I know I like the finished end result.  Here are some conclusions (at least in my mind) of what I think about the paper piecing gig:


These three are some of the simple blocks they are starting with in this sew along.  This type of block is a easy rotary cut, pieces sewn together, and bam, you're done.  Not so with paper piecing. It is very time consuming.  Maybe it is part of the learning curve for me, but I still would imagine it will take longer than a more traditional way.  It also takes more fabric.  You have to have almost double the size piece of fabric to stitch and ensures it over covers the portion of the block you are piecing.  Believe me I tried using an exact shaped piece (with seam allowances included) and somehow it didn't work well.  So I over cut a piece of fabric sew it onto the paper and then I have to cut it down after each seam and when the block is finished.

Now, here is where the paper piecing leans towards the good side of things.  These blocks are a few that I have done on my own, outside of the sew along.  I feel two blocks a week is too slow of a pace, so I went ahead and started at the beginning and made several this week.  

This block gets a little more detailed, but I gotta tell you, no way would by "flying geese" pieces ever look this good doing a block the traditional way!  

This block has some acute isoseceles triangles and trapezoids, which are harder types of pieces to normally sew together, but paper piecing makes them come together and fit perfectly.

Now the real charm of paper piecing happens with this block.  Third one in, of doing them on my own, and wow.  This is a block with a lot of tiny pieces.  And when I sat a lot of pieces, I mean 53 pieces to be exact!  Think about that for a minute, 53 pieces in a 6 1/2 inch block!!  When I said earlier that paper piecing takes longer, well this block took me two evenings to complete, or about 4 hours.  That's is an investment of time to be spending on one block, but the pieces are so small, that I would't be able to get it sewn, much less with this kind of accuracy.  

I have only done 7 blocks in the two week since the start of this sew along, and have 92 more to go, making it kinda of daunting to think of the time that will be spent in getting this project across the finish line.  

So in review, while I have some cons about paper piecing, there are more important pros that want to keep me plowing ahead and through this sew along.

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The Start

The Farmer's Wife 1930's Sew Along kicked off September 28th.  There has been more drama over this sew along than I have ever experienced.  Their Facebook page blew up, and women were going just crazy, to the point of obtaining the leader's personal phone number and sending a text to her in the middle of the night demanding an answer.  First, privacy was invaded, second, who does this kind of thing over a sew along?  I almost had decided to quit, as I don't need that kind of drama to have fun.  But, I went ahead and did the first two blocks (the sew along is to do two blocks a week, and then have all 99 blocks done by the end of the year), and decided that I will stay in for a few more weeks to see if things calm down some.

Here is the first block they had us do, #12 called Becky.

This is a picture of the back of the block, showing the paper piecing that I did to get it to look so crisp in it's seams.  

Just for kicks, I put my 61/2" ruler on top of the quilt block to show that the block came out exactly to the 6 1/2" square it is supposed to be when it get all sewn up.  I think I am going to like this paper piecing as it turns out so precise!

This is the second block, #16 Bonnie.

If you are interested, click on the red banner in the upper right hand corner of my blog, and it will take you directly to the page to get all the information and to sign up.  It's free.

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UFO #2 Finished

If you will remember, this was the year of finishing up as many UFO's as possible.  My ultimate goal was set at 2 per month, but we have already established that bar was set a little too high.  So, I still want to plow through what I have sitting on my table for finishing up as many UFO's this year.

Last night I finished hand sewing down the binding on this  wallhanging quilt.  This particular one was a project that took longer than it should have, but we crossed the finish line, and I couldn't be more happy with how it turned out.  This is the summer version of a four season set, which was part of a Thimbleberries Quilt Club of 2003(you can go back and read more about it here).  It depicts a row of canning jars, a row of watermelon and it's slice, and a row of ears of corn.

I did special straight line quilting to try to depict the ring on a canning jar, and the slanted lines to show the jar had contents.

Here, I echoed quilted the watermelon to have it looked like it was sliced.

And I did the same type of quilting for the slice of watermelon.

I did the middle corn ears with just some straigtht line quilting, but the ears on the end, I got kinda crazy by using a decorative stitch on my machine to make it look like the kernels.  Turned out really cool, but it took way too much tread and time to do each ear in the row.

The backing was purchased about 10 years after I had punched the kit.  I did a search for the specific Thimbleberries fabric that was used in this quilt, and found a piece large enough to do the backing on Ebay.  The print that I found was used in one of the ears of corn, so the backing will be a good match to the whole wallhanging!  

I use Ebay a lot to find missing or older lines of fabric to either complete a quilt or for backings.  Bay rocks for quilters!!

Warmest...