November's Farmer's Wife Blocks - Civil War

Well, nothing like the last day of the month to get this month's blocks done, but I'll take this win. BUT, it is only one of the two colorways that I got done on time this month, which is the civil war reproduction prints. I will let you know that I have five blocks done in the other colorway, so I should be able to get those done this weekend. Woot! Woot! That means I have only nine blocks in each colorway to do in December, meaning I met my goal! Then, after the first of the year, I can begin the task of assembling the blocks into the quilt tops.

Marketing Wren's Nest

I have been ubber busy making some more items for the Etsy shop (I won't bore you with them, but you can click on my Etsy store at the right, and you can see for yourself what is new).

I have also been working on my Farmer's Wife blocks, but I won't share those until I have at least one colorway done. Should be in a couple of days, I can post the Civil War colorway.

But, I have been reading the Etsy forum, and other blogs about branding yourself and marketing your products. I tried various forms of pricing my items, and just didn't land on one that I really liked. Then over the past couple of months, I have gathered a couple of tools and today I worked on my new price tags. For smaller items, I punch out of scrapbooking sheets tags so I can get the color I want - Pink! Then punch a hole in the top and punched the lace border on the other end. Next I stamped it with my Wren bird, done in pink ink, and finally I will tie a pink string through the hole that will allow me to attach it my items.

For my bigger items, I purchased good 'ole white tags, punched the lace border at the bottom, stamped it with Wren's Nest and my Wren bird, and finally I will tie a pink string through the hole.

It seems like a lot of work for just a price tag, but I am sure there is none like it, and it tells customers a little of who I am. I really like the lace border on the tags, and I know this is way different than any price tag I have ever seen. To top it off, it only took me an hour to make 25 large white tags and 78 small pink tags. Granted I haven't tied on the strings yet, but all in all, I like the outcome, and will use it as part of my brand!

Commissioned Project

I was contacted through my Etsy a couple of week's ago by an individual wanting to know if I make a Two Zip Hipster in Mossy Oak camo and John Deere pink print fabric. She has a diaper bag with the two prints, and wanted a matching purse. After some back and forth, ironing out the details, I agreed to make one for her.

This first picture is the fabric. I had to order the pink fabric from Ebay, because none of my local fabric shops had it available. I'm not sure how long ago it came out, but I think it is now out of print. The print came in Friday's mail, but I had to put it aside, as I worked the tables at my husband's gun show both days this weekend, and yesterday was a work day.

So, I got busy today and cut it out and made it! Glad I was able to get pics of the finished bag, before sending it to the new owner.

The Other October Blocks

Not the most exciting post, except, inside I am jumping up and down. I have all of my October Farmer's Wife blocks done, in both colorways! Now I have two weeks to get November's set of blocks done (oh yeah, and have Thanksgiving too!)

The  blocks below are out of civil war reproduction fabrics.

Cooking / Baking Day

(I write my post the night before, scheduling it to be seen the following morning, so this post is actually what happened Wednesday.)

Today was spent on cooking and baking. I first started with making crock pot cinnamon almonds.  You know the kind you can get at fairs, Cabela's, and in the mall?  These are easy to make and  taste even better!  I found the recipe on Pinterest, and here is the direct link to the recipe Cinnamon Almonds.  I'm think of making this recipe in other kinds of nuts and making an assortment packages to give as Christmas gifts.

Then I got started with making rolls for dinner.  I already had let the dough ball rise and made them into the ball shape to raise again before baking.

Then I whipped up some chocolate oatmeal no bake cookies.  Two thirds of this batch will go to my son and his unit in Afghanistan.  The recipe can be found here.

And finally, some yummy rolls to go with some homemade beef vegetable barley soup.

FQS Designer Mystery Club - Block 6

Block 6 of the Fat Quarter Shop  Designer Mystery arrived in today's mail, and I was able to get it cut out and made all in one evening.  I have to say, it is so nice to have patterns and directions done so well that the pieces just fall into place with such ease, and then to have it come out perfect!  The Fat Quarter Shop does a fantastic job, and if you are new to just click here to look at all their clubs they have to offer.

I have pictured the previous blocks below to give you a look of all the blocks done to date.

Block 5

 Block 4

Block 3

Block 2

Block 1

October's Blocks

Progress! I have done the colorway "Breath of Avignon" blocks for October. This means I have done 90 blocks so far in this colorway for the Farmer's Wife quilt. I am really trying hard to meet my goal of getting all the blocks done by the end of the year. I am currently thinking about the sashing to assemble all of these blocks, as I don't have enough of the white print fabric to use. I do have enough for the borders, and the backing. At least I did think about these awhile back, because this line is out of print. (I have 4 blocks done of the civil war reproduction done for October, but I'll wait until I have the rest for the month done to post).

New Design - IPhone Wristlet

I got a request from a customer to make a wristlet for a cell phone, with a pocket inside to hold an ID and a bank card. He wanted two for his children, one favors one college team and the other favors the rival college team. This is what the result I came up with using the same directions from the wristlet pattern that I have been blogging about for the last couple of posts.