Gifts for Friends - Coin Purses and Star Wars Bags

I haven't been posting much lately, but I have been busy!  This year, I made a few small items to give as gifts to some of my co-workers and friends.  It's always tough to come up with good ideas for holiday gifts, but everyone seemed to enjoy receiving something hand made.

Coin Purses in modern batiks

La Pasacaglia Quilt: Three More Rounds

I took stock today of my progress on the La Pasacaglia quilt rounds and realized that I'm quite behind on sharing my latest completed items.  Since my last post, I have three more rounds complete and have officially reached an edge!

La Pasacaglia Quilt

Charms Quilt for Baby Vivian

I've never purchased a charms pack, but have always wanted to try some of the cute, quick projects. The beauty of a charms pack is that you get a wide variety of coordinating fabrics, without having to purchase individual cuts of fabric. When a co-worker had a baby, I decided I'd give it a try.

Verdict? Love it!

Garden Fence and Star Puzzle: Blue & White Sampler Quilt Blocks

I completed two more blocks for my Blue & White Sampler Quilt, Garden Fence and Star Puzzle.

Star Puzzle and Garden Fence Quilt Blocks

Celestial Flora - English Paper Piecing Quilt Complete

The last time I shared progress on my first English Paper Piecing quilt, I had finished the center of the quilt.  Now the quilt is done!  I added a small border with a tiny checkboard theme, as well as a wonderful swirl fabric as a wider border.  I named the quilt "Celestial Flora", since it has a feel that is a cross between flowers and outer space.

Celestial Flora Quilt

The quilting isn't visible in this image, but the center is quilted with double lines at various angles.  The checkerboard elements are quilted with straight lines that go out into the outer border, both on the side and at the borders.  I duplicated the hexagon flowers on each corner and filled in between with medium sized swirl filler.

Needless to day, I'm hooked on English Paper Piecing since I'm now knee-deep into a La Pasacaglia quilt!

Below are some close-up pictures of some of the quilting detail.  The quilting was done with a standard home sewing machine using variegated embroidery thread in the center and monofilament thread on the border.

Goose in the Pond Block - Blue & White Sampler

I haven't done much lately on the Blue & White Sampler I have in progress, but I realized that I hadn't posted my latest block, Goose in the Pond.  This is a 10 inch block that I really like.  The little 9-patch blocks are so cute!  The block is perfect for the 10 inch size because it uses a 5x5 grid, so each mini-block is 2 inches square.

Goose in the Pond Block - Blue & White Sampler

I found this block on Generations Quilt Patterns site, where the instructions are spot on.  They don't mention the 10 inch size, but have measurements for 7 1/2, 15, and 30 inch blocks.  Switching to the 10 inch size isn't to difficult.

See more of my finished blocks for my Blue & White Sampler quilt on this blog.

La Passacaglia Quilt: Ten Rounds Complete

I have now complete 10 rounds or rosettes for my La Passacaglia quilt.  I'm so enjoying this project, making no particular decisions from one round to the next except to try not to duplicate one I've already made.  Sometimes I'm surprised at how a choice turns out differently than I expected!

La Passacaglia quilt - Ten Rosettes

Farmer's Wife Quilt Assembly: Blocks on Point with Sashing

We finished our quilt blocks and I know you've been spending a lot of time admiring your blocks, but it's time to get down to the assembly.

Maybe you've even started deciding how you want to arrange the blocks, making sure that you have a nice distribution of the blocks based on value, color saturation, similarity, etc. If you haven't, you'll want to be thinking about this step. Once you get a good arrangement, be sure to take a picture so you can reference that when all of your blocks become a jumble again!

In this post, I'll give you the steps you need to assemble your quilt top using the traditional Farmer's Wife Quilt layout. This has the blocks set on point with sashing between, "posts" at the corners of the blocks, and triangles around the edges to square things off.  During your internet surfing, you'll see other ideas on how to lay out the quilt blocks and some of this may apply to those ideas.

Farmer's Wife Block Layout

Farmer's Wife - Week 39 - Our Blocks

Our final week of making blocks for the Farmer's Wife Quilt-along is done!  But, we are far from finished with the quilt.  We'll start assembling the quilt, so look for a post about how to put this quilt together.  Until then, here are our last two finished blocks.

Farmer's Wife - Week 39

At last, this is our final week of blocks for the Farmer's Wife Quilt-along!  We only have two blocks this week and they are definitely interesting blocks.

• Block 93 - Swallow
• Block 95 - Temperance Tree

Farmer's Wife - Week 38 - Our Blocks

After finishing week 38, we only have one week left!  Our blocks from this week include two more complex blocks that are similar and one other that is pretty simple.  Come back soon and I'll start sharing the assembly process.

Farmer's Wife - Week 38

Here we are in week 38 of our Farmer's Wife Quilt-along with only one more week left!  This week we are making two blocks that are very similar and one other that is fairly simple.

• Block 89 - Steps to the Altar
• Block 90 - Storm Signal
• Block 91 - Strawberry Basket

Farmer's Wife - Week 37 - Our Blocks

This week included two simple blocks and one more challenging.  See our finished blocks for week 37 of the Farmer's Wife Quilt-along.

Farmer's Wife - Week 37

We are on to week 37 of our Farmer's Wife Quilt-along, with just two more to go after this one! We have three more fairly simple blocks for this week.

• Block 73 - Rainbow Flowers
• Block 76 - Sawtooth
• Block 84 - Spool

Farmer's Wife - Week 36 - Our Blocks

Our blocks for week 36 of the Farmer's Wife Quilt-along came out nicely.  In addition to good progress on the project, we've also been organizing!  If you haven't seen my recent posts on a few projects I finished in my sewing room, check out my new thread shelf and my ruler organizer.

Beth organized the remaining fabric for this project, quilting tools, sewing table, ironing board, and loose-leaf binder; cleaned her sewing machine, basket of mending (and mended several things), other quilting fabrics, and cut up two old blouses to make into book covers.  Whew!

Farmer's Wife - Week 36

We are closing in on the last weeks of our Farmer's Wife Quilt-along and will begin thinking about how we want to assemble and quilt our blocks together!  While we do, here are this week's blocks:

• Block 52 - Hovering Hawks
• Block 71 - Puss in the Corner
• Block 72 - Railroad

Farmer's Wife - Week 35 - Our Blocks

Week 35 is complete and here are our blocks, which turned out great.  We made a lot of HSTs and did some creative piecing for this set.

Farmer's Wife - Week 35

We have more creatively pieced blocks for week 35 of our Farmer's Wife Quilt-along.  The blocks this week are:

• Block 48 - Homeward Bound
• Block 50 - Honey's Choice
• Block 51 - Hovering Birds

Farmer's Wife Week 34 - Our Blocks

Week 34 was tough for me, but we are closing in on finishing all 111 blocks!  Check out our blocks and some thoughts on how they came together.

Organizing: Rulers

A few weeks ago, I shared with you my thread storage project (that I am loving) and I mentioned that I would tackle my rulers next.  Well, I meant it!  With a little research and not much expense, here is what I came up with.

Ruler Storage

This is made up of a 21 3/4 inch picture ledge and a 15 3/4 inch rail with 2 3/4 inch hooks, all from IKEA and totaling roughly $20.  We (I mean my husband!) mounted the rail to the underside of the picture ledge, so there are fewer holes in the wall.

Now I can hang my smaller rulers from the s-hooks and my longer rulers can stack on the picture ledge, horizontally.  You'll see a little 4-inch square ruler up there.  The hole on that one is too small for the s-hooks, so I'll use a small binder clip (you know the black ones with the silver wire clips?) for that one.  The binder clip will clip to the ruler, then the silver wire will hang on the s-hook.

I feel like I have SO much more space on my work table now that all of these things are up off the table, and they are still easy to get to because I mounted this unit right above the table top.

Farmer's Wife Quilt-Along: Re-Worked Blocks

Now that I'm almost done with my Farmer's Wife Quilt blocks, I find I don't like a few so I have re-made them.  Check out each block before and after.

• Block 81 - Snowball
• Block 63 - Ozark Maple Leaf
• Block 30 - End of Day
• Block 29 - Economy

Organizing: Thread Storage

I am very fortunate that my husband is handy.  When I was inspired by a variety of posts on Pinterest, he was eager to help me improve my thread storage situation.

For years I've been using the plastic boxes with posts in them for storing spools of thread.  While the boxes are clear, I was never able to really see what I had unless I opened the box, and some of the newer spools of thread are too tall.  As for my collection of bobbins, always in a tangled mess in a box or drawer.  I found myself buying new spools of thread in colors I already had because I didn't realize I already had it.  Plus, I kept winding new bobbins with colors I already had bobbins for.  If you know me, you know that drives me crazy.  I like organization and efficiency.

I decided to use two ideas for my solution.  You can see here the awesome shelf my husband made for me.  I decided against the nails on the front of each shelf for the bobbins.  Something about having all of those nails sticking out didn't sit well with me.

Thread Storage

If you can zoom in on the spools of thread, you can see that we made the spaces tall enough so that I can include the bobbin with its matching spool of thread, placing it on top and using a short golf tee to hold it in place.  This was another idea I saw on Pinterest.  I've also seen drinking straws in place of the golf tee...you can cut them to the size you need.

I'm loving this solution.  All of my thread is organized by color, so I can quickly find what I need or know that I need to buy a new color.  The bobbins stay with the matching spool and I don't have a mess of thread to untangle.

Now, on to my rulers!

Farmer's Wife - Week 34

This week we'll be doing more HSTs and a few flying geese, and another set of almost twin blocks.  The blocks we are doing are:

• Block 41 - Friendship Star
• Block 42 - Fruit Basket
• Block 45 - Grape Basket

Farmer's Wife - Week 33 - Our Blocks

Well, we took quite a break - traveling and life - but we are back.  Lots of HSTs for week 33 of the Farmer's Wife Quilt-along!  Read on to see how our blocks came along.

Providence Quilt Block - Blue & White Sampler

I have two more blocks completed for my Blue & White Sampler, Providence and a mystery block.  If you know the name of this block, please let me know!

Blue & White Sampler Blocks

La Passacaglia - Three More Rounds

I've made more progress on my La Passacaglia quilt project, having added three more rounds or rosettes to the collection.  I'm working on another large round that I'll share when it is done, but you know how long these can take.

La Passacaglia Quilt - In Progress

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to share English Paper Piecing with my sister, so my next round will start with the center star that she started!

I'm having fun with the color play with this project, discovering how differently the same fabric appeals to me based on the size of the piece it is used in.  For example, that orange-y fabric in the large round at the lower left is one I added to the mix because I like to have some gold-ish color fabrics in multi-color quilts.  Separately, I like the fabric, but I wasn't really wild about how it looked in that particular round; I think there is just too much of it.  But check out that fabric in the stars around the rosette at the top right; it looks great as the points of the stars!  I like it so much, I'm going to use it again for star points and will also use it for the long diamond shapes.

Check out all of my progress on the La Passacaglia quilt project.

What do you do with your fabric scraps?

Sometime last year I started saving almost all of my fabric scraps.  So, you're probably thinking I mean anything larger than 2 or 3 inches, right?  Well, not quite!  Here's what I'm doing to recycle my left-over fabric scraps.

Fabric Scraps

Twisted Log Cabin block - Blue and White Sampler

I finished the Twisted Log Cabin block for the Blue & White Sampler quilt and I wanted to share this fabulous block with you.

Twisted Log Cabin quilt block

La Passacaglia Quilt - More Progress

I completed my fourth round, cog, rosette (whatever you want to call it) for the La Passacaglia quilt.  Continuing in my quest to complete this ingenious pattern using English Paper Piecing, I'm finding the fussy cutting to be the most tedious.  I think I need to spend less time worrying about where to cut and just cut from the same place in the fabric pattern and let serendipity happen.

La Passacaglia - My Fourth Round

Kansas Dust Storm and ET Phone Home Blocks - Blue & White Sampler

I continue to make progress on the Blue & White Sampler quilt, in between the Farmer's Wife Quilt blocks and the La Pasacaglia Quilt!  Here are the latest blocks, ET Phone Home and Kansas Dust Storm.  See below for more details on the complete quilt plan.

ET Phone Home and Kansas Dust Storm Quilt Blocks

La Passacaglia - Third Round

My progress on the La Passacaglia project continues and I'm really enjoying the process.  Here is my third Rosette or Round.

La Passacaglia - Another Rosette

Farmer's Wife - Week 33

This week's Farmer's Wife blocks are all about HSTs... and a little applique.  The blocks are:

• Block 26 - Cut Glass Dish 
• Block 27 - Darting Birds 
• Block 35 - Flower Basket 

Farmer's Wife - Week 32 - Our Blocks

This week in our Farmer's Wife Quilt-along was a little more challenging, but the blocks turned out nicely!

Two More Blocks - Blue & White Sampler

Last week I shared the Lone Star block I made for my Blue & White Sampler quilt.  Well, I've finished two more blocks; Swoon and an un-named block I stumbled on.

They are very similar, but since I made them different sizes, they look very different.

La Passacaglia - My Second Round

About a month ago, I shared my first round or rosette of the La Passacaglia quilting endeavor, so here is my second!  Following along with some of the images I can see online (I haven't gotten the book, yet), I made this one larger, with several more rings around it and with a "bite" taken out for my first one to "sit in".

Farmer's Wife - Week 32

For week 32 of our Farmer's Wife Quilt-along we'll be using just about all of the piecing methods we've used before and the blocks vary from easy to challenging.  The blocks are:

• Block 43 - Garden Path
• Block 77 - Seasons
• Block 99 - W.C.T.U.

Farmer's Wife - Week 31 - Our Blocks

Week 31 of our Farmer's Wife Quilt-along is complete!  We have now completed 88 blocks and have 8 weeks left.  Here are our blocks for this week:

All of these blocks were assembled using creative piecing techniques.

Lone Star Block - Blue & White Sampler

I have not made the Lone Star block before now, but I had fun making this one using the instructions found on the Hopeful Homemaker, which are just excellent!

Blue & White Lone Star Block

I'm very pleased with how it turned out and will use this method again.

I hadn't shared yet that I'm working on another sampler quilt, this time in blue and white, but also a less structure quilt.  I discovered this post on Sew Mama Sew that describes a clever way to make a sampler quilt with different sized blocks.  I love new ideas and decide to jump right in.

I'm starting with a few large blocks; this one and the Feathered Star block I wrote about in January.  I'll continue to share my blocks for the Blue & White Sampler, as they are complete.

Farmer's Wife - Week 31

For week 31 of our Farmer's Wife Quilt-along we'll be using various simple piecing methods and all of the blocks are 9-patch blocks.  The blocks are:

• Block 55 - Linoleum
• Block 69 - Practical Orchard
• Block 70 - Prairie Queen

After this week, we have only 8 weeks and 23 blocks to go!  Can you believe that with this week's blocks we've made 88 blocks?

Farmer's Wife - Week 30 - Our Blocks

We have finished 30 weeks of our Farmer's Wife Quilt-along!  It's hard to believe we have completed 87 blocks.  Here are our blocks from this week.

All three blocks were made using the Foundation Paper Piecing method.

La Passacaglia - The Mania Begins

As promised in my previous post in English Paper Piecing, here is the first medallion (or rosette) in my venture into La Passacaglia.

La Passacaglia - Number 1

This is also my first time doing any fussy cutting, which seems to be almost a must for this pattern.  I fussy cut the center 5-point star, the 10 brown pentagons around, as well as the 5 light gold diamonds, although it's difficult to tell on those.  It's definitely the sort of thing that I'll keep to a minimum, as it does add extra time to the process.  Plus, the fabric has to lend itself to the purpose.

I'm pleased with the first one here and am well into the second one, which will be larger, consisting of several more "layers" around.

Until, next time!

Farmer's Wife - Week 30

This week we'll be making three more blocks for our Farmer's Wife Quilt-along using Foundation Paper Piecing.  The blocks are:

• Block 54 - Kitchen Woodbox
• Block 60 - Noon & Light
• Block 66 - Periwinkle

But, before you get started, take a minute to recognize that this is week 30!  The best news is that there are only 9 weeks left to finish all 111 blocks.

Farmer's Wife - Week 29 - Our Blocks

Here are our blocks from Week 29 of the Farmer's Wife Quilt-along. This was a quick batch due to the simplicity of the HSTs!

Hourglass Baby Quilt for Baby Butler

I've always loved the hourglass block and the way it looks when assembled by alternating the direction of the block.  When I decided to make a baby quilt as a gift for a co-worker, this was the perfect opportunity to put it to use.

Farmer's Wife - Week 28 - Our Blocks

Here are our blocks from Week 28 of the Farmer's Wife Quilt-along. 

Farmer's Wife - Week 29

This week we'll be making three more fairly simple blocks for our Farmer's Wife Quilt-along.  All of the blocks include only HSTs and squares.  The blocks are:

• Block 88 - Star of Hope
• Block 102 - Whirlpool
• Block 103 - Whirlwind

Farmer's Wife - Week 27 - Our Blocks

Here are our blocks from Week 27 of the Farmer's Wife Quilt-along.

Feathered Star Block - Dissected

I'm fascinated by the Feathered Star block, as I think many people are, and I love figuring out complicated designs.  I enjoyed working it out, so I thought I'd share what I've learned along the way.

As I started to analyze the block and see all of the various ways this has been created, I decided to explain some of the variety to help understand the dynamics of this block. 

English Paper Piecing - Milestone

I've come to the edges on my English Paper Piecing trial run!

You can see my journey so far with English Paper Piecing.

I'm very please with how it is turning out.  This is about 42" x 36".  Now I'm working on the border, that I'll do by machine.  I am incorporating more of the medium gray used in the two medallions at the top and bottom center, along with some 1/2 inch checkerboard bits.  I'll finish it off with a sash of the light gray fabric and am still contemplating how I'll bind it.

Now that all of my handwork is complete on this, I'm diving into the La Pasacaglia mania!  Having fun so far and will share my progress soon.

Farmer's Wife - Week 28

For Week 28 of our Farmer's Wife Quilt-along, we'll be making three more blocks, all rather unusual and all using Foundation Paper Piecing.  We are making:

• Block 78 - Shooting Star
• Block 82 - Spider Legs
• Block 86 - Squash Blossom

Farmer's Wife - Week 26 - Our Blocks

Here are our blocks from Week 26 of our Farmer's Wife Quilt-along.

Painting Pottery

Over the holiday break, I had the pleasure of spending a little time with my grown children painting pottery.  A week later, thinking of it as "running an errand", I picked them up and have enjoyed looking at them before they get dispersed to their owners.

Farmer's Wife - Week 27

Week 27 of our Farmer's Wife Quilt-along includes 2 1/2 blocks.  They are:

• Block 37 - Flower Pot
• Block 57 - Morning
• Block 100 - Weathervane