Christmas Quilts

Here are the finished Christmas quilts, so far. Yes, they need to be quilted. Can I admit to a smidgen of nervousness associated with that prospect? And I need funds to buy batting and backing. I'm thinking of backing them all in flannel, just for extra coziness. Good idea? These are just snuggle quilts for everyone to use when they need one.



These are the two I finished up this week. It was just a matter of putting together the barn raising quilt and sewing the sashing on my Holiday Hostess quilt. Still, I'm glad to have them done!


I have the Christmas tree one (that I need a different foot for on my sewing machine - long story!), one using Riley Blake Christmas Candy and then I've got a string quilt in mind using up all those red scraps I've got left. So eight in all. People need eight Christmas quilts, right?

I'd stop making them if the fabric companies would stop designing such cute Christmas fabrics!

Out O' Thread Blues

No wordless Wednesday post today, because I have words. Frustrated words because, as I was putting together my barn raising red and white Christmas quilt, I ran out of thread. Grrr. And since my credit card info was stolen and we're dealing with that for the second time in a month, I'm without funds to get more thread.

Okay, technically I could drive to the branch in Pullman (there isn't one in Moscow), go inside and make a cash withdrawal, but that would waste even more time.

So, while I sing the "Out O' Thread" Blues, I'm prepping other projects.

Here's what I've accomplished so far:

• prepped the white strips on paper for the rest of my string quilt blocks
• cut the white pieces I need for my red/aqua pinwheel blocks
• cut the rest of the green material for my Christmas tree quilt
• prepped my Christmas stockings - all seven of them!
  

Still left to do, before I can go get that thread:

• prep my Sunkissed quilt
• cut the sashing for my Holiday Hostess quilt
• cut the sashing for my strawberry pinwheel quilt
• prep Laurel's purple quilt for her birthday
• finish prepping Cowgirl Salt Water Taffy quilt (just the girly prints)
• prep Cowboy Nieces and Nephews quilt (just the manly prints)

Then I will earn my trip to the store to buy a truckload of thread so this doesn't happen again for a while! But prepping is great because then I can enjoy the sewing without the fussing around with the rotary cutter every few minutes.

Books for Children

I am a reader. I read for fun. I sometimes neglect other things because I need to finish a page, a chapter, a book.

My mother is a reader. I grew up watching her devour books. She always had a book in her hand. As a child, I would spend hours at the library, bringing home stacks and stacks of books. They were my friends and I have some vivid memories of the stories I read. This was how I learned about the world outside Coos Bay, Oregon.

I just knew my daughter would be a reader as well. But she wasn't, at first. We struggled with it for quite some time. I suspect she has inherited her father's dyslexia.

This summer, everything has changed. I did a dance of joy watching her walk up the stairs, book in hand, wanting to finish before she had to eat dinner. I have to force her to turn out her light at night to go to sleep. Even then, I'm not sure she doesn't turn it back on once I'm asleep (or lost in my own book!). She quickly breezes through the books I buy and bring home for her.

Which leads me to my problem. I want some slightly more challenging but still age appropriate books for her. I know, I have friends who allow their 8-year-olds to read Harry Potter, but I'm not comfortable with that. The first one or two books are okay, but they get very dark very quickly and I'm not sure my daughter could handle that. A little mystery, a little danger is okay.

She loves Magic Treehouse. She's read the first two Ivy and Bean books and enjoyed them. I'm reading The Magician's Nephew to her in the hopes that she has a desire to continue the Narnia series herself. But what else? Most of the books that are the next step up involve "tweens" who like to shop, have slumber parties, have crushes on boys, etc. I consider it my job to keep her young and innocent as long as possible. So, no, I won't be introducing those books.

Here's what's on my list right now for her:

Pippi Longstocking books
Some American Girl books (I think she'd like Felicity the best)
The Hundred Dresses
Betsy Tacy books
The "Shoe" books - Ballet Shoes, Skating Shoes, etc.

Am I missing anything? The Ramona books, perhaps?

And please don't get me started on early reader books for William. While I value the Dick and Jane books as classics, they have been classically frustrating for both my readers. Far too many "exception to the rule" words to make them easy and understandable. This book was much better. William was so proud of himself for reading the whole thing on his own. That's a good book, in my book.

Wordless Wednesday

Houston, we have a problem

So I might have finished that blog post on Saturday afternoon and glanced over and saw a stack o' charm squares I've been wondering what to do with. And I might have thought "Why not make two Farmer's Wife quilts in tandem?" And I might have gone ahead and started.

But they are SO cute and so much fun!









I finished seven blocks on this one. That last one, with all those teeny tiny triangles (these blocks finish up at about 6.5") was stressful, but it came out alright. Phew!

I have to control myself today though. I have homework and homeschooling to do as well. Luckily, I can cut out the pieces while I work with Laurel and William. Theoretically.

Happy Monday!

Farmer's Wife

It's official. I've joined a flickr group. Not just any flickr group - a quilt-a-long group. An ambitious one, but well paced. It's the Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long.

You take this book. You read all the awesome letters on why being a farmer's wife is so great (all written in 1922 as part of a contest). You smile and hope someday you can have the simple life. Okay, I don't dream of being a farmer's wife. I dream of being a lawyer's wife with a lovely little sort-of-farm - some chickens, a pig or two (hey, we love bacon and ham!) and a huge vegetable and fruit garden.

Then you make the quilt blocks. The group is making two per week, but I'm about 6 weeks behind, so I'm playing catch up. I finished 6 today. They are cute and time-consuming, but it's going to be one fabulous quilt once I'm done with all 111 blocks.

Block #1 - Attic Windows

Block #2 - Autumn Tints

Block #3 - Basket - yes, she's missing her handle. Working on the applique tonight.

Block #4 - Basket Weave

Block #5 - Bat Wing, but I made mine look more butterfly-ish

Block #6 - Big Dipper

I'm just using a FQ bundle of Sew Cherry fabric - a lot of the quilters are going full-on scrappy, but I struggle with that and as this will end up being a queen-sized quilt for my bed, I went with something I love looking at.

So, are you a Farmer's Wife too? Really, join in the fun. 2 blocks per week? No problem! Once I catch up that is . . . .

Superfast!

Clearly I need to work on my clever blog titles. But we say that around here a lot. In a superhero kind of voice.

Here's how the early afternoon went down. I went from this:
To this:
With this:

In about an hour. I'm not exactly sure how long it took because I was

1. Homeschooling Laurel and William at the table next to me
2. Fixing lunch
3. Getting milk for thirsty kids
4. Distracting James and Henry from the Accuquilt awesomeness - that was tough!

But not too shabby, right? I have 144 apple core pieces and 96 2" squares from the scraps. And a pile of scraps in the corner that is making Laurel drool all over her math homework.

I think I like this little GO! Had I used a template and hand cut all those, I'd be doing it until next week. I've always wanted to try curved piecing but have hesitated because the cutting scared me. Yeah, I know, my grandmother would have done it. But you know what? If she could have, she would have used one of these GO! cutters in a heartbeat.

I've got the Double Wedding Ring dies too. Just waiting for the right fabric to jump out at me so I can finally have one of those. Squeee! So excited for that!

In the meantime, I'm taking a break from my string quilt and prepping some other projects. It's kinda fun.

Merging

No, this blog post is not about traffic. Traffic does not exist where I live now. I don't miss Seattle's traffic either. Not even a little bit.

But I said it wasn't about traffic!

It's just about me possibly bringing back together all the branching out I tried to do a while back. Did you know I have a blog just about cake baking? And one dedicated to just Sunday cookies (a tradition in the household I grew up in)? I also started one all about my quest for my Southern cooking heritage. And then there's the one I've done with friends about tasty dinner recipes for families. I like that one a lot.

So here's my dilemma. Do I merge them all into this one? Do I keep things separate? Here's an insight into my brain - I dream of being compartmentalized and organized and everything neatly in it's place. I like my separate blogs. I haven't done much with them, but that's only because I was in school and life was crazy and I couldn't do it all. But I could just use separate categories for things all on this blog. Cakes, cookies, Southern cooking, dinner recipes, etc.

Thoughts? I don't really want this blog to be all about sewing and quilting, for two reasons. One, that's not what being a domestic goddess is all about - there is so much more to it! Two, that's not all I'm interested in.

What I've been up to . . .

String quilts are HARD! I mean, I know they are easy to put together, straight seams, randomness, yada, yada. But that randomness takes planning. And time. I have to pick out the set of 6 or 7 strips I'm going to use for that block, iron them all, then sew each one, iron it out, repeat. And then do it again for the other color.

I've got 25 blocks done. I've got I-don't-know-how-many to go. I'd like to make one big enough for my bed. We'll see how far my strips o' fabric go. I've got more orange than yellow.

Just for the record - I'm not complaining. I'm having a blast and I've got my little sewing room and all is well.