Wednesday, August 24, 2011

love

The best word that describes my past week is "love". I first had a surprise visit from my Dad who lives in Shanghai, we loved spending this last week-end camping with family, I enjoyed sewing a couple more farmers wife blocks, and I received a bit of love from one of my sweet bloggie friends right before we left for the week-end! I don't know if life gets much better??

My week 13 Farmers Wife Quilt Along blocks. I really love how they turned out!

{68} Postage Stamp

I really loved making this one!! It was fun to be able to use so many fabrics in one block!


{32} Farmers Daughter.

A few of my favorite new fabrics in one block!! The Annies Farm Stand, Seed Catalouge, Atsuko Matsuyama's strawberry fabric, and then a new favorite that just came last week...a red and aqua 30's reproduction from Toy Box II by Sara Morgan of Blue Hill Fabrics!!


I just adore all my bloggie friends!! It is hard to explain, but I truly feel a sweet connection with people I've never met! I've made some of the most wonderful friendships through the past few years. It truly lifts my spirit every day coming online and being with my friends!! One of my sweet and oh so talented friend, Amy sent me a surprise package last week!! It was so sweet, and I absolutely LOVE everything she sent!! THANKS so much, Amy!!


Even the cutest tape!! Strawberries, polka dots, and flowers!!

We enjoyed camping this last week-end with family!! We went to a fun place called Ensign Ranch. I remember going there when I was a youth for camp, and it was fun bringing the little ones to enjoy a place I have such fond memories of! One of the kiddos favorite things was playing in the river!! Here is a picture off most all the kiddos, all but 3. :) Quite the little troop!


the little rascals!! they are so funny together!!


the little guys loved throwing rocks into the river! we made a special area just so they could throw rocks safely!! :)

rafting down the river!

My little guy in his cute little overalls!! I just love cute overall pictures!!

With all the exciting events this last week I've gotten a little behind on my pinwheel quilt. Hopefully I can catch up this week!! My mom is coming into town on Friday, so I may be reaching for stars to get it done!! We'll see!! :)

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

halfway??

I am technically halfway finished with my Farmers Wife Sampler blocks if I do a throw size. I have 25 done and only have 25 more to go. I'm having so much fun with these that I may go bigger. That will be a big step for me as I've always been scared to go bigger than a lap size because the quilting would be quite a big task!! I've only quilted a lap/throw size!! I think the Farmers Wife Sampler Quilt might just give me the courage to try!!

Here are all 25 on point!!

My week 12 blocks! I did one extra one this week, so I may just do one next week!


{12} Broken Sugar Bowl

{31} Evening Star


{21} Contrary Wife

It's so fun to see them all together! Do you see why I'm thinking of going bigger than a throw!! It is going to be such an amazing quilt!!


Hope you are having a terrific Tuesday! See you later this week!!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

pinwheels!!

I got all my pinwheel blocks sewn for the Pinwheels in the Park Quilt! It was fun to work on such large blocks after sewing so many of my fwqa blocks that are really tiny!! The pinwheel blocks are 14 1/2 inch square...really big! Yeah for big blocks!! They also came together pretty quickly, which was great too!!

I think they turned out really cute!! I used Annie's Farm Stand, Lecien Old New, and Flower Sugar, the Sugar and Spice Stripes, and the Solid is Moda's Bella Solids in PFD White.

I also used some cute pinwheel fabric since I received my Sarah Jane, Children at Play fabric last week (they were holding it since the embroidery patterns hadn't come in yet). The cute red and aqua pinwheels were perfect for this quilt!!

The oh so pretty Annie's Farm Stand!!



Remember to let me know if you're making one too so I can cheer you along!! :) Next week we'll be adding the sashing and border to finish the quilt top!! I can't wait to see it all come together!!

I'm off to the beach with the kiddos! Trying to enjoy the sunny weather while we still have it. :)

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

pretty!

When I got home last week, I had some of the prettiest fabrics waiting for me!! I had ordered some Atsuko Matsuyama fabrics from her 30's collection a few week ago and was so excited they had finally come...all the way from Japan.!! I even was able to find out who the US distributor is so you'll be seeing some of her fabrics in my shop in the up coming months!! The ones that you see below are out of print now but I'll be carrying her new ones. :) She has a new collection coming out next month! Yippee!! I can't wait to see them!!

yummy fat quarters!

small pieces...great for my fwqa sampler blocks!!

I just had to cut into them right away!! Here are my fmqa week 11 blocks from several of these pretty fabrics!!

{47} garden path ~ this one almost had me beat!! Once I got to the y-seams I decided to go a different route (had to do a bit of seam ripping, and it was quite the headache)!! Thank goodness it ended up cute, even with its little flaws!!


{4} basket weave ~ after garden path I sure needed a nice and simple one!! Basket weave was the perfect one!! I really love how it turned out!



For shop news, to make room for the collections coming out in fall I've added a Clearance/Sale/End of Bolt section to the shop! Make sure to keep checking back for some extra savings as I'll be adding more throughout the week!! :)

Now to get going on my pinwheels in the park blocks!! I hope you have a terrific Tuesday!!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

ocean sewing

I just got back a couple days ago from a girls retreat to the Oregon coast! We went to Brookings, Oregon that is right on the border of California. It was such a peaceful 5 days!! One of my favorite things was waking up to the sounds of the waves! I even squeezed in some sewing, along with a fun little trip into the quant little beach town to visit the local quilt shop! It was so refreshing, but am happy to be home again too!!

Here are a few pictures of our trip~


Toes in the sand!!


At a little boutique/antique shop I found the sweetest little bundle of vintage fabrics and a cute little embroidery!! It was sure the highlight of my day and felt like I found that little needle in the haystack!!


Aren't they the sweetest ever!!

For sewing I worked on several projects!! For the Pinwheels in the Park, I got all my pieces cut.

All the triangles

I can't wait to start sewing the blocks now!! Make sure to let me know if you are sewing along! I'd love to follow your progress too. :)

I started working on my Heather Ross summer time quilt!! I've had this on my to do list for quite some time so it was fun to finally get started! I'm doing the pattern Shortcake by Alison of Cluck Cluck Sew. I had to cut all my strips so that took a bit of time as it normally calls for a jelly roll.



My week 10 blocks! I like doing a simple one and then one that is a bit more piecing to even it out.

{64} Piece & Plenty

{39} Friendship

I hope you are having a wonderful week!! I've been enjoying some sunny days and my sweet little ones since I've been back!! :)