Farmer's Wife and WIP Wednesday

I broke down and bought the Farmer's Wife Quilt book on Monday night. The reason??

Laurie Aaron Hird spoke at our quilt guild meeting! She touched on how she came about to do the Farmer's Wife book but mainly talked about the Pony Club book. It was so interesting to hear how the Farmer's Wife magazine gave ponies away to little kids and to read their letters that they wrote thanking the magazine for the ponies. This will be my next book purchase. I also got her to sign my book! Unfortunately this is the only photo that I took of her Pony Club quilt :(

With the warm beautiful weather we have spent alot of time outside working in the flower beds getting them ready for spring. My first tulips bloomed today. I need to take a photo - they are only 2 inches tall and the blooms about half-an-inch. So cute!

Friday I did start to work on a churn dash quilt using my Aunt Edna fabrics. I have four blocks done and just spent an hour chain-piecing some more. I can't wait to see them laid out together.

WIP

1. Finish binding on larger wirly gig

2. Need to quilt my plus quilt - still undecided on the design

3. Figure out what to use for backing of my granny squares - I plan on hand quilting this so then I will have to learn how to hand quilt and pick my threads.

WIP Wednesday

I got my baby wirly quilt quilted, bound and washed. I also got the larger wirly quilted. I will not show photos since I have done so alot lately. :)

I dragged my crabby kids to the fabric store on Saturday and found a varigated thread for my plus quilt!! (Luckily they were having a craft day there so it put them in a better mood.) But I still haven't decided how to quilt it. So......

I started working on my granny squares. I have four done and 8 more ready to sew the rows together. I love the look of the blocks individually but am not so sure of them all together. I am really bad at scrappy quilts - I love everyone else's but hate my own. But I will plug away and wait until it is completely done to make my final decision. These blocks are fast and easy to make. I might have to keep this pattern in my mind for future quilts. It would be fun to make a table runner out of them.

Finish it up Friday

I got off my lazy butt last night and took some photos of my small wirly-gig quilt before I went to bed (sorry not very good). My goal for the week was to get it quilted and the binding machine bound to the front - achieved! I quilted with straight lines, 1/4-inch from the seams. Something fast and easy.

I did do a little quilting on the large wirly gig last night but only for about 10 minutes. Tonight I am hoping to get it all quilted in a meandering stitch.

I am also hoping to start on my granny squares quilt. I cut the blocks out 2 weeks ago and haven't looked at them since.

Small Blog Link Up

Not much new to show. I was able to get my small wirly-gig quilted and the binding sewn to the front. I also spent last night getting the larger wirly gig and the plus quilt pinned last night. I might start the quilting of the wirly tonight. I still have to figure out what thread I will use for the plus quilt.

WIP Wednesday

Not much going on around here. I got the binding done on my New Wave quilt and the Color Wheel quilt. I am so glad I took the time to do the lines on the New Wave - once it was washed it looks awesome.

I have not touched my sewing machine since Super Bowl Sunday. I got the main part of the plus quilt done and am unsure on what to do for the borders, so it is just sitting there.

I did start cutting out squares for the Granny Squares quilt that is floating around blogland right now. Used up more of my scraps - love that feeling.

Onto my quilt labels - there was a request to tell how I created them. I do all my designing using Adobe Illustrator. I created labels on a yard of fabric that were 3.5x2 (the size of a standard business card) - 180 of these, then shrunk the label done to 2 x 1-1/8 - 100 of these, then to fill up the remaining space I created 6 labels that were 1.5x1. For a total of 3 sizes - 286 labels.

 On my biggest labels I left a white area of 1/8-inch past my blue border. I am wishing I would have had a bigger white area so I could sew the labels into the corner of the quilt and have the binding cover 2 sides of it. Just for a little added security in keeping the label on.

I used my first label on my color wheel quilt. I have a busy backing fabric for this quilt. I am washing it as I speak and when I took it from the washer to put in the dryer - the label was very see-through. I am hoping this clears up once the quilt is dry otherwise I will have to come up with a solution on future busy backing fabrics.

I attached the label with fusible web. It held up in the washing part of the quilt - no loose threads on the edges of the label.

I did not go into much detail on how to create you labels - I am going to refer you to a website that I visited - Jaybird Quilts. She has a 2-part tutorial that will tell you everything you need to know about creating labels with Spoonflower.  http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/2009/07/label-tutorial-spoonflower-way.html 

If you do have questions I will gladly answer them.

My next thing to figure out is what type of marking pen I should use to write on my labels. Suggestions?

WIP Wednesday

I am going to start this WIP Wednesday off by saying that migraines suck! I have had one since Monday and am barely making it through the day. So needless to say no sewing going on here. Before the migraine struck I was being very productive. I got the binding done on my Valentine mug rug and on the Swoon Sampler.

Ready to quilt - 2 Wirlygig quilts. One is 40x40 and the other is a little larger with borders. I am out of batting so until I can get to town to get more these will hang in my sewing room.

Below is my color wheel quilt - This is actually quilted and ready for the binding to be hand sewn.

Next up is my new quilt labels!! (Sorry the photos are so awful) I designed them in Adobe Illustrator and had them printed at Spoonflower - a whole yard of labels. They turned out so awesome. I used my first one on the color wheel quilt. Before I was using the printed iron ons from Joanns.

I have made some progress on my plus quilt too. I am hoping to finishing sewing the pluses together this weekend and add a few borders.

Still to bind
- New wave quilt
- Oriental circles quilt

WIP Wendesday

Circle Quilt made with Japanese inspired fabric. I just need to get the binding on it. Even after the pebble quilting I still don't like it.

Our quilt guild is having a calender challenge. Our goal is to print a 2013 calender to raise funds and have each month showcase a member's mini quilt. We had to draw a month and make an original quilt showing what the month means to you. I drew August. A lot of ideas went through my head before I started, an applique of fishing, county fairs, laundry on the line, I ended up with quilts on the line. I used leftover pinwheel and double hourglass blocks for two quilts, then a simple patchwork, a tree to match my pillow, a circle quilt and a bulls eye quilt. It just needs to be bound.

Close-up of my Mini Tree Quilt

 I took my test Swoon block and made it into a big tablerunner. I added corner pockets in the back so it can be used as a wall hanging too. I love this block - I just need to find the time to make more. I am thinking of using all my scrap fabric to make them. Needs to be bound.

 This weekend I made a Valentine mug rug. I did straight line quilting on the stripes 1/4 inch apart. I love that look. Just needs to be bound.

 Then instead of working on my wirly gigs that I started a few weeks ago, I started a plus quilt from Camille's book. You need to have alot of quiet time with no kids or husbands around to get this laid out - it is very easy to lose track of where you are in the pattern. I only did the first 13 rows and started sewing them together Monday night. After I had two rows sewn together, I had to tear them apart - I had swapped fabrics so the pluses weren't lining up right :)

Other WIPS
1. New Wave quilt - needs to be bound
2. Wirly Gigs - I was going to make 2 baby quilts but might make one large quilt - so until I decide, this is on hold.

My goal this year is to use up my stash - I put a little bit of a dent in it last year but have a long ways to go. The only new fabric I plan on buying is my Kona white and I want to make twin quilts for my boys. I am leaning towards Hall of Fame. All the boys fabric that I've seen are geared towards toddlers, I want to pick something that they will be able to use for a long time.