The Generosity of Bloggers

I only made one Farmers Wife block this week. I'm not happy with my fabric selection so I'll probably make it again. I need to get some more solids in my stash - I'll hopefully work on that in the next couple of weeks.

Bat Wing

My last two Cotton Club blocks have been made too. They are not wonky in real life - I went back and checked! Twice!

A couple of weeks ago, I saw this lovely fabric in a couple of places within blog land and fell in love with it. I left a comment at Blue Elephant Stitches and Jolene ended up gifting me a yard. What a sweetie she is! Do stop by her blog and say hello - she is a beautiful modern quilter.

Then I won a give away from Mary Catharine at Warmth in the North who had just returned from Sewing Summit.

And included was......a Kona Color Card! I've been really wanting one of these! Thank you Mary-Catharine!

As you can see, it was a good mail week!

I still haven't blocked my shawl and I'll probably have a wrap finish within the month of November. I'm working on the next Anniversaries of the Heart block and took a stitching class but my camera battery was dead. I was very disappointed about that. I hope to get a beanie knit up for Jake soon too. What are you working on?

A Few Blocks and Some Family Time

It's been a busy weekend but not much completed in the quilting/knitting/stitching arena. I did get two Farmer's Wife blocks done. A lot of quilters aren't making the basket blocks (there are two variations in this quilt). I've never made one so decided to give it a go. I'm glad I left it in and will probably do the other one as well.

#3 Basket

The color placement is off within one of the smaller blocks that make up the block below. Since the red is more saturated than the other fabric colors, it's really not noticeable so I'm leaving it in. I didn't think it was worth ripping.

#4 Basket Weave

I also got two of the Cotton Club BOM blocks done for the 2nd month. There are a total of 4 for this month. These finish at 5" - smaller than the Farmer's Wife blocks.

Last weekend my brother and his family were visiting my parents. It's been a while since I've seen my nieces - I sure wish they lived closer! Saturday my husband and I along with and Chris and Jake went down and then Sunday Greg and I drove down alone.

Here are both of them sitting on my oldest sons back while Chris was doing push ups. He could only do about 4 with good form but they thought it was a good time. Lots of girl squeals!

Alex's birthday is the end of the month so we had a little gift giving. My brother and his wife gave her their big gift early - tickets to a Taylor Swift concert. She was so excited that she started crying. I'd love to go with her and her friends but that's one of the big drawbacks of living so far apart. It was SO good to see them!

November and December will be busy months and typically my quilting/stitching/knitting take a back seat to other activities. I have scheduled two days off in early December and I hope I'll be able to go to my LQS for at least one of those days to quilt.

In the meantime, I'm going to get some fun things in while I can! For those of you who sew, knit, or stitch after a long day at work, how do you do it? I'm usually so mentally wiped out.

May all your stitches be happy ones!

Joining In...

...on the Farmers Wife! I've been reading blog posts about this, have seen pictures pop up on Flickr and can no longer resist. My first two blocks are below:

I'm using Ruby along with some Bliss. Both are by Bonnie and Camille. Throwing in a couple of solids (that bright blue is coming out) and other bits and pieces as I go along.

This quilt will be a loooong term project. Stayed tuned for more and wishing you happy stitches!

A Bad Choice

I honestly expected to be showing you a completed quilt top today - my 2010 $5 Quilt. It's been laying over the chair in front of my design wall for a bit. It just needed borders. Today I ironed and trimmed it up. Greg helped me measure the width and length in 3 places. I measured and cut the inner border and sewed it to one side. And realized I had made a horrible fabric color choice. I need to use a fabric the same color as the sashing pieces - not the cornerstones like I had planned - to frame the quilt. Greg tried to convince me that it would be "fine". Well, we all know that to a woman "fine" it's generally anything BUT fine. I laid out the leftover sashing fabric next to the top and the difference was dramatic. I found the fabric I needed online and it should be here soon and I ripped that border off!

Here's the quilt where I left it. Right on my ironing board that needs a facelift. I can't believe I'm showing that ugly thing to you. I still have threads to clip but I just didn't have it in me.

I finished up the 4th block of Anniversaries of the Heart. Personalizations to come as with the rest of the blocks. This isn't a block that I think I'll have anyone to commemorate as we have a small family. I think I may stitch my maiden name in the lower right corner and the year completed in the upper left. I used the called for fibers except for the windows. There just wasn't enough contrast.

I'd like to wish my Canadian friends a Happy Thanksgiving and all of you happy stitches!

Cheddar Anyone?

I have another Jo Morton's Little Women Club finish to share with you today. This is the first time I've used a cheddar colored fabric and I like it. I don't know the exact measurement of the finished quilt but if I remember correctly, the blocks in the center finish at 3". I've had the top assembled for a bit but just got around to the quilting.

Amy's Choice

Jo Morton's Little Women Club Project

My LQS isn't renewing this club on their schedule. Our instructor, Jan Vaine, is teaching Prairie Women Sewing Circle at another LQS and I'll be joining them. I hope I'll enjoy this group as much as I did the Jo's group. I've learned so much from Jan and we're so fortunate to have a published author as our instructor.

We're experiencing fall like weather this week in Florida. Our temperatures will be in the low 80's this week and there has been a break in the humidity. The weatherman said that this morning we're experiencing December weather. I'll take it! We even had the windows open for a few hours yesterday. It's hard to believe it's October already and that the holiday season is quickly approaching.

I have a knitting finish but the project isn't blocked yet and I hope to have a AotH block finish soon. I've picked a BIG knitting project back up again and I might have that finished in the next month or so. It's going to be a bear to block it's so large. I'll hopefully have pictures of the shawl for you in the next couple of weeks - there are a lot of activities over the next few weekends for me. Thankfully, next weekend is a 3 day one for me due to Columbus Day. I hope each of you have a great week and I hope your stitches be happy ones!