A quilt finish

It has been awhile since I have had a quilt finish to show you so, without further ado…

I started this quilt well over a year ago as a challenge to myself. The challenge was to choose fabrics from the local fabric store to make a quilt. This probably doesn’t seem like much of a challenge to many quilters but I feel more comfortable buying collections.  My closest fabric store is 35 miles away and isn’t a specialty shop that carries recognizable collections of popular designer quilt fabrics. It is a locally owned chain franchise that has a bit of a discount feel to it. There are a few recognizable fabric manufacturers but you do have to be careful because there are ‘no name’ fabrics whose quality isn’t always great.  The owner of the store is a really nice woman who is truly interested in what her clients make with their purchases and has been a big source of encouragement to me since none of my close friends sew.

Most of the fabric was bought using the “without a plan”method which all the ladies at the store think is crazy ! Now that I have been sewing for a few years and my stacks of fabric seem to be taking over the place… I’m starting to wonder if there may be a better approach to purchasing fabric ! I usually buy the fabric first and then try and find a pattern that will suit the fabric. For this fabric I was inspired by Allison Harris’s  Chippewa Quilt tutorial. I started by cutting 4.5″ squares and made a ridiculous number of different layout options on my design wall. If you are interested you can see a few of them here . After I was satisfied with the layout I took the squares off in numbered rows and they sat for almost a year until I finally felt like doing some mindless chain piecing . Sewing them together was a bit of a mystery quilt project as I had forgotten what the design was !

The quilt measures about 60″ x 60″ and I had it quilted with a panto called “houndstooth”. For the top thread colour I choose coral and the bobbin thread a medium/dark grey. This is the first time I’ve chosen to have two thread colours and am pretty happy with the results.

Here’s a shot of the back:

This isn’t my favourite quilt but I think it turned out O.K. I think each quilt we make teaches us something. This quilt was made in fits and starts over at least 14 months and I do feel I have grown as a quilter during that time.

I have a second finish to show you… our new grain bin is up and in use. Here are a few pictures:

 

These bins are built from the top down. The roof is put together first and then everything is jacked up and the rings that make up the walls are added one by one.

This picture is a bit grainy as it was taken at night – that’s the moon up in the sky !

My husband and son agreed to stand still for a quick picture to give you a sense of scale.

By the time I had walked back far enough to take the picture my husband was off to the next job ! The red piece of equipment is called an auger .The grain is unloaded off the grain truck and the auger moves it up and into the bin. The tractor is what powers the auger.

Thanks for having a look.

I’ll be linking up with Amanda for Finish It Up Friday.

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Amy and Karen

I recently needed a birthday gift to give to a very special person in my life. Having difficulty coming up with an idea; I settled on a combination of handmade and a few little purchased goodies.

I chose an Amy Butler print that I knew she’d like because I  had previously made her this. For the lining I used a Karen Lewis print. The project got off to a rocky start … oops

A little unpicking and re-arranging and I had it done:

I added a few goodies and I think it turned out pretty good.

I hope she likes it !

While I was in pouch making  mode, I also made this little pouch for keeping my eyeglass cleaning solution and microfiber cloth in:

I haven’t been posting much lately because we’ve been busy on our farm with harvest.

The little tractor and grain cart on the right is usually where you find me these days. My daughter was home for the weekend so I was able to take this action shot of them ‘catching on the go’. My husband is operating the combine and is unloading the thrashed grain from the combine hopper while continuing to combine the standing wheat. Catching on the go saves a tremendous amount of time over the course of a season.

Thanks for having a look. Since the Amy Butler fabric is essentially a scrap left over from the insulated lunch bag project, I’ll be linking up with Nicky and Leanne for Scraptastic Tuesday.