Sable

I’ve been making mini quilts (potholders) again ! This is a block from Lori Holt’s Farm Girl Vintage book. I forget what she calls it but I’m pretty sure that it is actually a weathervane block.

This block may be called spinning windmill… if not – it should be, that’s what it looks like ! That ocher coloured print is a Kim Diehl fabric I snagged off the $5.00 table and I wish I had bought more because of course it was all gone by my next trip into town.

As usual, I stitched in the ditch for the quilting. I prefer to quilt small things this way as I think it doesn’t interfere with the look of the pieced design. I use 1 layer of batting with a layer of insulbrite for functionality as well as how it makes the design pop out a little more. Both potholders measure 8.5″ square.

Since the harvest has been put on hold because of weather I went to help out my Mom for several days.  I just happened to drop by a quilt fabric store and couldn’t resist picking up these prints:

I’m probably the last quilter to come across these funny acronyms but they gave me a much needed laugh ! I think SABLE best describes my fabric consumption situation.

In other news… I recently attended a 60th birthday party of a very good friend and gifted her this quilt:

She was so surprised and really seemed to love it. It’s so satisfying to give a quilt to someone who loves handmade things and values your time and effort. If you would like to read more about this quilt you can see my post here. I’m glad I took the above picture before I wrapped it up as the first pictures I took don’t show the colours as well.

Thanks for having a look.

Linking up with Amanda over at CMQ for Finish it up Friday.

 

 

 

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Speedy Speedster

My daughter in the Big City is a very busy girl ! One of her many interests is being on the board of a charity that supports a woman’s art festival. Each October this charity puts on a fun night out fundraiser, complete with food, drink, entertainment and silent auction. Last year I donated this quilt to the silent auction. My daughter was home this past weekend for the Canadian Thanksgiving and I was able to finish this quilt in time for her to take back with her:

The pattern is called Woven and is a new one by Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew.  Her patterns are so well written; it was a pleasure to put together ! This baby sized quilt measures 35 1/2″ x 42 1/2″. I think it is a funny coincidence that the fabric collection used here is called Speedster and I was able to complete this quilt within a month of purchasing the pattern… pretty speedy for me !

With the exception of the white background fabric the prints are all scraps leftover from this disaster.

Here is a shot of the back:

I hastily stomped around in the cold wind and snow taking these pictures this past weekend so they’re not the best 🙂

I’m becoming a weather wimp !

This last picture taken indoors shows the quilting a bit better than the others. Just some straight-line quilting following the prints. I was hoping to emphasize the woven effect.

Thanks for having a look.

I’ll be linking up with Nicky and Leanne for Scraptastic Tuesday.

and with Amanda for Finish it up Friday.

Fingers Crossed

Good news and bad news this week. The good news is that I had some sewing time this week … I’ll get to the bad news in a minute.

Ever since Anna shared the free pattern for her Tiny Treasures Basket and tray post on her blog I’ve been getting my ducks in a row to sew them up. Here they are !

Anna’s examples are perfection – of course. Mine turned out o.k. but I’d like to think of this set as a practice run and make another set sometime. I made the larger basket first and then, brimming with confidence went ahead and made a mistake on the side seams for the smaller one. I cobbled together a new plan and it still turned out a usable basket. These are a nice size and a fun project; I can really see myself using them around the house.

So, the bad news is – our harvesting efforts have been cut short – hopefully just for now and that we will, eventually, get this years crop in. Late Tuesday night we were combining when it started to rain and that rain turned into snow over night.

This is what we woke up to on Wednesday:

and the snow continued…

the picture on the left is a lilac bush on Wednesday and the picture on the right is the same bush the next day. You can see how the weight of the wet snow is pulling the branches down. The snow will have the same effect with the crops in the field. Our area received a total of 11 inches of snow.

Hopefully the weather will improve and the snow will melt and everything will dry up and we can scrape the crop up out of the field ! Fingers crossed !

Linking up with Amanda for Finish it up Friday.