Instagram Roundup

Here's a little peek at what I've been working on lately. Sewing, knitting, hand carved stamps and even melty beads!

The photos are from Instagram (yes, I joined that bandwagon. Who knew low-res images could be so fun?) and put together with another app called Frametastic. While my Instagram account is private I am sharing the crafty pics on twitter, flickr, and now here.

Hopefully I'll have some bigger finished stuff to share soon!

Making lemonade

Have you seen the Bottled Rainbows quilt-along over at Stitched in Color? While I wasn't sure I wanted to commit to a whole quilt in this style, I really love the look of these colorful blocks. And it inspired me to try some ticker tape quilting.

I was in a purple mood, so that's what I went with. It was actually quite fun arranging my scraps into a pleasing grouping! Once I sewed everything down I was really loving how it came out. So much so that I was tempted to make more of these guys. But in the end I decided to stick with the original plan of making a little mug rug. Got everything all sandwiched, quilted, and bound. And then I did a dumb thing. I decided to wash it. What was I thinking? There's no real need to wash a mini quilt, right? But I had some other mug rugs to clean and some new fabric I wanted to wash. So I threw it in. And it brought out a flaw in my stitching. Eek!

What would you have done at this point? Take it apart? Applique right through to the backing? Try to hand stitch it back on? Throw it away in disgust? I considered all these things. And in the end I had a happy thought: my sewing labels are just about the size of the little rectangle that got messed up... and they're purple! So I pulled out the offending scrap and ironed on the label. I do miss the extra pop of turquoise in that corner, but overall I think it was a good and simple fix for me. And next time I'll be more careful with my zigzags!

4 more 4 the farmer

The farmer and I took a little break there. But we're back together and moving right along.

With these latest blocks I had a few goals in mind. First, to add in some blues, and second to try out the templates.

I really like the addition of the blues and think it will blend in nicely with my other blocks. And the templates were great fun and very helpful. I like the little notches built into them. They work great!

4 more 4 the farmer, a photo by Wendymoon Designs on Flickr.

About the blocks:

Windmill - switched the colors up from how they were in the book, but I really love how this came out.

Ribbons - great pattern that I'm not sure I did full justice to. I was a bit sloppy with my cutting on this one. But I love the blues together!

End of Day - with a name like that, I was inspired to use warm sunset colors. I love the result! And the templates worked great on this one.

Attic Windows - first in the book, took me a while to get to it. Blues and templates along with reds and pinks to tie this set together.

These four bring my current tally of Farmer's Wife quilt blocks to 14!

Farmer's Wives and Tough Times

 

In the letters included in The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book, those farmers' wives are all so... plucky! They are positive about all the joys of being on the farm, working hard and enjoying nature and family. But I know they also had tough times. Times when the rain didn't come or when too much rain came or when money was tight or when they were tired. But it seems they pressed on and kept cheerful. I'm trying to be like those farmers' wives. Because it was a tough week for me with these blocks.

The process was not so fun with the sewing this time. I kept having issues with my bobbin thread getting tangled up. I'd stop and sort it out only to have it happen again. And again. I took everything apart, made sure things were clean, and had a crazy time trying to make it stop! I've been worried that my old machine is wearing out and just not working like it used to. I should probably take it in just for a checkup (tuneup, whatever you call it for your sewing machine). 

Anyway, I think I finally figured out my problem. It seems that the little replacement bobbins I bought for extras are just a teeny tiny bit too loose, making things skip and jump and generally messing me up. Grr.

 

Overall I'm happy with how my blocks came out, I just wish I had enjoyed making them more. I'm planning on breaking into templates with my next batch. So hopefully next week will be all smooth sailing!

Here's all my blocks together so far!