The Farmer's Wife Quilt

When I was a little girl I always wanted to marry a farmer.  I cannot recall why this was and I ended up marrying a doctor instead!  Over the last year or so many, many crafty people I admire in blogland have been partaking in this:


The project is based on this book:

 


Basically it involves 111 different quilting blocks inspired by a collection on 1920s letters to 'The Farmer's Wife' magazine as a response to the question 'Would you want your daughter to marry a farmer?'

I've been stalking several blogs over the last few months trying to decide if I would take the plunge.  As I am a bit of a serial starter when it comes to projects I didn't really want to bite off more than I could chew.   I bought the book and fell in love!  The blocks in the book are in very traditional 'civil war' type colours but easily lend themselves to a more contemporary colour palate.

I bought the book for a friend as a birthday gift, and together we are going to try and make one or two blocks a week.  The idea is by doing it together we will provide each other with inspiration and motivation, as well as giving us something fun to do now that the weather is properly autumny and the nights are drawing in.

Here are my first two blocks:

The block above is called 'Autum Tints', while the one below is 'Basketweave'.  I've changed the arrangement of the block slightly  in the latter, preferring it to the book's layout.

I think this may become addictive.....

Birthday Weekend

It was my birthday last weekend.  Of course, these days I never divulge such events until after they have passed!  I'm officially in my mid-thirties and half way to 70 as my husband has repeatedly told me.  Lucky for me, he'll get there first ;-)

I was very loved and spoilt and got lovely pressies and a fantastic meal here

My girly friends organised a surprise tea party for me complete with scones, jam and cream and these fantastic cupcakes:

My family also ordered a birthday cake - beautifully made by Natalie and inspired by my favourite Emma Bridgewater design: Starry Skies:

I'm so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends!!

Summer Days Quilt

There was a little pile of 9 patch squares all over my sewing table for a lot of the summer months.  Work was in fits and starts and a birthday deadline was missed in spectacular style!

Finally the quilt is completed - referred to as 'Summer Days' in reference to the time of year and the lovely fresh fabric prints used.  The fabric line was a Moda favourite for me - 'Oh Cherry, Oh' - sadly no longer available.

The quilt is a modern take on the single Irish chain quilt - I love the way the fabrics automatically 'chain' by alternating 9 patch squares with plain white fabric.  I also love the scrappy look achieved by using a jelly roll:

The back is pieced from various pink and green fabrics I had in my stash as well as a couple of leftover jelly roll strips.  The binding is pink and spotty :-) :

It was a long awaited birthday gift for my good friend Lois, but I think she thought it worth the wait!

Baby Quilt

I think I need to start naming my quilts.  Every time I finish a quilt or project, the blog entry is titled 'another finish', 'finished' or 'baby quilt'!!!!!

This baby quilt was finished about 2 weeks ago but the whole September-back-to-school-thing happened and life has been a bit chaotic.  You would think I had more time to upload photos and write a blog entry with one child back at school, but alas, no!

I love little baby quilts as they are so quick to make :-).  This one was made by framing a 5" square with 2.5" wide strips.  It's for a little boy, hence the predominantly blue colour scheme and little cars and fire engine prints.  Lots of spots and squares as well.  The quilting is simple stippling - so quick and straightforward on a little person's quilt.

I'm hoping to reorganise my time now school has restarted - I have a lot of works in progress that really must be finished!

Tortilla Love

My Baby Boy doesn't really like bread.  This is a nightmare in a house where the rest of us would happily live on bread, brie and red wine - the latter obviously for the adults ;-).  He will eat toast occasionally but his not-fussed-on-bread habit provides me with a lunchtime challenge.

I've been making my own bread for ages now - it is infinitely tastier the shop bought variety - and now I'm in a bread making routine, it's no hassle at all.  I ditched my bread maker a long time ago (not a fan of the texture or sweetness) in favour of a largely hand baked variety - ok I do cheat a leeeeetle by doing some of the kneading in my kitchenaid.  The River Cottage bread book has provided a wealth of recipes and advice and my friend Natalie, who is a Bakery student, has been great with troubleshooting.  I've even tried sourdough - an absolute must.

This week I came across a section in the book that I had largely ignored - it contained recipes for some things I had baked in the past, like scones and soda bread, and other recipes I had never even considered baking for myself.  Here I found the  recipe for tortillas.  My first reaction was that life is too short to be baking homemade tortillas.  My opinion after baking them is that I will never, ever buy a shop bought flour tortilla again.

So easy to make, and so tasty and fresh.  The recipe calls for 250g plain flour, 5g salt and 150ml of water which are mixed together and then kneaded - in the kitchenaid in my case.  The dough is then rested for half an hour in a bowl covered with clingfilm.  After this time the dough is divided into eight balls and then rolled out thinly into circular shapes.  Mine weren't that circular to be honest.  To cook them you simply heat a dry frying pan and cook on both sides for 30 seconds or so (I did mine for a bit longer).  The tortillas can be kept warm in a clean dry tea towel while you cook all eight. 

We've had tortillas with various fillings probably every day this week - the Baby Boy in particular is a big fan :-D

Complete

I completed my Rainbow Bright Blanket!  It only took me two days - must be the quickest thing I've ever knitted from start to finish.  Recovery from illness brought productivity! I snapped this Instagram photo in the midday sun today - two hours later and it is hosing down.

I love knitting, but making this blanket made me realise how much I LOVE knitting.  Even though it is August, I've started thinking about - ahem - Christmas.  I've dug out a load of sock yarn I've been hoarding and I'm wondering how many pairs of socks I might make as festive gifts.  Always better to plan these things early!

Rainbow Bright Recovery Blanket

I loved Rainbow Brite when I was growing up, hence the inspiration behind the blog post title!
This project is a brightly coloured rainbow blanket I'm making for a friend's baby:

I saw an amazing baby blanket while browsing on Pinterest earlier in the week and decided I had to make it or something similar.  I'm using my leftover stash of Rico Creative Cotton for it.
The word 'recovery' in the blog title is a reference to why I'm sitting around knitting during the school holidays when I should be rushed off my feet.  I alluded in a previous blog post to a challenging time in my life.  Three weeks ago I had my fourth miscarriage and it has been a devastating and difficult time.  Given the school holidays and my husband starting a new job I opted for a 'watch and wait' policy rather than any medical intervention.  Despite the events of this week, I still maintain this was the right choice for my family and myself.   On Monday afternoon I started bleeding heavily and this persisted into the evening.  After three near faints at home I was admitted to hospital.  They thankfully managed to deal with the cause of the bleeding but after fainting twice due to the blood loss, I ended up staying two nights in hospital and having a blood transfusion.

I am now home and on the mend, albeit very tired and a bit weak!  My parents and my amazing church family have been great in helping with my children and words can't even begin to describe how fabulous my husband has been.  I am resting up, hence plenty of  knitting time and the project is progressing well.  Bizarrely my friend had her baby while we were both in the same hospital at the same time but obviously in very different circumstances.   It seems appropriate that what has been a bit of an outing to say the least, a  is channelled into something positive!