Back to Work

I love that January feeling - the start of a brand new year with so many possibilities, I find it quite inspiring!  The Farmer's Wife quilt project is back at work this week and I'm happy to say the first two blocks of 2013 are completed.  In fact I have a new love of the project after my Christmas hiatus.

My plan for these two blocks was to use more white as background fabric so as to make the blocks a little less busy.  I've also decided that red is pretty much going to be the unifying colour throughout the project so I am just going to run with it rather than justify it's use. 

Here are the two blocks:

Firstly, End of Day

I like this block :-), I love the shapes of the individual pieces and how striking it looks with just the three fabric choices.  The aqua and red look lovely together I think.

Secondly, Old Windmill, which was the more challenging of this week's blocks - 32 mini triangles to cut and piece!  Overall I'm happy with it:

If you look at the very top left unit, something went a bit awry with the seam allowance so the corners don't align, but nothing that can't be corrected.  After sewing it all together I didn't have the heart to get the seam ripper out as the overall block looked so pretty.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but in 'The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt' book, there is a choice when it comes to the size of the finished quilt: lap-size (50 blocks), Twin-size (83 blocks), Queen-size (110 blocks) or King-size (a whopping 145 blocks).  As it's an American book I'm not entirely sure how this relates to British bed sizes but I shall definitely NOT be making the king-size!  At the moment I'm setting my sights on the twin-size quilt and with 22 blocks now made I am a quarter of the way towards the goal.  Part of me thins that 110 blocks isn't a lot (?) more so I may push myself that little bit further - time will only tell!

Blue

The title of this blog post is not a reference to how some people feel at the start of January - thankfully I am not one of these and actually prefer the colder, darker months!  Rather it is an allusion to my favourite colour.  Since I was a little girl, I have always loved the colour blue.  Apart from a brief flirtation with purple whilst at university my loyalty has always been truly blue ;-).  Green comes pretty close but let's leave that for another day.

I pretty much like all shades of blue - teal and turquoise are particularly good colours for redheads like myself -  and now in my mid-thirties I have a particular fondness for navy.  When I was growing up I always teased my mother about having mostly navy clothes but it seems I am tarred with the same brush as it is now true of me too!

I've never been much of a fan of baby blue as a colour for clothing, my little boy never wore it as a baby, but for accessories, home decor and kitchen ware, baby blue is just perfect :-)

Observe my number one Christmas gift from the recent festivities:

Oh my, what a wonderful specimen of a baby blue leather satchel that is!  Hand crafted by the Leather Satchel Company especially for me.  It's 11" across and is big enough to hold all my essentials including my kindle!  This was my Christmas present from my Dr Husband and I LOVE it.

I also got some lovely blue kitchenware in various shades as gifts:

I've always loved these mini cocottes from Le Creuset and I'm now the proud owner of eight of them!  They've already been trialled for chicken pot pies and this week I'm going to experiment with mini fish pies and mini veggie Shepherd's pies.

We've just returned from a lovely weekend at Bluestone which has relaxed us all no end and I'm ready for the onslaught of back to school tomorrow.

I'm planning on getting back on the Farmer's Wife Quilt wagon this week and I've already chosen the first two blocks of 2013!

Happy New Year!

It's the first day of 2013, and would you believe it, a dry and sunny day.  Having had rain constantly for about 3 weeks, what a lovely surprise when I got up this morning.  I can't say we're making the most of it given that the three of us that are home today, are a tad snotty, but it is making me feel cheery none-the-less.

Christmas was quiet and lovely despite the hammering our rugby team took at the local derby on Boxing Day.  It was the first time in my life that I have left a match before the final whistle.

Between Christmas and New Year I did a teeny bit of sewing, producing this cushion based on this tutorial.

I really love the result and it fits in really well with my living room.  Great for using up those scraps so I may make a few more in differing designs.  The cushion is a bit over-stuffed at present as I didn't have the correct size cushion pad in the house, so I ended up stuffing it with two pads for the time being!  A shopping trip beckons.

Much knitting has been done, but not necessarily completed, over the festive period which will be shared soon.  We have a family weekend away this coming Friday so perfect for finishing knitting projects ;-) Not to mention this afternoon - husband is golfing, little boy will be napping and my Big Girl and I can knit and watch Little House on the Prairie.

Happy Christmas Day!

I wish you a very Happy Christmas Day 2012!  Enjoy!

NB: above, Paul Hollywood Mince Pie as per the Christmas Bake off - excellent pastry!

Last blocks of the year

Christmas has crept up on me at an alarming rate this week!  It was the last week of term at school and Monday and Tuesday just dragged.  As for the rest of the week, it was over in a blink and despite being very organised I still have a mountain of jobs to do!

Yesterday afternoon I tidied the spare room where I usually sew - the fabric was put in boxes and my machine packed away.  I won't have time for sewing between now and Christmas I expect, so I will indulge in a spot of, more sociable, festive knitting instead.

The Farmer's Wife blocks I want to share today are probably the last two I'll manage before the New Year.  In total I've managed 20 blocks since September which I'm really pleased, if not amazed, about.

Puss in the Corner

Despite posting this picture upside down (flowers and cherries do not grow in the above formation), I like this block (albeit wonky) a lot.  It's a deviation from the festive red I've been drawn to, but it is fresh, pretty and girly.

Northern Lights

More red I'm afraid but I do so love these to Lecien prints together!  This one was very quick to cut out and piece - instant gratification!

My parents are coming over to spend the day today so I've a few festive jobs to be getting on with this morning.  The weather is vile outside so I hope the ladies (Mother, Myself and the Big Girl) will indulge in some knitting this after afternoon.  It's what wet, grey days were made for!

More blocks!

I wasn't expecting to complete two Farmer's Wife blocks this week but somehow I managed it!  I think one child having two sick days at the beginning of the week probably helped - I cut out the fabric while we were cwtching in, then sewed them up when the Busy Boy (sadly not really a Baby Boy any more) had a marathon nap yesterday afternoon.

Spool

This is my second attempt at this block - the first was early on in the quilt along and basically made it into the scrap basket quite quickly.  I originally found the half square triangles hard to match up and disliked the fabric selection.  Over the ensuing weeks I think my cutting and piecing has improved and I am much happier with this version of 'spool'.  The fabric selection works well and I really like the contrast between the colours and the large spots against a background of small spots.

Streak of Lightening

I was ever so slightly daunted when I cut out the fabric pieces for this block as there were many little bits.  Thankfully there were no point or seams to match up so it was very straightforward.  Needless to say I'm not relishing the prospect of many tiny triangles which feature in a lot of the future blocks!

Love the red and white fabrics - both by Lecien - they compliment each other well.

The Most Wonderful Time...

I am starting to feel a little more festive - the cold weather has most certainly helped this feeling, not to mention the fact my Christmas tree is up!

This was taken in the late afternoon sun, earlier in the week.  My husband went on the tree buying expedition on Sunday afternoon with the Big Girl who wanted a 'Norman Tree' - turns out this is a Nordman Fir.  'Norman' must be about 8 foot tall and is very, very fat :-)

I've indulged in a little more afternoon Christmas sewing this week too:

A Christmassy cushion cover, made with 2.5 inch fabric strips to fit a 12" square cushion.  I'd like to make another Christmas quilt this year but I think I might be running low on time.  What I really need is a couple of snow days ....unlikely I say. Very.