I Missed the Boat!

I always seem to be a day late and a dollar short! Some time ago there was a farmers wife sampler quilt along.  At the time it was going on I was not sure of my skills with such a small block.  But after making Lori's  (Bee in a Bonnet) quilty barn quilt I gained some confidence.  Now, I only made 9 barns and I think this has 111 blocks, so, not sure how many I will be able to create.

Last week my book arrived. The Farmers Wife Sampler  I bought it on Amazon.  As soon as it arrived I started to search the web for tips. 

Lo and behold I came across this....

Karen from "laugh yourself into stitches" had a pattern on Craftsy.

  

The revival of the farmers wife quilt! 

 How lucky was I to have found this wonderful pattern and help.

She also has a flickr group which I was quick to join.

If you, like me, have not had a chance or if you, like me, want to start this amazing project please check out her pattern, tips and advice.

Her blog...

Her pattern...

I so hope there are still some of you out there who would like to join.  I love working with others, I need all the advice and tips I can get!!

Have I ever shown you my makeshift block board? I took a piece of cardboard and some duck tape ( come on, you have to love duck tape) ;

on one side i have sandpaper to hold my blocks down while a draw diagonal lines for HST's.

(I never said it was pretty)!

  The other side has flannel where I lay out my blocks for piecing.

I use this little baby all the time!

I am working on three projects at once!!

#1. Maggie's College Quilt. Which I can only work on while she is gone as she does not want to see it!

#2. I am making progress on my pink, grey and lime squares.

and

#3.  Now, The Farmers Wife Quilt.

This one I am also piecing by hand. Those little pieces can get sucked into my machine forever to be in limbo!

Yep,  Another two days off from school due to our temperatures.

So, today, we played the game of Life and baked M & M cookies!

I love that Maggie will still play a board game with her old Ma'

ONWARD!

The Farmer's Wife Fabrics

My focal color will be red.

I will be using end of bolt pieces from my Flower Sugar Fabrics.

I have also ordered a few more floral's which I hope will soon arrive.

 AND FINALLY!!!

A project where I can use my hoarded saved Kerchief Girls.

Oh, how I love this fabric and wish I had bolts of it!!

I hope to make at least two blocks a week.

Come join the fun!

Happy Sewing, 

Grow Your Blog

Thank you to Vicki from 2 Bags Full for this wonderful idea to meet new friends.  

Why blog?  I had never even heard of blogging until I started my online fabric store. My little brother was a computer nerd/techie and he suggested I start a blog to promote my business. That was in 2008 and I am still going strong.  He is not with me anymore but he would always say how proud he was of my business and blogging. He would tease "for a soccer Mom, you sure know a lot about computers!"

It was true. I started to blog about fabric., hence my blog name Jane's Fabrics but I love to use those fabrics so Jane's Fabrics and Quilts was born.

It was a slow start. I would blog hop, leave comments and find others with common interests. I am a little OCD about organization so I decided to host several swaps. They were very successful and I saw my blog grow. I would host giveaways and I saw my blog grow. I got involved in quilt alongs and saw my blog grow. I did blog hops and saw my blog grow.

I joined flickr groups and saw my blog grow. 

Many of the original bloggers I first connected with are still in my life. Many wonderful friendships have come from blogging. Some bloggers have come in and out of my life. But all have helped to make my blog what it is today. What started out as a business opportunity turned into a joy.

I have learned more about my craft in these years of blogging that all the 30+ years of quilting before.

I even print my blog yearly.  It is a chronicle on my life.  I share me.  I share graduations, College choices, Weddings, showers, new grand-babies and of course my quilting.

The business side is still there but now my blog has become my diary of sorts. Things I would tell my next door neighbor while we talked by our backyard fence  

(google image)

And that is what I do, I get up, pour a cup of jo' and check out my blogs!

About me, Let's see, my name is Jane. I have been married for 36 years. I have three daughters. My oldest, married, high school teacher, husband principal at the same school. They have my two grand-babies and a third due in June.

My middle, married, finishing her PHD this year and on her way to being a Professor.

Our third, senior in High School and on her way to Grinnell College in the fall.

I learned to sew from my Mother. I could make blouses with covered buttons, lined jackets and "hot pants" but once my first baby was due I tried my hand at making a baby quilt. That was 30+ years ago.  Love bloomed and has never left.  I probably could not make a blouse even if I wanted to!

I love to hand piece. The machine and I get bored.  Last year I hand pieced and had quilted my favorite quilt of all time...

My Katie...King Size

I also hand pieced and hand quilted this Christmas Quilt.  I did quilt her in circles but I afraid you cannot tell with the print. 

I afraid I only hand quilt (no idea how to machine quilt) and I did this Zig Zag one with Presencia Thread.  My youngest daughter grabbed that one right up!

I just finished My Quilty Barn all hand Pieced and getting ready to be quilted.

I also joined "The friendship Swap" posted on my side-bar where I have met some of the kindest ladies. This is the block we are working on with a color scheme my partner and I choose.  Each month we make the same block in different colors from our color choices.

This is what I am working on at the moment. Again, hand piecing.

I also love to embroider and just finished a "For The Love of Hand Embroidery Series." Every Monday I would have a guest blogger share their love of embroidery. It was amazing, the talent these ladies shared. Take a peek at some of those posts, listed on my side-bar, you will be glad you did!

I may not get as much done as I would like but I enjoy every minute of what I do.

My point is whether you have 12 or 1000 followers if you enjoy what you do and share "you" that is what really counts.

I thank you for reading my story and I hope you come back and look around and visit! I have so much I would like to share!

Speaking of sharing! How about some Fabric, hexies, and thread! I will send one winner a surprise pack!  You do not need to follow, just leave me a comment. International bloggers welcome. Sorry no-reply comments will be deleted. I know some of you like being a no-reply if that is you, just leave an email.

Thank you and enjoy all the new blogs today!

Click HERE to see the list of 500+ blogs that are participating!!

My Little Hexie Pillow

I just wanted to see if I could do it!  You know, make something with hexies.  I kept making them but had no idea what to do with them. Of course a beautiful flower garden quilt would be lovely. That however would take me ages.

So, I pulled out some of my Flower Sugar Scraps and made about 30 hexies.  I then used Presencia Thread and attached them to a backing with large stitch quilting.

Then.....

I stared at it for several months!

I still had no idea what to do them!

Until I found this great you tube video

I could do that, I was sure I could!  and you know what?

I did!!

Here is my little 10 inch pillow.

It now belongs to Little Miss.

She had her whole section set up....

and then enjoyed it!

Ahhh, what a sweet life!

Happy Sewing!

A decision has been made

We are proud to say that Maggie has applied for early decision for College and has been accepted. Starting next fall she will be attended Grinnell College in Iowa.

Anyone know of any quilt shops in the area!!?

Progess

It is very quite around here.  Not much machine sewing but a lot of hand piecing.

 Approximately 252 squares

 are now in two's.

Next making sets of four.

Hope to get a lot done during the Golden Globes.

Enjoy your Sunday.

What do you do when the Wind Chill Is -45!!

Wow, cold I mean cold. We are setting all sortt of records here in Illinois.  I know there are other places in the country affecting by this snow and cold.

Please stay safe everyone.

So, this is what I did. I went around the house and closed all the blinds to help keep in the heat. Now I know why I make so many quilts, this Snoopy one is covering the family room windows. I am hoping this will also help. 

So far, we are very blessed all is fine.

The happy news is that the kids had today and now tomorrow off, which extends their Holiday Vacation.

Maggie and I watched a movie. Well she watched, I listened while I broke open a fat quarter set. I have such a hard time doing that, but I am continuing my, buy it, cut it, use it statement for this year too!

Took out my Accuquilt Machine and went to town!

I cut 5 inch squares.

Here they are:

The color palette is, grey, pink and line green. I like the splash of the green. I think it will add a pop to the quilt.

OK, off to start to hand piece this baby.

Stay safe!

2014!!!

Well, all the wrapping paper is picked up, the ornaments and lights have been taken off the tree. The needles are now in the vacuum cleaner. The village is taken down, boxed and put away for next year.

All the Christmas cookies have been eaten. And the Christmas quilts put away safely until next year.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season and that everyone brought in the new year with love and joy.

My wish for you for 2014 is to look around and see what you have and what you love and to savor and enjoy every minute. 

Not much sewing got done over the past few weeks. I did however get a chance to finish my December blocks for the friendship swap.

I just love how all of these are going to look together.

January colors are:

2 blocks

Dark Green 

Red

Yellow  

2 blocks

Navy 

Red 

Blue

Huge winter storm here so we are just staying put, a good day for sewing!

Happy New Year