{ Wish I was a Farm Girl Sampler - First Two Blocks }

I started sewing the 6 1/2" blocks from Lori Holt's

Farmgirl Vintage  book this past weekend.

Up to this time, I really hadn't worked with such small pieces of fabric so I really wasn't sure what to expect. Everything seemed to work out fine and I'm happy with the blocks. 

Choosing the fabric is a lot of fun. Sometimes I struggle with fabric choices, second guessing myself all the way through, but I think the colors and prints of Farmhouse and Strawberry Fields make it easy to be satisfied with my choices.

Welcome

Corn and Tomatoes

So, here are my first two completed blocks! So happy to finally be sewing them. 

{ Wish I was a Farm Girl Sampler Quilt- The Beginning }

Due to circumstances beyond my control, namely way too many projects in line

 ahead of it, I'm just starting the 6" blocks from Lori Holt's book 

Farm Girl Vintage.

I've had the book since it was released, occasionally taking it out of the closet to drool over the cute quilts inside. I knew from the first time I saw the cover that I wanted to make the sampler quilt.

I've been looking and waiting for the perfect fabric. I like to plan ahead , know exactly what I'll be using and order everything to have on hand.

One of my favorite fabric designers, Joanna of Fig Tree & Co, released a fabric line called Farmhouse. I'd say that's a pretty darn perfect collection to use for my {Wish I was a Farm Girl } sampler quilt. I'm also going to incorporate leftovers from her line Strawberry Fields, one of my all-time favorite fabric lines.

I ordered a fat eighth bundle of Farmhouse, backing, binding and border yardage from Farmhouse, and 4 yards of Milk solid from Farmhouse for the background and sashing. With the leftover Strawberry Fields I should have enough to complete this quilt.

My goal~ at least two blocks each week. That really shouldn't be too difficult to squeeze in. {wishful thinking?}My quilty list of to-do's is more realistic than previous years so I'm hoping to see several finishes in 2016.

{Wish I was a Farm Girl} sampler quilt will hopefully be one of them.

Hey, if there are any more of you who are way  late to the Farm Girl Vintage sew along, JOIN ME. I'll be posting photos of the completed blocks on Instagram with the hashtags #wishiwasafarmgirl, #farmgirlvintage, #beeinmybonnet and #loriholt

{Thanksgiving & a Quilt}

We're home from our {Thanksgiving} celebration in North Carolina. It was a wonderful two day gorge on the turkey and all the usual fixings, as well as some {lasagna}, garlic bread & salad on friday night. Having the {family} together for a holiday is wonderful and a little painful. It's so hard to leave everyone, knowing we won't see each other again for six months.

I did the big unveil of {Nebraska Farmhouse c.1953} on friday. Everyone seemed to like it. I did notice some layout errors but I learned a lesson from them. Oh yeah, the name....The {Strawberry Fields} fabrics remind me of a 1950's era farmhouse. I love the soft, vintage colors.  I can picture curtains hanging in the kitchen made from any of these fabrics.  Some of the fabric designs would make perfect bed sheets and others I can picture the farmer's wife using  to make aprons for herself and jumpers for her girls.

I'm really happy with this, my first full sized quilt. It finished up at 65x82, a very generous lap quilt. I'll be sure to use it this winter.

{Ouch}

Last night I dreamed about hedgehogs. Reason one...Steph just added one to her household. A little boy named Stitch. He really is cute, but I prefer an animal you can pet and not get stuck. Maybe I'll feel differently when I get to meet him.

This is Sonic, Steph's first hedgie, who passed on to

Hedgehog Heaven.

Reason two... I started hand sewing (ouch) the binding to the back of my {Nebraska Farmhouse c. 1953} quilt. That's the one made from the {Strawberry Fields} fabric line. I'll explain the name choice in another post. Anyway....this hand sewing thing looks better than I expected for a first-time attempt but my right index finger is sore! I mean really sore! I was hoping to have it all done over this past weekend but I had to take breaks. So....hand sewing the binding is carrying over to tonight. I'm hoping  to have it done and the quilt into the wash this evening. I can't wait to see it, and feel it, in all it's puckery goodness. Once it's washed and dried, on goes the quilt label and Wednesday it will make it's first road trip to NC so I can show Mom. Hopefully, I'll get some nice photos to post here. I'll have the tall son with me to help with holding the quilt.



{Strawberry Fields}

Last night I dreamed about strawberries....the plump, red, juicy ones. There's nothing better than those strawberries dipped in white chocolate. Today I received a package I've been waiting for impatiently. It's my first full sized {quilt} back from the quilter! I haven't really had a chance to examine it yet since I'm at work but I did take it out of the box. I'm in love. I used the fabrics from the collection {Strawberry Fields} by {Fig Tree & Co} for Moda. The colors are lovely and soft with a vintage feel. The quilting was done by Carol at The Quilt Studio in Nebraska. I'm so new at this that I never specified what color thread I wanted for the quilting. I figured it would just be done in white. Nope....Carol chose a soft green thread that matches the fabrics beautifully. I'm so happy with it!

Now begins a new adventure....binding. When I made my first traditional quilts that are baby sized, I was able to quilt them simply and bind them the quick & easy way by wrapping extra backing around to the front of the quilt and machine sewing it to the front. This will be the first attempt at making and binding a full sized quilt. I already know that both front and back will be machine stitched. The thought of hand sewing gives me the willies.

I'm not going to post any photos yet. I'm going to wait until the quilt is completely finished. Tonight's plan is to make 312" of 2 1/4" binding. I'll keep you updated.