Introducing Melody

 

 

So catching up on this years goings on I would like to introduce my girls to you.  So first up is Melody

 

 

 

Scorned Woman – Barn name Melody, I didn’t like the name scorned woman, far too harsh and did not suit or fit her beautiful personality.

 

She is a 5 year old OTTB (Off The Track Thoroughbred) and retired from racing in November 2013.  And she was at the time of buying her 16hh, although I need to measure her to see if she has finished growing.

She only ran a handful of races and her old owners decided she just didn’t have the heart to be a race horse.  And wanted to find her a home as a brood mare or a home where she could have a new career.

As soon as I saw her for sale I fell in love with her.  I have a big soft spot for grey horses as growing up as a teenager I had a grey horse called Caspian, at the time he was my world and like any teenager who loves horses I spent every waking minute with him, riding, brushing him or just hanging out at the barn.

And now as an adult I get to do that all over again!

 

Where did a year go!!!!

I really cannot remember the last time I blogged, I am sure if I checked its probably been nearly a year! Sometimes life gets in the way and there are more important things to do. The last year has been absolutely crazy for me, so here you go for a quick recap and hopefully I will get back into blogging and write some posts about what I have been up to.

 We sold our house and moved to a new house in August 2013 and eldest son went off to college.

 My first introduction to keeping chickens in September.

 Our dog died in October 2013

I rekindled a new passion after a long 20 years break and bought a new horse in Janurary this year, and boarded her locally until finding a second horse. So it was all systems go to set up our acreage for horses,

My husband in January building me a round pen, what you cant see is the 3ft deep snowy slope he just carried those panels down.

 I bought another horse in March which enabled me to bring both horses home. Which for me has always been a dream to have horses at home where I could look out of the window and watch them graze.

We added a new family member in July,  this is  Marylebone Express aka Marly

 I spent the summer with my husband building a hay storage shed, chicken coop, and adding a front and dutch doors to the horses run in shed. 

We got to grips with electric fencing, became experts at moving said electric fences to rotate the horses grazing.

 I also learnt a lot about having hay cut, who to use, who not to use. And why farmers stress about the weather so much!

 I planted tomatoes, cabbage, eggplant, kale and a host of other vegetables and learnt that chickens love my tomatoes!!!

 I fractured my finger horse riding! and found out one of my horses does not like water, so one goal next year is to teach her to like it!

As for quilting, I have managed to do some sewing and now that winter is here I will be doing a lot more in the next few months.  So keep an eye out for more guilty  quilty  goodness that I will be sharing soon.

Farming Friday

Its Farming Friday, and I am still on track making my blocks for my Farmers Wife Sampler Quilt.
Having decided to blog every Friday  about my FWSQ and the blocks I have made is  certainly motivating me to make sure I have something to show of my FWSQ blocks, so I have a really good feeling I will get this quilt made sooner rather than later!

Gentleman's Fancy

This block was made using a paper pieced pattern from the FWSQ Yahoo Group.

TIP: If your have never done any paper piecing  before then I would recommend choosing an easy block to start with.  This block is a easy block to paper piece.

Streak of Lightning

A very easy block – I had no problems figuring out the quilt maths for this one!

Postage Stamp

Another very easy block, no problems sewing this one together!

Bowtie

Another quick and easy block, I see a pattern forming this week!

Weathervane

This block was not quite so easy as all the rest,with all those half square triangles, it makes it a little difficult to press.

TIP: With this block make sure you press your seams open.

If your making FWSQ Blocks let me know so I can see what you have been up to.  And if your not then why not join in.  A new group has just started on Flickr for the Farmers Wife Sampler Quilt 2014. It’s a lot of fun joining in sewing with other people making the same blocks, and its interesting to see how the same block can look made with different fabric.

Have a Great Weekend and Thanks for Stopping by.

I won a Giveaway–Gypsy Wife

 

I have been meaning to write a blog post about this for a while now and only just got around to doing so!

Just before Christmas I won a giveaway on instagram.

I was thrilled and lucky enough to win this bundle of goodies from Camille at  Queen Bee Fabrics.

Camille sent a wonderful package, which Included the Gypsy Wife Pattern Booklet, a gorgeous 15 piece  Liberty of London Scrap pack a mini tape measure, some fabric covered elasticated buttons and a charm pack.

This particular pattern is by Jen Kingwell, it  is completely different to the quilts I normally make but I love how bright and scrappy it is and I am sew so looking forward to putting it all together.

I did have a little play and made one of the mini blocks.

 

 

Another pattern I love by Jen is the Green Tea and Sweet Beans Pattern and I would also love to make this quilt.  So if anyone has a used pattern they have finished using, please let me know.

So I now have a few projects started for this year already. Normally I start and finish one project. Maybe it’s a good thing to have a few different projects on the go at the same time! maybe not! time will tell.

How about you, what projects have you started this year?

Single Wedding Star Mini Block

I managed to do a little bit of sewing at the weekend.

I made another infinity scarf. The fabric is a knit fabric so comes on the bolt much wider than quilting cottons so I actually had enough fabric to make two! I am a little addicted to infinity scarves at the moment thanks to my friend Cindy who showed me how to make them when  I went on my quilting retreat in November.  They are so easy to make and this scarf took about 20 minutes to make!

I made a teeny tiny Single Wedding Ring Block.   I could not believe how small it turned out!

See for yourself.  I plan to make three more blocks and make a mini to decorate the walls of my sewing room.

You can find the free pattern to make the block on Hopes blog When Inspiration Strikes. 

At the moment we are experiencing the coldest weather in Minnesota in over a decade.  It is –19F (-31C) so extremely cold but add the wind chill to that and according to Accuweather it a RealFeel of 41C.  I will not be going anywhere today and may try and sneak in a little bit of sewing!


So did you manage to sew at the weekend.  I would love to see what you made so leave a comment so I can check out your blog and see what you made.

Farmers Wife Quilt Sampler Friday

One of my goals this year is to make a Farmers Wife Quilt Sampler.  I am hoping I have not bitten off more than I can chew!  I plan on making this a King sized quilt. 

So here are the first 5 blocks that I have made.

Block # 2 Autumn Tints

There are 111 blocks in this sampler so I will either repeat or add some other blocks.

Block #20  Churn Dash

Each block measures 6 inches finished. As you probably guessed I will be using Bonnie and Camille fabrics for my Farmers Wife Quilt.

Block # 80 Single Wedding Star

also known as Rolling Stone

So far I have really been enjoying making these blocks.  I made all these blocks by figuring out the math's and rotary cutting them.  The book does provide a CD with templates, but that then requires you to print off all the templates for each block, which is something I am avoiding at the moment.

Block # 111 Wrench

Block #31 Evening Star

also known as Sawtooth Star

This is one of my most favourite blocks, and I have made this block a number of times in the past for Bee Blocks.

So now the weekend is here! What plans do you have for sewing tonight? 

I came across a free pattern for a  mini Single Wedding Star block over at Hopes blog When Inspiration Strikes.  Its tiny! so I have plans to have a go at making one tonight. Hope also has some quilt patterns on Craftsy which is where you will also find her free pattern for the Single Wedding Star/Rolling Stone block.

Hopefully I will get to share my mini block with you sometime over the weekend.

Happy Sewing!!!!

Happy New Year

 

My first blog post of 2014!!!!!!


If your a follower of my blog then you will already know that 2014 was an extremely difficult year for me and my family with lots of uncertainty at times and lots of changes.

We sold our home in Wisconsin and moved to Minnesota, so not a big move, but an extremely trying move, with house buying falling through, our dog getting extremely sick at the same time, and people trying to rip us off left right and centre, including a not limited to realtors, HVAC repair man, vets, the list is endless.

We moved in August and 2 weeks later our eldest son went off to college.


Then sadly we lost our beloved big boy Murphy in October.  So to be honest I will be happy to see the back of 2013.



During 2013 quilting and sewing kept my sanity, it was my escape!!! I did manage to complete and finish a number of quilts. But since moving I have only managed to do a little bit of sewing here and there.

I went on a quilt retreat in November for a much needed escape and had a great time, the best retreat I have been on thanks to all the sponsors that donated prizes of patterns, fabric, and templates.

I did complete a quilt top, but have yet to add the border and backing and get it quilted so that's one thing to add to my 2014 to finish list.

Rear Windows designed by Amy Walsh

(sorry about the photo! late at night iphone photo)

Christmas in our new home was just the four of us.  So it was a quiet Christmas, just how we like it.

So now I am excited to start a New Year.  This year I hope to be a little more organised with my blog than I was last year!

I have a few quilts that I want to make this year and a few projects I want to complete:

Flower Girl by Bonnie and Camille - I have the fabric cut out already.

Gypsy Wife - I won the pattern in a giveaway, which I just realised I forgot to blog about! (another blog post I need to write about)

 

Green Tea and Beans – This is another pattern by Jen Kingswell and I would like to add this to my ever growing list, If you have already made this and want to get rid of your used copy then please send me a message!

City Sampler Quilt - I have started making blocks for this quilt, way back in June but then we moved. 

 

Farmers Wife Quilt - I started making blocks for this quilt in October 2013.  So far I have made 12 blocks and I am really enjoying the process, I would love to finish this quilt in 2014. If I get organised this week then I will blog about some of the blocks I have made so far!

So what do you have on your to do list for 2014?  Any quilts that you plan to make? what about sewalongs? are you taking part in any?