Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas 

Wishing you and your loved ones and safe and happy holiday season!

Block Progress

Here's the latest Farmer's Wife blocks.  I was following along a fellow quilter's blog but decided to become a renegade after measurements for a number of blocks were wrong! I hate that. So anyway, I've been going through my quilt books digging up six inch blocks to make.

A few pics of my favorites, I don't think anyone wants to see each block!

This brings my total up to 75, only 25 to go and I can start putting them together.
I found this video on youTube and I found it fascinating. I've always wondered how quilting fabric was made! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

No Strings Attached

I've been asked to review Build Your Best Log Cabin, an ebook available from Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting. Yippee! I think Log Cabin blocks are one of my very favorite blocks, I mean, who doesn't like them! They are so simple to make particularly with regard to fabric selection: just choose a stack of lights and a stack of darks and you are ready to go.

Build Your Best Log Cabin offers plenty of inspiration and clear instructions for the beginner as well as the seasoned quilter. The ebook is illustrated with plenty of photos, projects, and layout ideas. The book offers three styles of blocks to make:  Traditional, Courthouse Steps, or Chevron. And this was my favorite part, measurements for the strips you need for each style block are contained in neat little easy-to-follow charts. Also, the measurements are given to make five different size blocks from 4.5 inches up to 13.5 inches.  I made the mistake once in making a log cabin quilt of not cutting the strips out first, I just lopped off the ends as I sewed the block. Of course, all my blocks ended up being different sizes. That was a hard lesson in preciseness matters in quilting.

Also included are two handy bonuses at the end: How to Add Piping, and Better Binding techniques.

Build Your Best Log Cabin is available for downloading for free here.  It's an excellent ebook, so be sure to take a look at it.

Thanks for stopping by~

                           Hope you have a wonderful day with family and friends.

Stuck on You

Not much sewing going on here, I've had problems with vertigo as well as my ongoing back pain, so I thought I needed a bit of cheering up,

and Daniel's just the guy! November 9 is the release date for Skyfall with Adele singing the theme song for the movie. That should be good!
Happy sewing and send good thoughts my way~

Finish Line

I was hoping to share this top all quilted but with the way my life has been for the past year, that just didn't work out.  This is one of my entries for the In The Bag~Ugly Fabric Quilt Challenge that I joined I can't- remember -when but ends October 15 (?).  You can check out all the others here. 
I've had the border fabric for years and have always loved it but could never figure out what I wanted to make with it.

That dark green background and the light basket above it are two of the uglies I received.

Two more uglies: the grass green background and the dark purple background below it.

I really tried to use all the uglies in this one quilt per Challenge rules but I could not make them fit. So I ended up making another top! The Baskets top is about 82 by 68 inches. I love how it turned out, so bright and festive. I always say, if you can't cut a fabric you do not like small enough, then distract attention away from it.

This one measures 78 by 95 inches and it all Churn Dashes of four different sizes, four, six,nine, and sixteen-inch blocks. I had a lot of fun making it.
I mentioned in a prior post that I suffered (word chosen for emotional effect) a back injury fall of 2011 and it has just been hanging on with a lot of pain.  I started Physical Therapy two weeks ago and am starting to lead a more normal life again!  I have learned through a tough therapist that muscles heal better through exercise.