Remember these blocks?

These, with many more blocks, are what they have become:

a big, colorful quilt top.  The scrap pile seems no smaller ~ sigh ~  Most points matched up perfectly which made me happy.  What do you think about using black in a quilt?  I think it makes the colors pop!  Now on to another project....

Charlotte

Drab

seems to be the perfect descriptive word for the month of February and the beginning of March.  Can't even see the mountains (this is just a hill) and I think I've only seen the moon two times since the new moon.  We've had a little snow, enough to make the ground a sloppy mess to trek through while doing the feeding.  But, we've lived with it, knowing full well that it won't be long until we're wishing for rain and cool summer breezes.  "Que sera, sera!"

The Farmer had asked for extra time out before getting chickens again, to give his leg time to recover.  (By the way, it's o.k. now.)  I think "they" gave us two or three extra days, just long enough to make me want to retire, so yesterday we filled the houses again.  (You're saying, "Oh no! not another picture of chickens!")

There were twins this week; what a cold, cold time for babies.  I don't see how people can raise cattle in the northern states where it is so much colder.  We have them in the barn with their mother.  (Terrible picture of them :(; too dark inside the barn)

This morning the Farmer sent off a load of hay that was purchased last summer but only now being picked up; sometimes we wonder if we should have kept it since this winter more hay has been needed.  This load went up the mountain in all this fog.

So, there you have it: my life these days.  There have been some quilting projects tucked into a few hours most days that I want to tell you about; a wonderful Christmas surprise gift and a fun tradition my girls and I have going; some crochet work ~ just give me a few days to catch up.  Writing a blog post takes up so much time because I sit and wait and wait for the pictures to load. 

Until next time, be happy!

Charlotte

Winter Pastime

You all know how much I love to work jigsaw puzzles.  It's just a natural thing for me to do after the stress of December, the dreary sunless days, and long nights between supper and bedtime.  The Farmer gave me two puzzles this year for Christmas gifts.

I worked the most difficult one first, 1000 pieces, QUILT MONTAGE.  I don't have time from farm chores, etc. to sit and work full time, so it took me about a week and a half to finish this one.  When I started it I wasn't sure it was workable, but by taking it one section at a time it was.

The second one, 500 pieces, FARM LIFE, was much easier to work because the pieces were larger, and well, not as "busy" as the first one. And, by the way, a window screen is a perfect thing to put the pieces together on; it holds everything in place and keeps pieces from falling onto the floor.

So now my desire to work a puzzle for the winter has been satisfied and I'll take up the crochet hook, needle and embroidery thread and make something to show for my time.

Mary, at www.visitswithmary.blogspot.com, posted a fantastic poem about puzzles today; check it out!

Charlotte

Flying Geese Quilt Top

I believe this year is following in the footsteps of last year, for here it is the middle of January already!  How can we slow it down?  And how we wish for some days with sunshine after a month of dreary, damp weather.  Do we never stop complaining about the weather?

I feel like I've made good use of my time so far; remember the flying geese blocks I was piecing, hoping to use up some scraps?  The top is finished ~

and as soon as I feel like working with a big lining fabric I'll put it on the frames to quilt, after I've checked to make sure all the papers are removed; sure don't want any surprises when I'm quilting! It turned out to be a BIG top.  During really cold days my sewing room is too cool to work in comfortably, so I have other projects to work on (another post :)  Remember those triangles left over from these blocks that I just couldn't throw away?  Here they are, paired up with white triangles, trimmed to size and boxed up, waiting for another time.

Waste not, want not~

Charlotte

MERRY CHRISTMAS

and a Happy New Year to my blogging friends!  Thank you so much for the kind words you have left in your comments.  The past three years I have chosen projects to make each month: doll quilts, aprons, and hope chest additions.  This year I don't plan to work on specific projects since it puts a lot of pressure on me to finish each month and sometimes it's almost impossible to meet a dead line. 

The final hope chest addition is a Christmas apron made like a vintage apron I have had for a long time.  The pattern was cut from brown paper, wrinkled and smudged.  I made a few changes to the shape of the skirt; rather than having points this one is straight across the bottom and I left off the holly leaves.

After tracing the drawing for the face with a hot transfer pencil, I ironed it onto white fabric, embroidered the features, then appliqued it with a blanket stitch to the skirt of the apron.  I made my apron from green fabric, thinking the read hat would be more visible.

This is the vintage apron.  Overall, I wasn't too pleased with my green apron.  First, the face seems too large for the skirt.  Second, I wish I had used a pattern for a full apron with no gathered skirt.  But, it does have a little holiday cheer to it; they can't all be winners!  (No pockets in this one either, Ernestine :)

Now I will focus on putting the flying geese units together and put them on the quilting frames for a winter's work ~ after Christmas.

Charlotte

My effort to empty a few boxes of scraps continues.  The piecing on this project

came to a halt whenever all the black fabric had been used.   I have 190 blocks pieced and will need several more.  So I ordered more black fabric and while waiting for it, I drafted a pattern for a 6" x 9" Flying Geese unit, printed the pattern onto paper, pulled out the scraps again, and began paper piecing these:

I try to piece five units each day; there are 75 finished ones.  One usually thinks there is a lot of waste when paper piecing because she cuts the pieces a little over sized, but not this time:

As I trim a unit I flick the trimmings off onto the floor rather than take the time to hit the waste basket; I have a broom and dust pan in the sewing room and sweep up the mess as I finish for the day.  This is the layout for the finished blocks, minus a connecting strip between rows:

Did this make a dent in the scraps?  Hardly!  And look what's left when the units are trimmed; a large stack of pretty triangles!

 Sew these to white triangles, trim to 2 1/2 inch squares, and you have the makings for another quilt!

Why not throw them away, you ask?  All I can say is, when you're raised by parents who lived through the depression and made-do with what they had, and every penny was pinched until it screamed, that frugal characteristic lives on.

Charlotte

With all that's going on in the news these days, I thought this was just the thing to start your day with a chuckle: 

This was taken from The BACK FORTY Calendar, 2015, by Lex Graham, and distributed by a local propane company.

Have a good day!

Charlotte