On a roll......

It appears that I am obsessed currently with The Farmer's Wife.  Tonight I completed two more blocks.  I can't sit in front of the TV without doing something and so from about 8:00 P.M. until midnight I was hand piecing.  I completed Block #57 - Morning which I had started last night.

Block #57 - Morning

Then I also completed a second block tonight - Block #69 - Practical Orchard.  It was a very easy block with only 12 pieces.

Block #69 - Practical Orchard

That brings the total up to 27 blocks completed.  However, it now means that I have only 5 more blocks pre-cut.  I now need to re-think my strategy on this project.  I have fabric picked for 7 more blocks so I will have to start preparing those blocks - that should be Tuesdays.  Wednesdays I will piece, Thursdays I will pick more fabrics for more blocks, Fridays will be for piecing, Saturday night is hockey so I will be machine piecing or quilting and Sundays I will reserve for sashings and cornerstones.  This is my dream!!!!
(Trust me - it's a dream!)  I would love to stick to this grueling schedule but we all know - life happens and the best laid plans....etc.

This Friday is our No Machine Night - Sit & Sew at the store so I'll be bringing The Farmer's Wife to work on some preparation of blocks.

However, there does appear to be progress and in all honesty, although I will attempt to keep to this schedule, I know that it will be extremely difficult so we'll just take it one block at a time.....

I just got really excited because I finished 2 in one night!!!!  Totally motivated here!  It was that gorgeous Dear Jane that Anne has almost completed (on the Cock A Doodle Blog last week) that really got me motivated.

Have a great day everyone!

Jo-Ann

Finally.....

Some days I just can't get it right!  Actually today was fabulous in terms of quilting.  I got three rows together in my Nine by Twelve pattern and 3 blocks for Amish With A Twist, along with more blocks for my Radical Rail quilt.  However, when it came to my hand-piecing I wasn't doing so well.

For some reason I thought I could put the block together while looking at the pattern upside down.....duh!  At any rate, I finally figured it out, so while watching the Season Finale of Republic of Doyle I managed to fix my mistakes and get it right.....

Block 56 - Maple Leaf

I am now up to 25 blocks of 111.  It's starting to look like I may shave a couple of years of that 11 I predicted just recently.  The next one is Block 57 - Morning - it has 37 pieces so it may take awhile but I think I'll start it tonight and depending on what's on TV tomorrow night, I might get it done.

Tomorrow I really have to get that new newsletter on its way to completion.  All the dates are set, it's just a matter of getting it into the format of a newsletter.  Wish me luck, it's always a big undertaking but it is my first priority for tomorrow....

Have a great day everyone!

Jo-Ann

Idle hands......

Well, I have to admit I have enjoyed returning to Farmer's Wife and can already add another block to my list.....

Block 55 - Linoleum

That having been said, I got waylaid tonight as I was busy packaging the patterns for Amish With A Twist.  That took a couple of hours and I was just too tired to do any quilting, machine or hand.  It was a long day - cutting the fabrics for Amish and a few other little things to do!

I am half way through my next block so I'm moving a little faster than my previous pace....

A good night's sleep will do me good so I'm off - it's gonna be a long weekend and for some reason the internet is not working at the store so I will have to get that figured out tomorrow.  Never a dull moment!!!!

Have a great day everyone!

Jo-Ann

I'm back......

I'm back at my Farmer's Wife.  This is so cool!  It's not that I've been avoiding it but it was really difficult working on it when I didn't have space.  Now that I have space I am able to spread myself out when I watch TV and actually do my hand stitching....so, I've managed to do two blocks tonight......

Block 53 - Jack Knife

and Block 54 - Kitchen Woodbox

I have a total of 23 blocks done now.  I am embarrassed to say that I started this in January 2010 - so that is over 3 years.  Of course I can use the excuse that I am doing it by hand and that I took a 8 months off during the chemo because it was difficult to stitch by hand but even so that only adds up to about 8 blocks per year.  At that rate it will take me another 11 years to complete the blocks for this quilt.  I'm thinking I would really like to step it up a bit.....

Tonight was a stellar night - two blocks, too much TV, but if I keep watching TV I have a chance of getting much more done.....

Bear in mind I have a million other things to do,  I need to extend each day by at least 2 hours and then maybe, just maybe I will get this done....

Check out the Cock A Doodle Blog (www.cockadoodlequilts.blogspot.com) and see how long it takes to do one of these quilts by hand.....

Have a great day everyone!

Jo-Ann 

I promised I would post this link.....

This was on my facebook page and I just fell in love with it....



I offered to hire 6 of them, they'll probably work for tuna!!!!

Have a great day!

Jo-Ann

Amish With A Twist and more.......

First I promised to post some pics from the "fairy tale" wedding......  Sara and Vince were married Saturday April 6, 2013 at Hazelton Manor.  It was an absolutely fabulous wedding.....

Sara Tamar Saitowitz and Vincenzo La Curto

(now Sara and Vincenzo La Curto)

 The first dance as man and wife

He sang to her - it was beautiful......

Now back to real life!  It took me two days to recuperate!!!!  I'm back on Amish With A Twist and also Radical Rail.  Since I am doing continuous piecing as I'm working on Amish, I am also making the blocks for Radical - I have completed a litte more than one third of the Radical just by using the blocks as my "leaders and enders".  It really gives you a great feeling of accomplishment - it's like a 2 for 1!

The kids are in the Bahamas for the next two weeks soaking up the sun (missing this lovely weather we're expecting) so until they return I have time to play by the sewing machine on all my projects.  There will be a wedding quilt expected in the somewhat near future!  I'm not really great with those projects, I get distracted, I already owe one wedding quilt which I need to complete....Gotta make time for all of this too!!!!

No - I will not add either of them to the list right now!  I will wait a little longer, right now I am seriously concentrating on Amish With A Twist and Radical Rail.....

Have a great day everyone!

Jo-Ann  

Getting things done.....

I spent the day at the store signing up for all kinds of social media - ugh!  Not really but it's a lot of work to keep up with all this internet stuff!  Who knew!?!?!

At home I'm stealing moments (between and during my TV shows) quilting or like this morning before I left for work I managed to get part of Block 4 done (Amish With A Twist), finished it when I got home.

I'm curious, "What kind of quilter are you?" I'd love it if you comment here, it's kind of a little survey.

I have been working on Amish With A Twist (as per www.cockadoodlequilts.blogspot.com)    but I like to do continuous piecing.  Since I'm working on one block at a time, continuous piecing doesn't quite work, unless you add another project and it's not like I don't have a few projects to work on (haven't touched the infamous 9 yet!).  I finished my serging of my Radical Rail Fence blocks (144) on Monday morning, so I figured why not.....

So far I have 8 blocks done - that's probably about 1/4 of the quilt top.  I'm thrilled, especially since I've been working on (not working on, meaning to be working on) this quilt for 6 years approximately.  Seriously, I started it in 2007, Barb will verify that since she cut all the homespun strips for me....

It feels good to be getting two things done at once, slows things down just a tad but it;s worth it.  Oh and do I make mistakes - yup!  Believe it or not I actually had to "unsew" three Rail Fence blocks because I sewed them together wrong - don't ask!  I couldn't have picked an easier project, a real no brainer, I mean I don't even have to match up blocks here but I still managed to get a few wrong.  It's all fixed now so I can continue, hopefully without making to many more mistakes....

Just have to focus!  Tomorrow, I am teaching hand piecing/quilting in the a.m. and Linda's coming in to work on her O Tennanbaum quilt which she was working on today, so it's going to be quite a busy day.....

Saturday is my god daughter's wedding - and Jonathan, as usual, has no clothes ready to wear so I'm not sure how we are going to rectify that new emergency, but we will!  Guess I have to find a Same Day cleaner near us, or near the store.  Gotta love the drama!

Sunday is the monthly Sit & Sew for the girls!   4 days off and right back into the fray!  Gotta get a newsletter done too!  That's the agenda.....never a dull moment!

Have a great day everyone!

Jo-Ann