End of Day

Last week was not the best of weeks, and though I had made it my goal to get a couple of cushion covers made last week, I decided that yesterday I needed a bit of escape sewing. So, I went for a couple of the quicker Farmers Wife Sampler Quilt blocks. The cushion covers will wait.

The first one was as desired, nice and quick. It's called End of Day:

It came together nice and easily, and I just undid the last seam once to get those points in the centre right. Or right enough, anyway.

The next block is called Homeward Bound (and each time I think that name I get the Simon and Garfunkel song in my head):

It came together easily enough, but I undid it because I didn't like the fabric choices. I didn't take a photo of the original. This remake was finished this morning. I think I like it. I think. It is nice and yellow anyhow.

I have missed doing these blocks, and really ought to start doing them regularly again.

Florals... and Chocolate Slice

I've made a couple more fabric purchases recently, more Rose Parade mainly, because I love Rose Parade. On purchasing this yellow Rose Parade fabric online I was phoned and advised that there wasn't enough in stock, so on the spur of the moment I asked them to throw a Flora charm pack in to make up the difference in price. I've had my eye on it for a long while, so why not?

Well, it came, and was lovely. Unfortunately for my sensitive nose though it smelled strongly of cigarettes, so I had to wash it, yardage and charm squares. It didn't look so neat and square after washing: 

It was a good opportunity to wash some other fabrics I've had waiting a while for their pre-wash (pre-cuts are the only fabric I don't pre-wash, usually). Also a good time to wash my woollens. They'd only been waiting a few weeks, except those that had been waiting a few months... I LOATHE hand washing.

On a more yummy note, here is my favourite go-to recipe for Choc-coconut Slice, just for my sweet(tooth) friend Susan. It is super quick and super easy. It even has sprinkles! Well, sprinkled coconut anyway. It's from the Family Circle Slices recipe book.

For the base:

1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup self-raising flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2/3 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
125g butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Brush a shallow 28 x 18 cm slice tin with melted butter or oil; line base with baking paper, extending over two sides.

Sift flours and cocoa into a medium mixing bowl, stir in sugar and coconut. Make a well in the centre. Add cooled melted butter, vanilla and egg and stir to combine.

Press mixture into prepared tin, smoothing surface with the back of a spoon. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until set. Leave to cool in tin.

For the icing:


1 1/4 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
30g butter, softened
1-2 teaspoons hot water
1/4 cup desiccated coconut, toasted (I don't bother toasting it)

Sift icing sugar and cocoa into a small bowl, add butter and water and stir until smooth. Using paper, lift slice from tin and spread with icing. Sprinkle with coconut. cut into pieces to serve. Store for up to 3 days in airtight container.

I store it in the freezer. It's a good way to stop myself eating too much at once. Though I must admit, it is pretty good frozen too ;)

Big, and Little.

The mini Farmers Wife Sampler blocks are very addictive, but I have still managed to do some big ones. Here we have Cut Glass Dish:

Friendship (I pinched my fabric choices from Suzitee's block, here):

And Spool:

I also did another couple of minis, just because they're cute. They are Calico Puzzle:

And Spool:

I feel a bit odd about using a different fabric for the mini spool, and not sticking with the Rose Parade. My little scraps will not do all the mini blocks I have planned though, so I had to branch out to other scraps. I keep the tiniest little oddments of fabric, and since these little blocks sometimes use pieces as small as 3/4 inches square, the tiny scraps are well worth saving.

Babies

The farmer and his wife have been having babies:

These mini Farmers Wife Sampler Quilt blocks, done with scraps from the big ones, will finish at 1.5 inches square. They're kind of addictive.

Hello Luscious

My niece is turning 5 at the end of June, and since I just gave her little brother a single bed quilt for his birthday, it seemed best to give her one too.

I chose a layer cake of Hello Luscious by Basic Grey, but stuck to the pinks and blues, since she told me recently that she doesn't like green. Unfortunately her favourite colour is now purple, not pink like I think it was at the time I bought the layer cake. I am pretty sure she will still like this though. I may just add in some purple anyway, I have a few ideas.

Anyhow, the centre is done, and it was supremely fast, since no cutting was required and there are just 28 squares. The most time consuming part was getting it to look 'random', but in a way that pleased me. I spent far too long on it and in the end just started sewing so I'd stop changing my mind!

I had different plans to begin with, but on laying out all the squares I decided that they didn't need to be cut up, they were just fine as big, bold patches. Now, borders and perhaps a bit of applique, and then another quilt top will be done. Just need to choose and then buy some border fabric.

Cups and Saucers

I did another couple of Farmers Wife Sampler blocks on the weekend. Each one was done over a couple of days. It's kind of nice doing it that way because all the cutting is over and done with on one day, and then there's just a little bit of sewing to get a finished block the next day.

Anyhow, today we have Block 25, Cups & Saucers:

Soft and pretty, I think. This went together quite well, just one seam where the points didn't match, but that was soon unpicked and redone.

This is Block 90, Storm Signal:

Somewhat bolder in colour, huh? The points that don't meet nicely on this may require me to redo those particular parts. We shall see. I am trying to be less fussy - it won't be going to a show, will just end up on my bed, but I really am a bit of a perfectionist so they will probably bug me. :(

Friendship Star

Another Farmers Wife block done on Sunday, Friendship Star:

I love the blue and yellow together.

I went out of order again to do a quick one. This was definitely quick, only 13 pieces.