Darting Birds

One more Farmers Wife Sampler block complete, Darting Birds. This one was going very well, until it came to attaching the 'birds' to each other. I had trouble with one point in particular, and ended up calling  it done after several unpicking sessions, though I was not 100% thrilled with it.

Here is the block:

It is a bit wonky in places, but oddly ended up nice and square...  

And because I hadn't laid them out in a while, here are all my blocks to date:

Having them all laid out like this makes me wonder about doing a couple of smaller quilts, rather than the queen size I was planning. Still plenty of time to decide. :)

Hello Blog

Long time no post! I have not been idle, I just have not taken proper photos. Instagram photos, yes, but not photos with a decent camera of a decent size.

Today I quickly snapped these two Farmers Wife Sampler Quilt blocks.

Here is Block 29, Economy:

And Block 28, Duck and Ducklings:

I've noticed recently that I seem to have a lot of the blue Rose Parade fabrics left, so have been using those. I am currently working on Darting Birds, again using blue and the black/white spot. Lots of little pieces in that one, so I'm taking it slowly.

I must take some photos of what I've been up to. Poor blog has been very neglected.

Just a couple of things...

I have been a busy bee and finished a couple of quilts, as well as making progress on a couple. For now though, here are just a couple of blocks I've done. The finished quilts still need a proper photo shoot. :)

First of all, here is a block called Dutch Rose. I have made it with Ruby by Bonnie and Camille for Moda. It's one of (probably) three I will be making for a table runner.

Next up is another block in the Farmer's Wife Sampler, called Wild Goose Chase:

It was a breeze to put together. Instead of making the individual flying geese units and joining them, I made one unit, then added the big triangle, then each of the small triangles, then the next big triangle and so on. It makes for a nice flat block and pointy points.

That's it for now. Hopefully I will be back soon with some Marmalade.

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.