Two Down!

While the kiddies are in their final count down to the end of school, I got to do something I haven't done in a very long time. . . . . head off to a classroom!!! Yes last Saturday was my first meeting of The Farmer's Wife Club. With great anticipation I loaded up my tote bag with goodies and made my way over to Candlelite Quilts.

While not officially a "class" there were plenty of new techniques for me to discover. Making templates from which to cut each piece individually was definitely an eye opener and has given me a far greater appreciation for all the patchwork done prior to the days of the rotary cutter! I'm sure they didn't have the pleasure of using a sandboard back then either and that's too bad because now that I've been introduced to it I can't imagine trying to trace onto fabric without one. The most surprising tidbit, however, was the concept that one shouldn't do more than to lightly press straight down on a piece of patchwork when using an iron. Shocking! Or at least for me, a huge fan of working my iron into all the little nooks and crannies of my patchwork blocks in order to make them lie flat as a pancake. Apparently, by doing so I am stretching the fabrics out of the proportions so carefully created by sticking to the seam allowances. Unfortunately, I do believe it's going to be very hard for me to kick the ironing habit. I've already cheated a teeny bit . . . . . but at least I know now why I can never seem to have precise piecing when it comes time to assemble my blocks all together!

By the end of the day I had two, slightly wrinkled, 6.5" blocks completed. I present you with Evening Star (#31) and Autumn Tints (#2). Now only 109 to go!

The Farmer's Wife

Inspired by Lily Red's new quilt I've decided I want one for my bed as well. One small problem. . . . . the scale at which I tend to work is far from conducive to creating a queen sized patchwork piece. The idea of working in such a large scale, in fact, terrifies me. I'm not quite sure how to begin, am uncertain about maintaining my motivation, and find it difficult to even imagine being able to complete such a feat. So I've enlisted some help by joining The "Farmer's Wife" Club over at Candlelite Quilts. Based on the book by Laurie Aaron Hird, in which excerpts from real letters written by farm wives in the 1920's are paired up with inspired patchwork blocks, the group will meet once a month for the next year. At the end we will each have a minimum of 24 completed blocks and some new tips and tricks up our sleeves. I'll still have a ways to go in order to complete the 111 blocks needed for the queen sized version but hopefully I'll have developed the confidence to charge on to the end by myself. The very first meeting is next weekend and I can hardly wait to get started. In the meantime I'm gathering up fabrics, reading the letters, and imagining life as a farmer's wife.

Now considering our property consists of a mere 1700 square yards, the chances of cultivating such a lifestyle would seem quite slim but there is still plenty of outdoor work to occupy our time. In the short ten minutes it took me to survey our entire lot I found enough projects to last us the entire summer. The front dooryard for instance is in serious need of some tweaking. Bushes, flowers, and herbs that were planted several years ago have outgrown their locations and need to be either thinned or transplanted.

The walkways and cobblestone pathways are in desperate need of some weeding.

Pots everywhere are lacking a new selection of annuals and I'm thinking a few patchwork pillows would really cheer the bench up (and make it a bit more comfortable!)

Out back the shed stands as the keystone to a multitude of tasks. The very first thing I see every time I look at it is the lack of a curtain in the window. Lack of red gingham to make one is not, however, an issue so its time I buckled down and did it. The clematis on the corner has really thrived these past two years. Although originally a withered stick of a thing rescued from Walmart's clearance section, I now have visions of training it's vines to climb along the left hand wall of the shed. A small crop of sunflowers on the other side would be lovely as well.

Here a proper trash area made out of brick would hopefully make it a bit more difficult for the raccoons to topple the barrels over and wreak havoc with the contents.

Behold a mess of another sort, and one for which I can't blame on the raccoons. This definitely needs to reckoned with!

The removal of our yard debris remains to be dealt with. Times were that it could be bagged and delivered to a local tree nursery for use in their giant compost pile. Now, out of business, the moment has come for us to maintain a compost bin of our own. And the black gold we hope to mine from such and endeavor?

Why it will head directly into our raised garden beds. Actually we only have one this year. . . the square foot gardening concept was recommended to us by a friend so we figured we'd give it a trial run. If all goes well we hope to add two more beds next year and be able to have a full blown harvest.

And what is a farmer's wife to wear when she's out in the back 40. . . . .why a wrap dress of course! I've wanted one of these for ages, ever since discovering the romantic creations of MALPHIE. This version from Target doesn't have near the charm that her creations do but I thought replacing those jeans with a proper pair of bloomers might improve the look which led me directly to one of my favorite farmers of all times. . . . .

Mary Jane Butters! Her magazine is one of the prettiest around and I save each and every issue to reread over and over again. That must be how I remembered she once featured and article on pantaloons. And so it was that a brief respite spent poking through their pages provided not only the desired pattern but also a wonderful reminder that "farmgirl" is a condition of the heart and that no matter where you find yourself it is always best to "bloom where your planted."

Hands to Work

I've had such fun on my little patchwork project! To my surprise, however, it was the process of crocheting a lace trim edge that gave me the most satisfaction.

So much so in fact that I convinced Lucy to let me have at her tiny quilt and add a bit of trim work there as well. That one whipped up in a jiffy so before I knew it I was free to head downstairs and complete the final step on my piece. . . . .

. . . . . by hanging it up in the pantry! If you recall I was bothered by a certain lack of "charm" once the pantry re-do was complete. I'm quite pleased with this result if I don't say so myself. Having always wanted a kitchen sink with a skirt hanging beneath it, but never the style of kitchen conducive to such a decorating delight, I find this to be a nice substitute. Unfortunately that trim work I was so fond of making earlier this morning seems to get lost in the shadow a bit.

Good thing for me I get to wash the floor every week. . . . .down there on my hands and knees I'll be sure to get a real good close up look!

No sooner had the pantry skirt gone up than Lucy could be heard calling for assistance with a bit of wrapping. Bundled up tidy in a wee bit of seam binding it was easy to tote over to Wayside Cottage where Lily Red welcomed her new gift with open arms!

And while those two wasted no time putting their hands to work making up a proper bed, I enlisted the help of another set of wee hands to help me with the last (and most exciting) task of the day. . . . .

. . . . .picking the winner of the Quilting Bee Giveaway! Happy, hearty congratulations to Lina!!!
I can't wait to post out your ditty bag of goodies so please e-mail me with your address.

Busy Bees

The upcoming giveaway has everyone doing their part! Lovely comments and quite a few book recommendations are being shared by sweet readers as they enter to be the lucky winner.

One stitch at a time I'm making headway on a special patchwork project of my own...one I'm especially excited about because I'm going to give it to myself!

And finally, in true "Persian Pickle Club" fashion little Lucy is hosting an official quilting bee right here in the sewing nook. I do believe, given a few more stitches and some CAREFUL snipping of thread tails, Lily Red's big surprise will be complete!

Quilting Bee Giveaway!

I must admit, Lucy's fabric jumble was quite a job to tackle! At long last, however, it was tamed, tidied, and trimmed well enough to be snuggled into a wee ditty bag and toted away. Arriving at Bogg's Cottage I found Lucy's spirits were much improved. . . . .

"Why good day! Good day to you," I heard her call out. "I've had such a lovely time this morning amongst the lilacs. I'm cutting blossoms to bring indoors and seem to be quite an expert at it. Having the cottage overrun with their sweet smell will be much more agreeable than the fabric fiasco I created."

In no time at all her blossoms were bundled. "Is that for me?" she asked finally spying the wee ditty bag I'd toted along. "I do believe it must be for I see my name there right up front! How exciting!"

Thus without delay the contents were revealed. "I'm afraid there will be no more cutting to perform for awhile Lucy," I cautioned. "Piecing shall be your new task at hand for with some tiny stitches and a bit of time you'll be able to create a cozy quilt for Lily Red. I was able to salvage quite a bit of the fabric and cut it into squares. You need only trace the template and sew them together. It will be fun. . . . . so much so that I've decided to make a patchwork of my own to sew along with you. But wait, that's not all. . . . . "

"While cutting piecing strips from my own stash," I continued, "I realized what an abundance I've acquired over the years. So I kept cutting until a second ditty bag could be filled with a wide assortment of scrap pieces. This I thought would be fun to share with someone. . . . ."

". . . . . in our very own Quilting Bee Giveaway! To round out the scrap bag I even added a copy of an all time favorite read, The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas. It's a fantastic quilting novel and the perfect inspiration for making do with scraps."

Lucy was game. "Count me in," she chirped.

Anyone else wishing to be counted in? It's ever so easy. . . . . just leave a comment. Do you have a favorite read of your own, especially one pertaining to quilting? Share it's title with me and you'll be entered twice! Comments will remain open through May 21st. Be sure to check back on Saturday, May 22 when the lucky winner will be announced!

May Day Surprises!

After a week full of days spent cooped up in the sewing nook trying to make some sense out of Lucy's oodles and oodles of scraps, May Day offered the perfect excuse to escape for a romp in the garden.

It was lovely to see the violets have run absolutely wild among the hostas and hyacinths!

The lilacs were noticeable by smell as soon as I stepped foot around back. Given a few more days for them to bloom in full and I'll be hankering after a vase of them for the bedside.

It's always delightful to see the forget-me-nots make their appearance but stumbling upon these in the daisy patch reminded me it was time to get back to work on Lucy's fabric lest she think I forgot her. Headed once again up to the nook, I prepared myself for the jumbled mess I'd left behind. Imagine my surprise, therefore, when I was met instead by. . . . . .

. . . . . . a wild ruckus of Lilies! The mini troop of them had gathered around what appeared to be a new issue of Art Doll Quarterly, chattering and pointing with great enthusiasm.

And how could I blame them once the source of their excitement was revealed. A featured article on the Pick-a-Lily pincushion dolls was contained within its pages! I must admit, the news had me in a bit of a ruckus as well!

Pantry Love

Last September this was an anniversary gift from dear hubby. Considering I have very little fondness for floral shop bouquets and even less of an interest in adorning myself in silver or gold this was absolutely perfect. However did he know exactly what to get me to make my heart swoon? It was quite simple really considering our long standing tradition of dinner and a shopping spree in which we each select our own gift. Most often we find ourselves in a bookstore on our special day, quite appropriate considering they have been a favorite date night destination throughout the entire twenty-five years we have known each other. This year was no different and so while I purchased a stinky old set of books on Russian history he paid for this little gem!

For months now I have drooled over the pages of The Pantry, wishing ever so much our little house had one of it's own. Catherine Seiberling Pond does an amazing job detailing all the glorious attributes of this architectural element of domestic order. There are numerous photos of butler's pantries, storerooms, larders, farmhouse butt'ries, Hoosiers, and "secret cupboards" where old closets with shelves have been outfitted as makeshift pantries. . . . . hold on one moment there....closets with shelves? Makeshift pantries? After numerous rereadings of the book, inspiration finally hit with my realization that I had a closet. . . . . old. . . with shelves. . . centrally located to the kitchen. I dashed down the hall and swung open the door to reveal. . . . .

. . . . .this. UGH! Luckily my stint with the bathroom redo had my confidence level peaking and so I dug in.

First things first, I removed the door which did a lot to brighten up the cubby and open up a new space for Stormy to explore. Although a bit concerned to discover his dog food had also been removed he didn't linger long since I'd decided the wire shelves had to go and that was not a pretty scene.

Each of the five shelves had five support brackets containing two screw anchors. Now I'm sure there's a tool out there specifically designed to remove unwanted screw anchors but I stubbornly tackled all 50 with pliers, several assorted screw drivers, and a drill. Needless to say a good amount of a wall putty was required to repair the damage but after several coats of paint it looked good as new.

I have to thank my dad for the installation of some "real" shelves and believe me this was no easy feat either!

Since the edges of the shelves had a rough cut to them I decided to finish them off a bit. I found Home Depot had a whole assortment of wooden trims to choose from which were easily cut to size and tacked on with a few finishing nails. A bit more painting followed by several days of drying and it was ready to go. . . . .

Canned goods, dry goods, fruits and vegetables all found a new home.

While crisp, clean, and a huge improvement over its previous state of existence, it's nowhere near as charming or nostalgic as those pictured in Pond's book. I've now set my mind on remedying the situation.

While contemplating what elements could be added Stormy returned to check on the status of his food storage. He was quite relieved to find it located second shelf from the bottom but it seemed another little soul was in distress. A wee whimpering could be heard in the distance and when followed lead me directly to . . . . .

. . . . . Bogg's Cottage. Upon first glance it was quite evident something was awry. My knocks went unnoticed, most likely due to the steady sobbing heard from within. After several calls up to little Lucy's window a faint response to let myself in was finally heard.

At the top of the stairs I found her, engulfed in a sea of fabric. "Oh I've ruined everything," she cried. "I was so excited to make something special for Lily Red that when I returned home from the store I couldn't wait to get started. But it seems once I began, I couldn't stop. I've gone absolutely scissor crazy and cut all the fabric into shreds and now there's not a single piece left big enough to make a bed cover out of. Whatever am I to do now with this mess?"

The poor thing! It truly was a mess, and a big one at that. But it's not as if I haven't tackled a mess or two in my time (remember my pre-pantry photo?) I actually had a glimmer of an idea but needed a bit of time to work out the details and Lucy needed a spell to calm down.

"It's going to be alright," I told her. "I got a plan and I think you'll be quite pleased in the end. For now lets gather up these scraps. I'll take them away while you dry you eyes and when I return we'll sit down with a pot of tea and have a chat."

Spinning Straw

The last straw involved an unfortunate mishap with one of these little babies. For years our downstairs bath/laundry as been a room of much function and very little form (or fun for that matter!) The sink has been nursery to numerous "grow big"sponge creatures, the washer and dryer served together as a wonderful stash and dash catch all cubby, and the floor a great foundation for entire mountain ranges of laundry. As far back as last March I was making plans to reclaim that space, collecting an assortment of bits and bobs as inspiration for the project. For one reason or another, it never seemed quite the right time to actually take action. But then dear daughter discovered the amazing world of nail polish. . . . . .

. . . . . I won't deny the fact that the space was quite dreary and more than a little boring. It really did need a splash of color just not the "Wild Cherry Red" that literally leapt from the nail polish bottle to the wall one afternoon during a hasty clean up maneuver. Try as we might that stuff could not be removed and so we had what appeared to be a CSI crime scene on our hands.

Oh and just in case your wondering. . . . . all toilet paper had to be removed from the holder three years ago when we brought Stormy home to join our family. For some reason nothing delights that dog more than tearing into a spinning TP roll!

Unfortunately I can't say the view from this direction has anything much to offer either.

Considering the situation, it was time for action. The collected assortment of bathroom accoutrements were dug out of hiding, raw materials and equipment were gathered, and my mom came over for the day to join in the fun. The bathroom make do and redo had begun!

A couple coats of smokey blue paint on the walls and in the hutch did wonders to cheer up the room as did a fresh coat of white on all the woodwork.

One of my few purchases for this endeavor was a can of spray paint. I enjoy popping in over at Creative Little Daisy every so often as Autum always has the most amazing household projects going on, many of which involve spray paint. She is a genius with that stuff! So I thought I'd give it a go and change up my nasty brown vent cover. I think perhaps I was a bit heavy handed while spraying as that thing took two days to fully dry.

But the end result truly put a smile on my face. Thank you Autum!

And what you may ask did I do for two whole days while that paint dried? Plenty! What a mess of lost socks, missing mittens, Christmas linens, school art projects and much, much more I had to sort through.

Once cleared out it was quite evident that a fresh coat of paint was required on the laundry shelf as well, which in a past life existed as the door to the previously seen hutch (a long ago make do project that I seem to recall tickled me to no end at the time.)

My greatest feat of those days , however, was perhaps that of diminishing my ironing pile enough to house a small remainder here in a handy basket.

Trial #1 at wall decorating looked like this. Most successful was the 59 cent acquisition of an unfinished candlestick shelf from the Mill Store that was easily altered into a toilet paper holder. Without the spinning action Stormy doesn't give it the time of day. Least successful was my placement of a china bluebird platter above the peg shelf. Delightful to look at it may have been but resistant to the hammering I did the next day while installing a new back splash behind the sink. . . . .

. . . . . not very. And so another trip to the hardware store for some super glue was in order.

The new wall arrangement looks likes this now. The final detail here will arrive when lavender blossoms can be gathered to hang from the tiny pegs.

Broken or not I decided to keep the bluebird platter out as an added protection against water splashes in the sink area.

Perhaps I'm tempting fate in deciding to hang these three matching plates up over the laundry closet but it wasn't done without the added security of bendy wire looped through the plate hook and wall mount. A generous amount of adhesive wax was also applied. Those things don't budge an inch now!

And neither does this peg board. By this time I was out of mounting hardware and not about to make anymore trips to the store so I hung it the good old fashioned way with a hammer and nails. I'm sure I'll come to regret that decision the next time I repaint the walls, but for now I'm pleased.

The hutch stayed put with a slight variation in its position.

I find it great to have my collection of garden, cottage, and Tasha Tudor books here in the laundry if for nothing more than eye candy to feast on while folding clothes. They're great inspiration to keep me on task for if I follow through and tidy away all the clean laundry where it belongs I then treat myself to a spell in the reading chair with a cup of tea or. . . . .

. . . . . with these fair days ahead, some time in the garden planting a new crop of flowers.

Either way, it's nice to have the redo behind me and have the freedom to while away the afternoon. Unfortunately I can't say as much for little Lucy. She's still holed up at Boggs Cottage often burning the midnight oil on what I can only imagine to be her secret project.