Farm Girl Vintage - Week 6

Hi Everyone :)

It's week 6 for Farm Girl Vintage Fridays.

I decided to make the Scrappy Haystack Sampler on page 133, because I have over a hundred Haystacks blocks that I've been sewing as leaders and enders.

The quilt requires 144 - 6" Haystack blocks, and 12 - 12" blocks.

I was on my way to sewing my favorite 12" blocks.

I quickly realized that it's a lot of fun participating in the QAL if I make all the blocks, so I'm also going to make the Farm Girl Sampler quilt.

I showed you Week 1 here.

These are the blocks from Week 2.

This is my Autumn Star Block.

Here's my Baby Chick Block.

I think she's really cute with the heart and her embroidered legs :)

Moving on to Week 3, here's my Baking Day Block, I love red and aqua in my kitchen!

This is my Butter Churn Block.

I'm also trying to use mostly Lori Holt fabrics.

Here is Week 4.

This Canning Season Block was really difficult to sew in a 6" size because the pieces were so little!

They look a little distorted, that's just because of my lack of "photo cropping" skills.

I have 2 jars of strawberries, one of cherries to make my husband his favorite cherry pie, a can of dill pickles, a can of orange marmalade made from our orange tree, and have you ever heard of canned cakes???

Here's my Chicken Foot Block.

I made this one a long time ago, when Lori was doing her Quilty Barn Alongs on her blog :)

Week 5 is my Churn Dash Block with a twist, a quilty little heart borrowed from the Baby Chick in Week 2.

I especially love this one!

The colors are bright and happy :)

Here's my Cool Threads Block, I'm not really crazy about the color I chose for the spools, there isn't enough contrast and it's a little dull.

I'm sorry for the puckers and the loose threads, but it's too late to take another photo.

I'm all caught up now, here's Week 6.

I love my Corn and Tomatoes Block, especially with the large "Sew Cherry" red gingham on the corners!

What a perfect name for this block, I had no choice but to sew it in red and yellow :)

Finally, there is the Country Crossroads Block.

These are all of my 12" and 6" Farm Girl Vintage blocks, so far.

Have you joined the Farm Girl Vintage QAL?  

It's so much fun posting on Instagram and seeing everyone else's blocks and how they've designed them :)

I'm beginning to wonder what I'm going to do with all my quilts?

I like to give them to family members, but don't really know if they need or want any more quilts.

I can't stop now, I have too much fabric in my stash, lol!

If you want to join the QAL, you can find the info here, on Lori's blog.

Needlebook and tutorial

I love this little needlebook, it's the fifth one I've made :)

You can find the tutorial over here on my Random Tutorials board on Pinterest :)

The tutorial is by Amy, and this is her blog, Nana Company.

Amy is so creative, and she makes the cutest things with very fine details and handwork.

I personalized each one of my needle books, none of them are exactly alike.

You can see my other needle books here, here, here and here :)

(I hope I copied all the links correctly!)

I love the little peek a boo pieces.

Do you see Little Red Riding Hood on the top left?

I hand quilted around the squares with white perle cotton floss.

I used antique buttons, and I especially love the button I used for the closure.

The elastic is a hair elastic from a pack that I bought at Target.

I'm really sorry about the upside down photo...

I tried and tried but I couldn't get it to rotate.

Oh well, you get the idea!

Some sweet little heart pins, decorative buttons from Riley Blake, and decorative ribbons.

I'm definitely not finished making these little needle books.

I love them so much and the people I've made them for have cherished them :)

That's worth all of my time :)

Snapshots QAL - Puppy Love and Kindred Kitchen

I love this Quilt Along!

I don't have any cute little dogs, so I guess this "Puppy Love" block will have to do for now.

I think he's a really sweet little pup :)

I am using Bonnie and Camille fabrics for 98% of my quilt.

I have a small collection of their previous lines and have really enjoyed pulling from my stash to make the blocks.

This block is called Kindred Kitchen, I should really make a life-size apron for myself in these fabrics :)

These are the other blocks I've posted about.

Block #1 is "Let them eat cake", block #2 is "Sew on & Sew on", and block #3 is "Put the kettle on".

I ordered the sashing fabric yesterday, and I might piece the back from leftover fat quarters or yardage :)
You can read more about the Snapshots QAL here, at the Fat Quarter Shop.
They ask for a small donation to benefit St. Jude Children's Hospital.
It's a win/win situation :)

Scenes from Montreal

There are lots of old, beautiful churches in Montreal!

My mother lives in Westmount.

If you walk behind her apartment building and up Mount Royal, you can see an endless amount of gorgeous homes!

We walked up the mountain and saw an awesome view of the city!

We had to take a selfie :)

My daughter Vanessa and my brother Paul :)

We walked through a lot of woods, it was such beautiful scenery, at the edge of the city.

It was a lovely day for a picnic too :)

We saw the "Horst" exhibit, a famous Ferman photographer who designed many Vogue magazine covers and styled lots of famous movie stars. 

It's been so wonderful spending time with my family!

Farm Girl Vintage

This is my little 6" apron strings block.

I made it into a cute pincushion, just like Lori taught us on her blog, here :)

I made a 12" Apron Strings block, using scraps from my scrap bin.

I quilted my 12" block into a pretty table topper.

The orange back is so happy! 

The fabric is Lecien Flower Sugar.

I really love the Autumn Star block, I used  Lori Holt's Vintage Happy fabric. I didn't use her fabric, I bought some of my own, lol!

I also baked a chocolate mint cake for my grandson Bridger who will be turning 10 years old this month. 

I tried to make it as masculine as I could.

Do you think it looks suitable for a boy?

The backing fabric is by Michael Miller, but I don't know the name of the line of fabric because it was a fat quarter and there wasn't a selvage.

The little vintage bit is baking a cake with his puppy's help.

Here's a closeup of the jigsaw quilting, for the birthday cake banner.

I'm visiting my mom in Montreal right now, so next week I'll share some photos with you :)

Isabel's Blessing Gown

I sewed the sleeves onto the gown, using entredeux.

 I sewed a French seam to enclose one sleeve and side seam, leaving the other side open. 

I sewed the fancy band together, using three rows of lace insertion and two rows of entredeux.

 To accomplish this, I sewed 10 lengths of stitches, 90" long! 

A lot of sewing!!!

I sewed a ruffle to the bottom of the skirt, one and a half times the length of the bottom of the dress.

I attached a beautiful pice of 2" wide French lace edging to the bottom of the ruffle and then sewed the other side seam with a French seam. 

Here's a closeup of the sleeve and the embroidered cotton Swiss band.

Here's a close up of the yoke, each little piece of lace and entredeux was seen in separately.

I have these fabulous book that I always refer to when I'm sewing heirloom children's clothing.

I traced Isabel's initials, with the first letter of her family name in the middle. I used white for the letters and ecru for the vines.  The idea is that when Isabel has a daughter, her initials will be embroidered next to her mothers before she is blessed in the gown. The dress has the potential to have initials all around the hem!

This is the yoke on the slip, I embroidered is and used Swiss cotton lace around the neck and armholes.

I sewed a narrow piece of French lace edging to the hem.

Here's the full view of the slip.

I smocked the bonnet with silk ribbon, it had a nice sheen to it :)

The ribbon is silk satin, it's so soft!

This is Isabel Louise, in her blessing gown, isn't she beautiful? I'll show you some close ups :)

This is Isabel's family, the sun is in their eyes, lol!

This is our family who were able to attend the blessing, minus my husband who was packing and my son in law who took the photo. We have one daughter wasn't here because she lives in Florida. 

Thanks for being interested in the evolution of the gown :)