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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

WIP #2

It's Wednesday again; time for this week's progress.

New projects:
Apron for Logan - my son loves to help me hang clothes out on the line.  He always wants to wear my clothespin apron which, of course is too big for my little guy.  Logan picked the fabric out himself.  I am going to make it a full apron as opposed to a half apron.



The I Spy quilt for my son's preschool is coming along.  I tore it all apart this week because I didn't like how it was turning out - and restarted it.




Ongoing projects:
Skill Builder Sampler
Warm/Cool quilt along
Kaleidoscope quilt along

On hold:
Apron for Lydia's mom
Barn quilt

This weeks stats:
New projects: 1
Ongoing projects: 4
Completed projects: 0

Linking on up to Lee over at Freshly Pieced.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Photo Friday -> 1

I have decided to devote Fridays to nothing but photos.  No explanations.  Just little things caught on camera. 


Wednesday, June 22, 2011

WIP #1

This is my first posting of WIP (works in progress) Wednesday linked to Freshly Pieced.  I think this will allow me to "see" what I have going on as opposed to just having it sitting there in the back of my mind.

So here we go:

Current projects working on:
Skill Builder Sampler - log cabin block
Patching pants
I Spy quilt: It's coming along.  Quartering the nine patches now.  Then will be ready to piece.



Still haven't cut my HST for the Warm Cool quilt along.  Really need to get on this!


Projects on hold:
This poor little project (a lap quilt) has been put on hold for about 3 years now.



New projects:
Apron for Lydia's mother
Kaleidoscope quilt along

This week:
new projects: 2
completed: 0
in progress: 4


Monday, June 20, 2011

Kaleidoscope Fabric Arrived!!

The fabric is Modern Affair by Patricia Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics.



I love the citrus-y colors!  Friday is the day when I cut into all these juicy fabrics; however, I'm debating what to use as my background fabric.  I thought turquoise would be fun but maybe too much going on?  So white?  I think I'm leaning more towards an ash gray like this:



Thoughts?

Friday, June 17, 2011

I Spy Quilt

About a month ago I participated in my first swap; an I Spy swap hosted by Carla of Lollyquiltz

Though I have made numerous quilts, I have never made an I Spy quilt before.  So I figured why not now?  I decided to make this quilt for my son's preschool.  After a short discussion about the idea with his two teachers - seriously here is how the discussion went:

me: I would like to make an I Spy quilt for the school.
teachers: Yes!
me: I could make it an I Spy and matching game.
teachers: Yes!
me: Well...um...ok then.

That's it.  Boy, I had to do some of my best persuading to get this quilt approved.  :) It is going to be 48 x 60 so it shouldn't take too long to put together.

In the meantime, here's a little sneak peek at some of the different charm squares I'll be using.  What do you spy?



Thursday, June 16, 2011

Patching

Any spare moment I have today will involve patching pants.  You would think that being the only one who really does any sewing out here; I wouldn't be as surprised as I am everytime I get a new pile of patching that needs to be done.  But I am! 

I just completed fixing zippers on two of our ranch hand's jackets, patching a couple pairs of my husbands pants, and a couple pairs of my son's pants.  One of our ranch hands has three grown boys who all work construction.  Last month I received four pairs from his youngest to patch, and the other day our ranch hand's wife brought me three pairs from their middle son to patch.



These ones aren't quite as bad as the last batch I got.  I don't blame any one of them whenever a stack of clothing comes my way.  If you can fix it why throw it out right?  Besides, it is all work clothes anyway.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Warm/Cool QA

I finally chose my fabric for the warm/cool quilt along hosted by Jeni at In Color Order

I like the idea of separating your warm and cool colors to make a value quilt; and Jeni has a great refresher course on her blog about doing this.  She even adds in fabric that will not work in either category and explains why.

The fabric I chose was just something I had in my stash.  I had purchased the different fabrics years ago for a specific quilt, but as time went on, I found that I no longer was interested in making that quilt.  So, there all this fabric sat, waiting to be used and admired. 


I took several pieces out of the original stash as I didn't think they would have fitted very well in the project.

For example, at first look, I would more than likely throw this in my warm group.  But after much thinking on the matter, I decided to take them out all together.  I felt that adding these in would just throw off my balance.


On another note: I ordered my fabric for the Kaleidoscope quilt along.  YAY!!  Already I am anxiously waiting for it to arrive in my mailbox!  I love getting fun mail!!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

New Arrivals

Over the last few days, the ranch has been excitedly welcoming a few new Spring arrivals.  First, this guy was born...


Next, this little one joined the world...



Then...Hey how did she get in here?



My silly girl.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Curtains

I don't know what it is about sewing curtains.  Perhaps they're just not my thing.  I procrastinate whenever I need to make some, finding any other project to do; any excuse to push the curtain making back.

For example, these curtains - I actually debated whether or not to even post a picture of them - they're a bit of an embarrassment.  I promised myself that I would not tackle any of my other projects until I have finished this one.  These are for the ranch manager's camper trailer and he asked me to make them while I was pregnant with my daughter who is now 9 months old.  Oops.   


His live in quarters of his horse trailer had the same fabric in it and he wanted his camper trailer's window coverings to match.  So I hunted down the southwestern fabric (we are in New Mexico after all) on e-bay. 

I don't even like how they are turning out.  I've already torn this curtain apart four times and started over.  There's just something not meshing here.  Maybe it's just me, I honestly have no idea.

But I am determined to get them done (I only have a double curtain left to make.)  I've been putting them off long enough.  And the sooner I get them done, the sooner I can start again on all my fun and exciting projects. 

Maybe I just need something to pump me up.  Like, right before a marathon you can feel the excitement of the race at the start line; people hopping up and down, warming up; I-pods and MP3 players ready to blare play lists to keep the runners going for those long grueling miles.  Maybe something like that - but for curtain making.   

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Blog Makeover

Some of you may have noticed a few changes here on my blog.  I started this - wow - almost three years ago with the idea of just talking about the craziness that comes with being a new mom and living the life of a cattle rancher.  But as time has gone by and I look back on my writings,  I have decided to give my little blog a makeover.

First the title.  Previously known as "A Mom and Rancher" I have decided to change it to "Little Meanderings" as that is really what this has turned into.  Just ramblings of my thoughts and what I'm doing.

Secondly, I'm sort of veering off into a different direction.  I will be writing a lot more about my sewing projects, design ideas, heck maybe even try my hands at a tutorial.  I toyed with the idea of starting a whole new blog about this, but in the end decided that one blog was enough to keep up with at the moment.  Maybe, someday I may start a new one just for projects.  But for right now, it's all-in-one.  Besides, the more time I spend on updating several blogs is time taken away from my kiddos and sewing!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Market Bag

Farmer's Market season is here!  YAY!! In celebration, I made this market bag adorned with all sorts of yummy veggies.

The fabric collection is Homegrown and I got it, as well as the pattern at Connecting Threads.

I have to admit that this was my first attempt at making any kind of tote/bag so bits of it were a learning process.  Especially since I tend to start following a pattern and then slowly veer off to do things my own way.  Quilting and sewing is all about breaking the rules right?

Each of the eggplant plaid and celery lettuce plaid (don't you love that the colors are named by food?) are pockets (4 total) to keep all your smaller finds, phone, etc in. 

Anyway, how cute would one be walking the market booths adorning this bag full of all their Farmer Market goodies?

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Kaleidoscope QA

You would think that with the amount of projects I need to work on that I wouldn't be silly enough to add yet another one.  What can I say?  I'm an addict.

So what is this new project you may ask?  It's a quilt along {eek! silent excited scream to self}  I have always wanted to participate in a quilt along and now I am!!

The Kaleidoscope quilt along is being hosted by Elizabeth at Don't Call Me Betsy.  I'm really looking forward to this (can you tell?) as it is something that is usually out of my novice comfort zone.  But as one who is not afraid of a challenge - I figured it would be perfect. 

So, right now it's all about the fabric.  I've been perusing fabrics to figure out what I want to use for this awesome quilt.  As soon as I get it all together I will post them.

I can hardly contain myself!!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Poor Darlings

My dear little Aslyn had a fever of 100.3 last Sunday; so while JP, Alexander, and Logan took our planned trip to Bandelier to hike; I stayed home with my sweet girl.

At her 9 month checkup I mentioned her fever but the doc said she seemed fine (no ear infections, lungs sounded good, etc.)

Yesterday I stayed home from work.  At 2:00 am Aslyn was crying; when I went to check on her, she was laying in pile of throw up.  So I stripped her bed, remade it, got her cleaned up, and rocked her back to sleep.  She got sick again later in the morning, which made me decide to just stay home.

And then last night Logan, who is usually up and everywhere, just wanted to lay in bed and watch a movie.  This is a bit odd for him, so I felt his head and he was quite warm.

Little kids being sick is the worst; I always feel kind of helpless.

On the plus side, I got a little sewing done.  I'll post pictures of it later, as I am still putting it together.