Hexie Sewing & Farmer's Wife blocks

Happy Sunday Peeps!

It has been a very long time since I posted here.  

Instagram has been my preferred method of sharing projects these days due to time constraints,  but I do miss this space!

My sewing time is limited these days as I am in the middle of a 3 month contract position designing women's clothing at a Seattle company.

It has been 9 years since I have had a corporate design job!  

I have tried to fit in some sewing time, but it has been a challenge juggling the 9-5 work day (actually 8-6 counting the commute time) and family life.

I have pulled out my hexie stash so I have a bit of hand sewing, which I love to do during the Fall.

I am not sure what to make with them....any ideas?

I'd love to hear your suggestions!

I have also unearthed my Farmer's Wife 1920's blocks.  These were made years ago for the original Farmer's wife sew along.

There is a new epp Farmer's Wife sew along for those who'd like to hand sew the blocks.

Machine sewing is my preferred method : )

If you want to read more about the original Farmer's Wife journey, you can find it [HERE]

Happy Sewing!

xo

Charise

The Farmer's Wife 1930's Quilt Along - Prudence

Hi and welcome to my stop on the Farmer's Wife 1930's Quilt Along hosted by Kerry of Very Kerry Berry.  

The block I made is called Prudence, and I can't help but think of the Beatles' song : )

Prudence if a complicated block with lots of Y-seams.  

I decided to change the way it is sewn

 to eliminate some of those difficult to sew seams.

I disected the H2, I2, J2 and K2 triangles and put the block together a bit differently from the

directions.

It made it much easier to sew by machine.

My quilt is coming together nicely, and I will have enough blocks for a quilt very soon!

See the pics below for a visual reference on how I put the block together.

Happy Sewing

xo

Charise

Welcome Fanny ~ Farmer's Wife 1930s Quilt Along

Happy New Year to you!

Today it is my stop on the Farmer's Wife 1930s Quilt Along hosted by Kerry at VeryKerryBerry.

I have fallen a bit behind in making blocks due to the Holidays and time spent with family and friends. 

And, some Holiday Gift Sewing that was lots of fun.  I'm pleased I made time for it this year!

One of the things I like best about this quilt along is the pace - nice and slow : )

I'm still on track to have enough blocks to make a nice sized quilt at the end of the Sew Along.

This week I am sharing the block "Fanny".  This is another straight forward block to make.

I am using the sewing method ~ Foundation Paper Piecing, which lends itself well to fussy cutting. 

For this block I combined both new and vintage fabrics.

The Pink Floral and White Ground Floral are some "new to me" vintage prints I found at Mary's Funky Finds on Instagram. They work so well with the "Kerchief Girl" print!

Happy Sewing
xo
Charise

~~~November~~~

Sewing this pouch for my mom with my Vintage Dresses pattern.

My Diamond Patchwork Purse in Stitch Winter 2016.  

Carved another block from Design, Carve, Print Class. More details [HERE]

Made a purse from my first block print from the Design, Carve, Print Class

Making progress on my Farmer's Wife Quilt

Loving this knit top and plan to make more : )

Playing with my new coverstitch machine and will share a review this month.

Finished my blocks for Amy's Maker Quilt and even mailed the package!

Shared some Free makes and Patterns just in time for Holiday Gift Giving

Have a lovely 1st day of December!!!

xo

Charise

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along - Carrie

Thanks for stopping by!  It is my stop (again) on the Farmer's Wife 1930's Quilt Along hosted by Kerry at Very Kerry Berry.

This week I am sharing my version of the block Carrie.

Carrie is the name of my maternal grandmother.  I have such fond memories of 

spending time with her when I was a child.  

We would play "Beauty Shop" and have tea parties together.

One of my fondest memories is when we shopped for fabric for a purse that she was making for me.  I vividly remember the pink and green floral I picked - very much of the era - 1970's.

She was a big influence in my love of sewing.

[ Left to Right] My Grandmother Carrie, Great Grandmother Bertha and My Mother Ann,  at the Yakima Farm House

Carrie wasn't a farm girl - definitely a city girl like me : )

She grew up in the city of Chicago, Illinois and moved to Seattle in the early 1930's. 

Her parents, August and Bertha, owned a farm in the Eastern part of Washington State in a town called Yakima.

My mom, Ann, shares fond memories of her times spent there every summer.

This block was a fun one to make and, of course, I couldn't resist fussy cutting the small squares.

The fabrics used for this block are:

Bunny and bird print from Lecien, Tiny Cherry print from Sevenberry Fabrics,  and Pink Floral from Windham Fabrics "feedback" Inspired by American Jane

The Carrie block is a straight forward one to make.

I did a little planning this time and cut all the fussy cut motifs at the same time.

First I arranged the pattern.  Second I drew arrows showing the direction of the print.

I then cut the squares for the block.

It was a great way to keep the pieces in order and made it a fast block to stitch together.

Be sure to tag your Farmer's Wife block on Instagram with the hashtag #fw1930sqal

I have enjoyed seeing everyone's blocks on Instagram!

Happy Sewing

xo

Charise

Welcome Belle and Betty ~ Farmer's Wife Friday

This week I added two blocks to my Farmer's Wife Quilt ~ Belle and Betty.
This is a quilt along hosted by Kerry Green at Very Kerry Berry.  Find more details [HERE]
I'm enjoying the slow pace (2 blocks a week)  so it is easy to fit in my schedule : )

Both of these blocks were lots of fun to fussy cut.   

These are my favorites so far, but then I feel that way every week.

Belle was a bit of a challenge with four Y seams!  If you've never attempted them before, I have a tutorial on Y Seams you can find [HERE]

*************
Fabrics used:
Cherry print - Darlene Zimmerman for Robert Kaufmann Fabrics "Clothesline Club.  
Floral print - Boho by Urban Chicks for Moda.
Both fussy cut prints are Japanese prints I've had in my stash for some time.
*************

Betty is a more straight forward block with no Y seams and easy construction.

Fabrics used:
 Gingham - Mama said Sew by Sweetwater for Moda.
 Blue Print - 1974 by Urban Chicks for Moda.
Kitchen Print -  Older Japanese print by Kumiko Fujita

A good substitute for the Kitchen Prints,
is the line, "Lighthearted" by Pink Penguin for Kokka Fabrics.

Happy Sewing!
xo
Charise

Farmer's Wife Friday ~ Welcome Bea and Becky

Hello and Happy Sunday.  I hope you are enjoying your weekend. I spent a good amount of mine cleaning & organizing my sewing area and organizing my fabric.  I hope to have a de-stash this week.

I'm a bit late for Farmer's Wife Friday but just had to post it anyway : )

This week both blocks are quite easy to put together.

Welcome Bea the strawberry basket block.

The strawberry fabric is from D's selection - a Japanese import fabric.

The dot is Moda basic dots.

I love the Becky block! A cherry themed block.

I used the same color scheme as Bea with the addition of pink.

Becky definitely has some sass.

Most of the fabrics are by Lori Holt for Riley Blake.  

The small pink ground cherry is a Japanese

fabric.

My favorite pic is the group shot.  It is fun to see all the blocks together!

xo

Charise

Farmer's Wife Friday ~ Augusta and Aunt

Happy Friday!   I'm back to share the last two blocks I made for the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along.  If you are new to this Quilt Along you can find details over at VeryKerryBerry.

The first block is called Augusta.

  The fabrics I used are:

Flower Baskets from Junko Matsuda for Daiwabo from Sew Me A Song on Etsy.

Dot ~  Essential dots from Moda.

Blue ground print is an out of print fabric from Moda - 1974 by Urban Chicks. 

Augusta is a fairly complicated block.  I'm going to share a few tips to make it go together a bit faster and easier!

I like to color code the pattern before cutting it apart.  First, I color the small block on the paper piecing pattern page.  Then I color the sections of the blocks.

 I also drew arrows showing which way the pattern on the fabric should be facing.  This is important is you are fussy cutting or want your print to be facing in a particular direction

I also changed the pattern a bit.  Unit A includes two Y seams.  I cut apart the pattern to eliminate the Y seams as noted in the pic above.

This is a perfect pattern to do a bit of prep in cutting and preparing each section.

I cut the pieces as a group. The pattern was glued to the fabric using a fabric glue stitch.

 This makes the sewing much faster!

The second block is called Aunt.

It was a fun and easy block to make after tackling Augusta : )

Fabrics used are:

Floral ~ "Penny's Dollhouse" by Darlene Zimmerman for Robert Kaufman

Dot ~  Essential Dots from Moda

The Kerchief girl is an out of print Japanese Fabric.

Have a great weekend!

xo

Charise

Farmer's Wife Friday ~ Anne and April

Happy Friday!   Hope your week was a good one : )

It is time to share blocks from the Farmer's Wife 1930's Quilt Along.

I decided to sew along since I love making these blocks so much!

This week Kerry shared her Anne and April blocks.  You can find her post [HERE]

Here are my versions:  

April is a straightforward block - very easy to sew.

To make it a bit easier to get the colored pieces in the right place, I color coded the pattern with colored pencils.  There are lots of little pieces and this made things much easier.

I think this is my favorite so far - the fabrics work so well together.

I used Pink Penguins Lighthearted fabric for the center apple and blue/green sections.  

The background dot is Moda Basics.  I love the gingham but can't remember where it is from.

Anne is another straight forward block to sew. 

I used an older Connecting Threads print for the floral from the "Hope Chest" line, the yellow/white print is Glamping from Moda.  The dot background is another perfect dot in pink from Moda Basics.

I think this one would be such a fun quilt as a single block repeated for the entire quilt.

Happy Sewing!

xo

Charise

Aimee ~ Farmer's Wife Fridays

Happy Friday!

I have decided to share my progress on my Farmer's Wife Quilt on Fridays ~ Farmer's Wife Friday!

I will do my best to share any new blocks I make and a bit of my process.

So far I have made three blocks from the Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt Book.

From Left to Right - Ann, Aimee and Addie.

I decided to add the new blocks to blocks made previously from the first book.

I plan to keep with the same color story but may decide to add in a few more colors.  We will see....

My favorite part of making the blocks is picking out the fabric.
This block includes a text print from Holly Holderman at Lake House Dry Goods, the apple is from Riley Blake and the fun little girl print is a Japanese print that is a reproduction 1930's feed sack.
  

The blocks also lend themselves well to fussy cutting.

You can see a tip for how I fussy cut my blocks [HERE]

The book is not just a quilting book but also includes letters from 1930's farm wives.

The letter that goes along with Aimee is wonderful.

Here is an excerpt.

"There are those who think that farm women who spend time reading are lazy and "highbrow".  Besides, of what use are storybooks to women who work in the fields and milk cows? All the more reason I say, why a farm woman should escape for a few minutes into a make-believe world where her spirit may be eased."

"And go to bed with backward looks

At my dear land of Storybooks."  

~Bookworm

WISCONSIN - FEBRUARY 1934

I love this letter.  

When I was a little girl I wanted to be a librarian surrounded by silence and books : )

xo

Charise