Thrifty Thursday

Hi!   Hope you are having a lovely summer so far.

We went on a camping trip a few weeks ago and on the way (we camped near Mt St Helens) I stopped at my favorite antique mall in Olympia, Wa - Finders Keepers.

I picked up this vintage quilt top for $16!  I'm not sure what I will do with it but I just loved all the 1930's feedsack prints.

I also picked up this vintage kitchen fabric - probably circa 1960's.  Love it!

My roses are blooming for the second time!  Love this time of year since there is not much to do in the garden except water and enjoy!

Have a lovely day!

xo

Charise

Kerry's House and some more bits and pieces

Kerry asked for houses for the Ringo Pie Bee.  I love to make houses so this was lots of fun.

She wanted a more traditional school house style block.  I picked a house from Kumiko Fujita's Patchwork Lessons.  I love this house because it has lots of windows to fill and you all know how much I love fussy cutting!! Here is the Kumiko Fujita version.

I added the attic window, and the pathway to the house.

As far as "bits and pieces" go, I started this log cabin to be one side of a purse.  It is mid size - about 15" x 12" which will be the perfect size to fit all my goodies.  I'm on the fence as far as the color scheme but it is growing on me.

   I picked the first flowers from my garden today!! 

 There is nothing like the scent of  fresh cut flowers.

I've been doing a bit too much vintage shopping lately.  

The pitcher came from a wonderful little antique shop near Hood Canal in Wa State. 

The sweet painting was $10 at a vintage store in Olympia, WA.

I thought the tea towel on the left was just so sweet.

The book on the right "From Me to You ~ A Gift of Friendly Thoughts"  is just wonderful.  It was written in 1911 and is filled with lovely little gems about friendship.

I'll leave you with this:

"Happy is the house that shelters a friend. "

~Emerson

xo

Charise 

The Farmer's Wife Quilt Along

So I have decided to add another project to my long list (check out the right side of my blog : )

But I'm so glad I did. It is the Farmer's Wife quilt along. Angela over here started it based on the book "The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt" by Laurie Aaron Hird. The book includes 111 quilt blocks inspired by letters written to The Farmer's Wife magazine which was a popular magazine in the 1920's. The magazine asked their readers the following question: "If you had a daughter of marriageable age, would you, in the light of your own experience, want her to marry a farmer?"

Ninety four percent of the farm wives said they would want their daughter to marry a farmer!!

Here is an excerpt from one of my favorite letters:

....How beautiful our home was! It was only of logs, covered in summer with a wild clematis vine. I told our doctor that after five o'clock on winter nights we became New York milllionaires for we had our easy chairs, a big fireplace and good books. We could not have had more in a mansion.

Mrs. J.E.F.

Valley County, Mont.

I am not a farmer's wife - far from it, but I love the letters in this book because they emphasize how simplifying ones life makes for a rich life. I'd like to think I've tried to do the same. I don't have chickens or cows and my vegetable garden consists of two tomato plants, but my husband and I have tried to simplify the best we can. We live in a very small house, we don't have fancy cars or take elaborate vacations. We Do spend time with our kids every day and I try to cook a "real" meal a few times per week. I wouldn't trade it for anything!

This is my first block, attic windows. I'm going to incorporate as many farm themed fabrics as possible. This has been so much fun to do. I love the process of picking out the fabrics for each block and incorporating the title of the block into each design.

My color inspiration is aqua and red with grey, red and pink accents.
Inspired by a few bee blocks I have recently made.
You can find the Book here , the author Laurie Aaaron Hird's website here, and the Flickr group here.

I had to throw in a few photos of my garden : ) My roses just started blooming!
I really am a farm girl at heart....................

I love having flowers from my garden!

Happy creating to you!

New project, finished projects and Sunny days

I started this a few days ago. My first Dresden plate block make with Katie Jump Rope Fabric.

It is pretty big - it will be a 24" pillow. I'm thinking dresden for my next round of quilting bee blocks I finished this teapot block

and this teapot block for the 3 x 6 quilting bee I belong to.


Despite the crummy weather, things are starting to bloom in the garden!

A Sunny weekend to you!

Has a month gone by already?

It is hard to believe that it has been almost 1 month since my last post! I went on a wonderful yoga retreat here at Harmony Hill on Hood Canal. Four days of quiet, yoga, meditation and incredible vegetarian food. They have a wonderful cookbook which I highly recommend.

I've spent the entire last month working on these blocks for a Flickr bee I belong to. It took quite some time to design the block but are now coming along quite nicely. I'm really happy with the way they turned out. Five down and one to go!
I've been making some new pieces with the sterling silver branches I had cast years ago.
Trying to use what I have since the price of silver has tripled since I had these branches made!
And I've been weeding and cleaning up the yard. I can't wait until the dahlias, roses and lavender bloom! The weather has finally been nice and I'm headed outside to enjoy it before the Seattle rain returns : )

Summer Garden - Nasturtium Border

Here are a few pics of our backyard.

The orange flowers are naturtiums. They are so easy to grow. I purchased a packet of Renee's Garden seeds from our local nursery. They take about 9 - 12 days to germinate and Voila - in about one month a lovely border appears.

Hope you are enjoying your summer!