Sunday, July 17, 2016

2 Finishes, Embroidery & Applique

The little Houses Wallhanging is finished and is hanging on the wall! She measures 22" square and was a perfect small summer project.

This was a kit from Rachel's of Greenfield. The instructions were very well written and easy to understand. 


A view of my hand-quilting on the backside of the wall quilt. I normally don't add a sleeve to the back of my wallhangings, but I did this project.






Last winter I had pieced a Snowflake Zippy-Strippy quilt and gave it to DIL 1. I started another Zippy-Strippy in June and finished her up in July. This quilt is for DIL 2. She likes red so I choose a jelly-roll from the In Stitches collection designed by Robin Kingsley for Maywood Studio.

I changed up the pattern so she would be longer and not as wide. She finishes at 59" x 84"


She was quilted on my sewing machine. I'm getting more accurate following the marked curves. It helps a lot to slow down the stitching speed. I still did straight line quilting in the center. I have a curvy line stitch on my sewing machine and I had intended to elongate the stitch and use that for quilting. Unfortunately, that stitch did not allow me to elongate so I just went with straight stitching.

Do some of these fabrics look familiar? I'm using fabrics from the same collection to applique the Pastor's Attic blocks.


I've prepped the next block in the Pastor's Attic quilt. The thin stems are supposed to be embroidered using 1 strand in the chain stitch. I decided to go with an outline stitch.

I also decided to not use fabric stems for the other stems. The flower stems are a double row of 3 strand chain stitch. The more narrow stems are a single row of 3 strand chain stitch. I'm liking they way they look. 
There is a vase at the bottom of this block with an inset center. I was supposed to applique 1/8th" strips on the red fabric then reverse applique the vase on top. I went with outline stitch embroidery. 

I do slow stitching every evening, not just on Sundays.

This is the end of the quilt section so you can quit reading if that is all you want to read about.


My garden is doing well. The broccoli plants have been pulled and fed to the heifers. The garlic and the shallots have been pulled and are curing before being stored away. I picked 2/3-rds of a 5 gallon pail of green beans Friday, the freezing process has started. The new potatoes are delicious and cabbage tastes so much better when it comes straight from the garden.


The above photo was taken on Saturday, July 9th. We harvested the wheat the following Monday. The rest of the week was about getting the straw baled. We did it! 

In farming there are really just 2 seasons. Winter and preparing for winter.


My flowering sunflowers have started flowering. Wouldn't a whole field of these be beautiful? 


The last of the barn swallows have flown away. These 3 little fledglings were brave enough to make the plunge soon after this picture was taken.




I planted a couple dark purple phlox plants around 25 years ago or so. They crossed with some white phlox and have hybridized themselves into these lovely white flowers with a touch of lavender. I'm so enjoying my summer flowers.


My meat chickens are now residing in the chest freezer. These new chicks will grow up to become laying hens. There are two kinds of chicks; the yellow chicks are Golden Comets and the black/brown/beige ones are Auracanas. The Auracanas lay eggs with blue or green shells. The egg inside tastes the same as the brown shelled eggs.

I'm linking up to - Kathy's Slow Sunday StitchingQuilting is More Fun than Housework, Em's Scrapbag, Super Mom-No CapeLove Laugh QuiltQuilt StoryEsther's Wednesday WOW!, Sew Fresh Quilts, My Quilt InfatuationConfessions of a Fabric AddictA Quilting Reader's GardenCrazy Mom Quilts.

13 comments:

Susan Stanton said...

I just enjoy your posts so much, especially the pictures of your garden and farm. The quilting is great too, of course. Thanks so much for sharing.

CathieJ said...

Your projects are so pretty. I love the picture of the chicks. They are adorable. Your garden looks great.

Anonymous said...

Great post!!! Your quilting looks very good. I have the long arm out and ready to do some intense quilting to get some of the tops that have been patiently waiting in line finished.

chitra said...

very interesting post. lovely quilting and the details of farming are very enjoyable.

em's scrapbag said...

Your little house quilt turned out lovely. Your DIL will love her quilt. So nice of you. Enjoy your garden!

Rebecca Grace said...

I, too, enjoyed your farm pictures nearly as much as the quilting! I haven't been to a farm in at least 15 years but just looking at a picture of that wide open space, free of subdivisions, shopping centers, and cars is soothing to my soul!

Glenda said...

Ohhhh so much to look at today Gretchen. Love that red quilt it looks so warm and cuddly. You all ways make interesting quilts. Im so enjoying seeing photos of the farm again. very very different to the beautiful winter shots but still beautiful in all the golden hues. Im in love with those wee swallows. Hugs Glenda

Sheryl said...

Interesting post, gorgeous quilting. Love the Zippy-Strippy quilt colours, beautiful work

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

What a nice variety of goings-on you have here ! Your little house quilt is just lovely and it's always fun to hear about gardening and farming details >

Cathy Melancon said...

Hi Gretchen! I found your site from Kelly's NTT! I love your work and truly admire your hand quilting! Your pictures of the farm are wonderful! I know running a farm isn't easy but you make it look glamorous!

Angie in SoCal said...

I can't think of a better life - farming and quilting. You're very fortunate. I love all those quilt projects, but especially your Little House quilt. Beautiful! Thanks for linking to WIPs Be Gone.

Quilter Kathy said...

A beautiful wallhanging of little houses! Congrats on the finish!
Love the quilting design in the border of the strippy quilt!

Susan said...

SO interesting, both parts. I do love your little houses piece. Those are the prettiest phlox! Do they just re-seed themselves each year? I have a flower that does that. I didn't intend for it to, but some seeds fell from a hanging pot and now for the fourth year, I have some coming up in another pot that was underneath the hanging one. In South Dakota, where we used to spend our summers before my husband died, there are huge fields of sunflowers. It was always fun to see them facing one way in the morning and then when we came back, they'd be facing the other way. They are amazingly beautiful in large numbers.