Sunday, August 14, 2016

Pastor's Attic Applique Block

I've completed block 10 of the Pastor's Attic Quilt! I'm always amazed that adding just a little bit of black brightens up a quilt block.








Here is the layout for the first two rows I've completed so far. Sorry the right side is darker. 

I've rearranged some of the blocks in the layout. The top left block will be turned so the vase will be the outside point, but I turned it this way for now so it would be easier for you to see. There are more blocks with vases to applique with a straight set. I think I'll put one of them on point and switch out the top right block. The other corners have flowers with vases, that corner should too. 

The blocks look much more vibrant in real life. I'm excited all over again about this project. I had been wondering if I should just stop with the blocks I've completed but no, I'm going to keep going.

When I started appliqueing these blocks last winter, I had marked the first 10 blocks with the light box. Now I need to prep the next 15 blocks. This may take awhile!


I mentioned last post that I had prepped a sewing project. Pillowcases make such wonderful gifts and they're a lot faster than quilts too.

I made this pillowcase for me. The pillowcase body has tiny little snaps and the header is buttons. I made 2 of these; the other one will be gifted to a quilty friend.

Because the Farmer is a big basketball fan, I made his pillowcase with basketball fabric.

I normally assembly line sew pillowcases, but I made these special for us to use right away.

There are a lot more pillowcases to be sewn. These are the perfect summer sewing project, I can easily pick up and sew for whatever time is available, then they patiently wait until I'm able to get back to them. Sometimes it is several days between sewing sessions. 

Around the farm and garden . . .

We didn't receive much rain in July and August didn't have any rain for the first 12 days. In anticipation of the rain, I tilled the empty spaces in the garden and sowed field radishes. They will pop up and suppress the weeds. I try to keep the garden as weed free as possible, it saves more work in the long run.


The tomato plants are going crazy. There are a lot of green tomatoes so I should have plenty for canning when they ripen. 





The green beans are blooming again so there will be more beans later in the week.



We baled this alfalfa field 3 weeks ago. Fourth cutting will happen in maybe two weeks.

This heifer saw me taking pictures of the garden and came to see if I had a snack for her.










My chicks are checking out the nesting boxes even though they won't be laying eggs for several months.


When the chicks were smaller, I had this feeder sitting on the floor of their pen. They crawled into it to eat. Now they are much taller and can easily reach the feed while they stand on the floor, but they still like to crawl in the feeder to eat.







I snapped this photo of the young barn swallows perching on the electric wire that stretches from the west barn to a heifer shed. Sometimes the wire is completely full of birds. 

The lily hostas are in full bloom. They smell so good. They blend well with the pink impatience.



We don't have the creepy-crawlers around here like Glenda has at her home but these garden spiders are everywhere this time of year.

This spider's body is about 1" in length. I don't mind them; they catch insects.

I'm linking up to Kathy's Slow Sunday StitchingQuilting is More Fun than Housework, Em's Scrapbag, Love Laugh QuiltQuilt StoryEsther's Wednesday WOW!, Sew Fresh Quilts,  My Quilt Infatuation, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Show Off Saturday.

10 comments:

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

Your pastor's attic quilt is going to be gorgeous! You are making great progress even with all the other projects going on around the farm. Thanks for linking up with Oh Scrap!

Karen said...

I would not have thought of making tbe circles in black but it works well.

Quilter Kathy said...

I love it when you get inspired about working on a project again... it's so much more fun when you're really enjoying how it's all coming together! Enjoy!

Rebecca Grace said...

Love the garden spiders with their fancy zigzags in their webs. I always think of them as kindred spirits, making designs with their web like we do with our needles and thread. And I agree with you completely about the power of a little black here and there. Your applique is so beautiful!

Chopin - A Passionate Quilter said...

Love the country pictures!!!!!!!!!! How blessed you are to live on your own land and have such a wonderful business and beautiful animals!

I think you need to continue on with the Paster's quilt! It is going to be so pretty.

Here in LV we had 3" of rain in June; 5" in July, and 5" since Saturday and it will still keep raining the rest of the week and more to come next week-end. After a 10 year drought it is heaven! Our 100 pine trees are loving it - they were beginning to show stress after the last 2 months of 100 degress +

Love your chickies! Bet they are good eating and good eggs. Hard to find chicken breast that are not injected with some sort of preservative! Fresh food is soooo much better - wish it were still available without costing $10.00 a pound!

Pam said...

Your Pastor's attic quilt is just lovely! You must continue it!
We had a farm at one point in our lives. We sold it about 35 years ago. Seeing your photos reminded me of some of our undertakings. I made a Caswell quilt and put a spider in it. I was trying to capture the spider you have photographed. There were so many in the garden-they were quite big but beneficial to the garden.

em's scrapbag said...

The Pastor's attic blocks are looking great!

Jennie in GA said...

Beautiful quilt blocks. Your appliqué is lively. I am a country girl and love your farm pictures. We call those spiders writing spiders...they are a favorite.

piecefulwendy said...

Beautiful quilt blocks; it's coming along very nicely! Thanks for giving us a peek at the life around your home. Wendy at piecefulthoughts@gmail.com

Quilts and Such said...

Love your quilt blocks and your farm looks reminds of yesteryears! Beautiful!