An anniversary and a homestead update

September is out of control already around the homestead! It's my busiest canning month, school has started, hunting season is here, the piggies are growing bigger, the hens are laying more eggs, I'm trying to stay on top of picking green beans and our fall raspberries........
Wow! We needed a little break. So last night, and for our anniversary, Gavin and I dropped the kids off at Nana and Papa's and headed for the back hills. Literally.

A table.......er, chairs for two?

Nothing says "Anniversary Dinner" like uncured hot dogs and sprouted whole grain buns.
Just cause you wear a skirt, doesn't mean you can't shoot a rifle.
I'd like to pretend that my two shots are the ones closest to the bulls eye but they're not. I got one on the target (near the 0 on the left) and one somewhere on a tree behind....I think. It's safe to say that the rifle is shooting high and left. Adjustments are definitely needed. Or, I just need to learn to shoot better, one of the two.
The homestead baby is now 10 months old. This is now officially the oldest baby I have had without having another one on the way!

The wild honey bees are out and about loving the sunflowers!

I'm not sure where we got this tire swing. To be honest, my husband comes home with more "free stuff" than I'd like to own. This one though was a deal. He hooked it up last week and now Timber is hooked!

Quilting 101: Pre-cut Fabric*CLOSED*

It's hard to imagine but there actually are people out there that do not know what pre-cut fabric is, but there are. Charm packs, jelly rolls, honey buns, turnovers, layer cakes...........I don't know if that's making me hungry or just giving me the urge to buy more fabric.

Pre-cut fabric is the greatest thing to happen to quilting since the rotary cutter! Pre-cut squares, triangles, strips, you name it! You can whip together a quilt in no time flat. The Moda Bake Shop regularly has easy quilt projects that use pre-cut fabric, cutting down the total time you spend on making your quilt by as much as half! You can find great prices on pre-cuts on Etsy, eBay and a few select quilt shops like Green Fairy Quilts.

If you're one of those folks who have never owned a charm pack, have I got a deal for you. I'll be giving away 1 charm pack to 1 lucky winner. You'll have your choice of either 1 Punctuation Charm Pack (for the retro loving quilter) or 1 12 Days of Christmas Charm Pack (for the more modern quilter.) Both collections are fabulous in my opinion!

Here's what you can do to enter:

1. Leave a comment here for 1 entry

2. Share this giveaway on FB or Twitter for 1 entry

3. Blog about this giveaway for 1 entry

Leave a comment for each one that you chose to do!

This giveaway is open to everyone, even if you already have a huge stack on charm packs in your stash. ;)

Giveaway ends this NEXT Friday the 17th at midnight.

Happy Quilting!

One of the best giveaways EVER

No, it's not my giveaway today, I'll get to that post a little later this morning. This giveaway is being hosted over at Raising Homemakers and is for the Prairie Primer homeschool curriculum!

I would absolutely love to have this for my daughter....and my boys too!

The giveaway closes on the 17th so head over soon! While you're there, read on to some other posts on their blog, I think you'll enjoy them.

Quilting 101: Fabric

Is this time of year just super chaotic for anyone else? I barely have time to keep up with things here at the homestead let alone on my blog! This post has been on my mind though and I want to get it out there. I have a feeling this is gonna be a long one folks, because when you get a quilter talking about fabric, she can talk, and talk, and talk and talk. Seriously. If you don't make it all the way through this post, I won't blame you.

I love fabric. I mean I love fabric. Especially Moda fabric. As in, I could have our house chalked full of fabric and still not believe that I have enough. It's an addiction, I'll admit it. And really, addictions are not healthy. I won't try to pass it off as o.k. but it's the gosh honest truth. There's just something about the look and feel of good fabric; it invigorates the soul!

Where you buy your fabric doesn't matter as much as the actual quality of it. Quilt shops (whether brick and mortar or online) usually carry good quality fabrics all the time. Stores like JoAnn's, Crafters Warehouse, Hobby Lobby, etc have both good and not so good fabrics. You certainly have to be more picky. Then there's your big box store (no names mentioned) where you should only buy fabric for projects that you A. Don't want to last B. Think you may mess up a lot on so it's really more of a tester than a final.......like my skirt.

I can hear many of you saying right now, "But the good fabric is sooooooo expensive!!" and you're right, it can be. I mean $9/yard? Yikes! It's going to cost you close to $100 just in materials to make that quilt for your bed. So here's my advice for buying fabric:

1. Only buy sale fabric. Websites like Fabric.com have a bunch of quality fabric for way less than other places. The Fat Quarter Shop has sales on their fabrics routinely too. Search the sales section for fabrics that will work and you can end up getting great fabrics for $5/yard. I like to find the fabric that I need and then google it. I can usually always find it for a great price if I spend a little time searching. (If you have an online shop that you love, I'd appreciate you sharing a link in the comments section.)

2. Join a fabric co-op. There is one available to Etsy sellers. You can buy fabrics from retailers like Moda, Free Spirit, Kauffman, Widham, etc. at wholesale. You usually have to buy in somewhat of bulk but if we're talking about making a quilt (or two or three...) then 5 yards of fabric isn't that much.

3. Check out your local quilt shop for special sales, end of bolt deals and frequent buyer benefits.

There's nothing like getting into bed at night and pulling up, over yourself, the quilt that you made. Or, tucking your sweet children in at night with a quilt that your hands made. The thing is, if you're going to invest all the time in making a quilt then you'd better invest in good fabric. It would be a shame to have all of your hard work and time go to waste in 2 years when that quilt falls apart.

Whew, did you make it through? Tomorrow I'm going to try and cover another aspect of fabric. I think you'll like the post....it includes a giveaway too, and that's always good!

Quilting 101: My little introduction

September is here and there is probably no better month to get into quilting. As the fall weather approaches, it turns our minds and our hearts more inward to our homes.
Quilting is the perfect cool weather hobby (once all that canning gets done!) It allows for your creative mind to wander while the rain or snow is falling outside and thoughts of the garden, yard work, trips to the river and backyards BBQ's are a thing of the past.

I'm not sure when I first fell in love with quilts and the art of quilting. My first quilt was made when I was around 9 years old. It was a doll sized quilt that I made to earn a Girl Scout (or Brownie, I can't remember which) badge while in elementary school. I took a little while away from quilting at age 9 *wink* and returned to it at around age 20. The first quilt I made was a queen sized "Square in a Square" quilt because really, I was either going to "go big or go home." A wall hanging didn't interest me in the slightest.

I was blessed at that point to have found the perfect teacher, a lady named Virginia. She was a previous employee of the 2 oral surgeons I was working for at the time in the Sacramento area. A couple of my co-workers and I would meet at Virginia's house every Tuesday night to quilt together. We'd meet, we'd chat , we'd share thoughts and burdens, we'd learn new things from each other and best of all, we'd quilt! Looking back at that now, it was probably one of the most enjoyable times of my early 20's.

If you've read the "About Me" tab on the top of my blog here you'll remember reading that I'm a huge fan of anything 1800-1900. History. US History. My absolute favorite subject in school, and one subject that I still love learning about today. Barbara Brackman has written quite a few books on the subject of history and quilts. One of the first books I owned that she penned was "Civil War Women." I read that book cover to cover so many times. What a delight to read about the women of yesteryear making quilts simply with scraps of fabric, a needle and thread. There is something so uncomplicated about it, something so peaceful.
While today I use my machine and am thankful for it, quilting still tugs at my history heart strings each time I make a new quilt.
And the good news is that quilting is easy! I've always said, "If you can stitch a straight line, you can quilt." While there are quilts that are more complicated, there are thousands that simply require a straight stitch that's available on your home sewing machine. You can make beautiful quilts with a little determination and some dedicated time.

I know that quite a few of my followers are already quilters but I hope this month to be able to inspire both new and old quilter alike. Please follow along this September as we look at, the very special, art of quilting!