Quilt of the Month for August

We're headed out today for a weekend camping trip. I'll have lots of pictures when we return! We'll be gone until the 2nd so here is the quilt of the month for August! Quilt of the month allows you to either take 20% off the cost of the quilt or receive free shipping to anywhere in the world- your choice. Hope you like this quilt!

all was well until.......

Canning is so rewarding for me........and so frustrating! Jam making went well this afternoon.

But what was supposed to look like this in every jar...

Turned to this in one jar....

An entire jar of jam lost into the water bath. Poohey. That's enough to ruin a girl's day! At least the stew for dinner tonight is going o.k.

garden shots

So this week without having to go to VBS has been slower for me blogging than when I was there. Go figure! I'm headed to see my midwife tomorrow and am looking forward to hitting the co-op down there. My kids have just gone through 2.5lbs of blueberries in the last half hour so I need some more fruit! I'm making more plum jam this afternoon as soon as the kids go down for naps. Hope you enjoy these shots!

another great treasury!

I got a convo this morning about another treasury and when I opened the link, I fell in love! :)
Thanks to Eparker1123 for including me here! I love it!

Oh, and I ended up making plum jam with the plums yesterday. Boy, that was not fun. Blanched plums just don't seem to peel as easy as blanched peaches.

1/10th

I just picked plums for plum jam.........or plum pie. I'm not sure which one yet. Anyhow, this is about a tenth of what is on our tree. I think we're going to really be utilizing the last issue of MJF magazine with all the plum recipes in it!

time for fall

O.k., so maybe I'm pushing it a little. After all, I'm planting our second crop of peas and beans this weekend. But, it's not too early to start planning for fall! Here's the new listing in my shop. This one will take you from September all the way through November:

wool dryer balls- a review

I've had these wool dryer balls now for about 2-3 weeks. I have to say that I am so impressed by them! And I am very pleased that I purchased them after seeing them in Mary Jane's Farm Magazine.

Here are the pros:
1. NO chemicals in your clothes!
2. Easier on your dryer since there are no chemicals
3. It really does reduce the drying time as their website claims.
4. You just re-use them. That's it. There's nothing to it. I just leave them in the dryer and toss another load in!
5. Reduces lint in the lint trap (at least it has for me.)
6. Overall it is cheaper than purchasing dyer sheets. It's kinda like cloth diapering. You do spend the big money up front but in the long run it saves you tons!
7. Buying them supports a work at home mom! :)

Here are the cons:
1. Our towels aren't as soft as they used to be- but they are perfectly usable.
2. Since most of the kid's PJs are made of polyester (yuck, I know- but I have a hard time finding good cotton PJs) it causes static cling when I dry them (but only with the polyester.) If I leave them in the dryer though and allow the clothes to cool then the static is greatly reduced.

So there you have it. 7 pros, 2 cons. Overall I'd give them 4 our to 5 stars and absolutely buy them again (if I ever needed to) and a couple of you may be getting them for Christmas this year- so keep an eye out! :)

treasury love

If you get a chance, check out both of these great treasuries!
Treasury #1
Treasury #2
Both are simply fabulous! Thanks to the curators for including me! :)

VBS

I'll be kind of scarce this week because our church is having VBS. No, it's not a disease, although anything that's abbreviated with capital letters theses days seems to be. It's Vacation Bible School! It's this entire week long so I won't be around much. For any of you that live in our area and have children ages preschool to (entering) 6th grade, come on over! Smith River Baptist Church! Monday - Friday 9am-12noon. Everyone is invited!

new listing

Things have been busy around here. Canning peaches, the plums are almost ready for jamming, baking blackberry pies, spending time paying some more attention to the garden, quilting (there are 3 quilts to quilt and 2 to be bound right now,) and enjoying the summer with the kids.
I just added a new quilt to the shop yesterday. If you get a chance, check it out! I hope that your summer has been as enjoyable as ours!

sampler quilt

My MIL and I decided to take on a BOM quilt March of '08. And of course, when I chose it, I chose one from the Civil War era. That should come as no surprise! :) We worked on it all day today and I completed 2 1/2 blocks. In one full day. Pretty sad. I will say though that quilting with 2 toddlers is not an easy task. I honestly can't figure out why each of these blocks take me so darn long but they do. So far I have 8 1/2 blocks of the 13 done. We're hoping that we can finish it this summer since my MIL is off from her school secretary job until late August. We only work on this one together which makes it fun to do as a duo but drags out the process a little.I couldn't find a full picture of the quilt we are creating but a portion of it is on the book cover. The one above is a version of the quilt but only includes 12 of the blocks.

For future reference, I will not be doing many sampler quilts. Each block in this quilt is to measure 14". My blocks range in sizes from 12" to 14", and all measurements in between. Guess I'll need to add some sashing to the smaller ones.

attention all Farm Girls!

If you're part of the "Farm Girl Movement" and subscribe to Mary Janes Farm then I'm wondering if any one of you would be willing to share a copy of the February (I think that was the month) issue that had to do with Bee Keeping? I'd be willing to pay for either your used issue or a copy of the articles in the issues. Anyone? :)

pea pickin' good

I have accomplished a few things so far...

moday, monday

Monday Monday, so good to me,
Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be
Oh Monday morning, Monday morning couldn't guarantee
That Monday evening you would still be here with me.

Monday Monday, can't trust that day,
Monday Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way
Oh Monday morning, you gave me no warning of what was to be
Oh Monday Monday, how could you leave and not take me.

Every other day, every other day,
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes
You can find me cryin' all of the time.

Ah, the Mama's and Papa's had it so right. :)
I'm one kid down for the next week. Wyatt left this morning for Vertical Life Camp with our church youth group.
Today I am; paying bills, printing up invoices and job estimates, balancing accounts, baking a peach pie, doing something oh so easy for dinner tonight, trying to quilt, watching the little munchkins, and spending some time outside in the sunshine. And I really need to go through the county fair book to see what I'm going to enter this year.
Monday, Monday.

Quilt Giveaway!

Kati Cupcake is giving away a kit to make this fabulous quilt called Porch Pots by Quilt Soup! It's a 60"x68" quilt using Amy Butler fabrics. Head on over to her blog to enter and when you do, please tell Amy that your found the giveaway on my blog!

Back up

FINALLY! We're back up and running (somewhat) smoothly. There are still a few kinks to work out. But I did manage to get 2 new things listed in the shop!

This new quilt

and this new table runner

And my fingers are soooooo crossed that I get those brownies in the mail today! ;)

down

Our computer is currently down- it has been since Tuesday afternoon. I'm at my MIL's updating you all so that you know that I haven't left! :) We're hoping to have everything back up and running by tomorrow- fingers crossed. Until then though I won't be able to answer any emails or check into Etsy. See you soon!

thanks a lot etsy

Look what was on the front page at 6:02pm this evening; right before a pregnant lady is getting ready to eat dinner and is hungry.......

That is just so not right. My thighs are thanking you Etsy (not.)

If your will power is as strong as mine, which is non existent, then here is where you can get your own!

I suffer from PIML

Pregnany Induced Memory Loss. It's bad. I made jam this afternoon and brought down 6 pint jars from the attic. And this is what the batch made.......

2 pint jars and 1 half pint. I don't remember it being that small.

Oh well, so my memory fails me (often,) no biggie. I guess I just got a little over anxious with the raspberries this year and should have waited for a double batch.

Christmas in July!

Well, sort of. I just finished my Crazy 8 disappearing 9 patch. The top anyhow. This was my first disappearing 9 patch and I loved it! It went together so effortlessly and looks really neat. Crazy 8 by Sandy Gervias was the perfect fabric here. It blends traditional with contemporary as does the pattern; taking the traditional 9 patch, cutting it up and then sewing it back together with a contemporary flair. A great Christmas look for those that are not quite old but not quite new either. Modern, yet classic. It should be in my quilt shop later this month.

Like the fabric? I have a charm pack of it for sale in my fabric shop on Etsy!

oh yummmmmmmmmmmmmm

Lookie what came today from our friendly UPS man.
Cute little boy fabrics.

Scrumptious reproduction fabrics.

Patterns!

The patterns actually came yesterday. I got them on sale from Fat Quarter Quilters- thanks Laurie! Now, that's a good thing and a really bad thing. See, the bad thing is that I've been eyeing that Rings of Diamonds pattern that Emily created for months now. Since I found it on sale, I gave into buying it. But that then lead to buying fabric for it. Here's the thing; I usually like to take patterns and then use my own choice of fabrics on them. But, Emily's choice of Moda's Cotton Blossoms is just too perfect. So I broke down and bought the fabric. Um, for 2 quilts. And for the brown and aqua quilt, I bought enough to turn it into a king size quilt instead of the 60"x60" quilt that the pattern allows. I did only buy the red and cream though for a lap size. I hope I like creating the quilt because I have now committed myself to making them. My humble quilting bank account won't let me forget it either!

And last but not least (well, actually it is least because I hate it.) Here's the Snippets Pinwheel Quilt.

I don't like how it went together at all. I'm not a perfectionist but I like for my quilts to be well made. I tried on this one. Really, I did. But me and pinwheels just don't get along. I just don't feel as though it is of the level it should be. As soon as it's quilted it will be in my shop for a "seconds quilt" price.

wip

Works In Progress. I've got a few of 'em going right now. How many is too many to have at one time? Remember how I just told you that I'm a procrastinator? Well, apparently I'm also ADD and can't focus just on one project at one time.

A new fall quilt for the shop. I know I said I wasn't doing any more charm square quilts but since this was just a lap quilt instead of a king size I figured I could handle it.

A few pinwheels from my American Jane pinwheel quilt. Have I ever said that I loathe pinwheels??? Well, I do. Not the actual finished quilt- I love those. I just don't like making them for some reason. This may not be my last pinwheel quilt ever (since I seem to be a glutton for punishment and always try another hoping it will be different) but it's certainly close to my last.

A little mini quilt that's been a UFO (UnFinished Object) for a while now. The triangle blocks were all done I just needed to sew them together.

And then of course there are 4 quilts and 2 table runners to be bound...........

and the Crazy Eight dissapearing 9 patch to be completed. Sheesh.

quilt of the month for July

It's July! Yay! Parades, fireworks, camping, beach trips, cook outs, hot dogs (the Organic Prairie kind of course) sunshine, warm weather, and a new Quilt of the Month!
I do realize that it is just July and that fall is still a couple months away (2 to be exact) but I'm the kind of gal that likes to get a head start on things. O.k., no, not really. I'm actually a total procrastinator- big time. I do most of my stuff at the last minute. But there are other people who are more prepared than me. This quilt is for them. Find it in my Etsy shop here.