Brand New Sew Along! A Primitive Garden

Yes, you read that post title correctly! This fall (dates TBA) we are going to be starting a sew along using Lisa Bongean's "A Primitive Garden". WOW!! This quilt is stunning!

This is the original version of the quilt from Primitive Gatherings.

This is going to be a lot of work and a lot of wool! But it's going to be so fun! And in the end you'll have your own version of this amazing quilt.

Don't worry...we won't rush you through sewing it. You'll be able to sew at your own pace. Faster, or slower than the sew along's schedule doesn't matter - just come join in on all the fun!

This version is by Janet Knapp.

We'll be hosting the sew along on Instagram again. It's such a fun way to share pictures and encourage one another along the way. Plus, you get to make some really sweet, quilty friends too.

This is one that I just saw at a quilt show last weekend in Grants Pass. This one had a lot of bead embellishment on it.

Julie and I will be hosting this sew along and a schedule will be put up on both of our blogs when it is worked out. For now though, you might want to start gathering your supplies. You can buy the pattern and/or a quilt kit from Primitive Gatherings Quilt Shop. Or if you choose, you can sew from your stash (but you'll still need to get the pattern.)

Looking forward to another great sew along! Talk to you soon!

Home For The Holidays Quilt ~ Finished!

I got my Home for the Holidays quilt top finished a few weeks ago! So exciting! It's off to the quilter in today's mail!

Thanks to everyone that joined in on the sew along on Instagram. We had such a great time.. and even finished early!

And guess what else? Just because we're Primitive Gathering's junkies we'll be starting a new sew along this fall! This one is going to be huge so you'll need to collect your supplies early, over the next few months.

Details soon to come!!

The Schedule - Home For the Holidays Sew Along

It's almost here! Are you excited?! The Home for the Holidays Sew Along starts in just 10 days!

I can not wait to start stitching this quilt.

 

 

Here is the schedule for the sew along. Please remember that you're not bound to this schedule. We laid it out so that you'll be able to take your time and COMPLETE the quilt. We don't want any UFOs left at the end of the sew along! If you're a go getter and have the time, you're more than welcome to sew at a faster pace than the rest of us (or maybe it's just me?)

I will be taking the 6 months to do it... unless in February I get some wild hair to sew more! ;)

~Your assignment for each week starts on January 1st. You'll have a new assignment every Friday.~

January
1st - Cut out fabric (this is for your pieced blocks only, do not cut border fabrics yet)
8th - Sew 3 of the red/tan triangle blocks
15th - Sew 2 of the green/tan blocks for applique
22nd - Applique and embroider tree block
29th - Applique and embroider angel block

February
5th - Sew 2 of the red/tan triangle blocks
12th - Sew 3 of the green/tan blocks for applique
19th - Applique and embroider holly block
26th - Applique and embroider stocking block

March
4th - Applique and embroider St. Nick block
11th - Sew 3 of the red/tan triangle blocks
18th - Sew 2 of the green/tan blocks for applique
25th - GRACE WEEK- Use it to catch up, or simple enjoy Easter with your family

April
1st - Applique and embroider house block
8th - Applique and embroider candy cane block
15th - Sew 2 of the red/tan triangle blocks
22nd - Sew 3 of the green/tan blocks for applique
29th - Applique and embroider candle block

May
6th - Applique and embroider manger block
13th - Applique and embroider ornament block
20th - Sew 3 of the red/tan triangle blocks
27th - Sew 2 of the green/tan blocks for applique

June
3rd - Applique and embroider reindeer block
10th -Applique and embroider gingerbread man block
17th -Piece blocks and rows together
24th -Cut border fabric and attach borders to quilt top
-Now, cut your batting and backing fabric (remember that Chris at The Hometown Quilter has fabric for your backing if you need it) and start quilting!

If you're just joining us now and you still need supplies, please refer to the post below this one. At the end of it I have a lot of resources for you!

 

We will be posting our progress shots every Friday on Instagram using the hashtag #homefortheholidayssewalong so you'll be able to see everyone's progress. Let's use this to cheer each other on and encourage one another to sew, sew, sew!

 

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Praise be to God for His wonderful gift!

Home for the Holidays Sew Along

We're gearing up for the 2016 Home for the Holidays Sew Along! I hope that you'll join Chris from The Hometown Quilter and I as we start sewing this wonderful quilt from Lisa Bongean at Primitive Gatherings.

 

 

Here are some of the early details of the sew along...

We'll be sewing with a schedule (although there's no rule that says you have to stay on our schedule!) and will start the sew along on January 1st. We will complete the quilt top by the end of June. Yep, that means you'll have 6 months to finish your quilt top! We realize that life can be busy and as quilters you, of course, have other quilty projects going on as well.

 

Home for the Holidays is a mix of small piecing, applique, and embroidery so it's not an easy feat. Taking the 6 months will allow you to get the top done while also allowing you to live your life! I promise I won't handcuff you to your sewing machine. :) And the good news is that you'll have plenty of time to quilt it (or have it quilted) and bind it before next Christmas.

 

We will be sharing our progress pictures every Friday on Instagram using the hashtag #homefortheholidayssewalong. I will occasionally be posting things here on my blog, but not weekly, as my life is busy too and Instagram is much easier for me to share on than creating an entire blog post! I will post the sewing schedule here on my blog in the next week.

 

Now, if you'd like to join in but don't have anything to start with, here are some resources for you.

 

To buy the pattern alone, click here

To buy the pattern with the wool kit, click here

To buy the fabric for the quilt, click here (Chris is willing to kit up the quilt if you'd like to save you time and money. Nice!)

To buy your own wool, click here (This is my favorite Etsy shop!)

To buy triangle paper (you're going to NEED this!) click here or here

 

 

You can follow me on Instagram here and The Hometown Quilter on Instagram here.

Looking forward to sewing along with all of you!

More New Quilts

From lap quilts, to table runners, to candle mats... we've got you covered for Christmas gifts!

 

 Winterlude Lap Quilt

Old Glory Candle Mat 

Hope Chest Table Mat 

Land of the Free and of Table Mat 

Snowballs and Mittens Table Runner 

Churn Dash Table Runner

 

I'm still working on listing items in my Etsy shop. I'm trying to get 2-3 new listings up a day.

I had sick kids yesterday and this morning the internet has been a bear (like a growling grizzly that doesn't want me to wake it up).

 

We've got rain, rain, and more rain in our forecast for the next week so I'm looking forward to more sewing time after school each day! I made a list of all the projects I either have going or want to start and it feels endless.

 

Maybe if I just stopped looking at fabric and patterns on the internet and focused on what I have here in my stash, my list would one day dwindle.

 

I actually listed some fabric for sale on my Instagram account (incase you need any more fabric to add to your stash! LOL)

 

Have a blessed weekend!

 

 

New Listings in the Shop

Happy Fall Y'all! I just finished up a craft fair in Ferndale, CA where my friend, Michelle, and I had a booth. I have some quilts left over from the show and am working on getting them listed in my shop. It seems to be a long slow process for me since our internet here at the house isn't fantastic.

 

But... I press on!

 

 

I hope that all of you have a wonderful fall and Thanksgiving time!

 

 

Things at the homestead here are good. Kids are still growing, the rooster is still crowing, and we're ready to settle into a long cold winter, Lord willing!

 

 

Christmas will soon be here!

You can visit my Etsy shop here.

 

Blessings to you, my friends!

 

P.S. I'm finally on Instagram now too. You can follow me here.

Monday Morning Sewing Logic

 

Sometimes on Monday morning with a full week ahead of you, you just need a good laugh.

Unless you're laughing with that funny look on your face because this hits way too close to home and you know you're guilty.

 

I didn't have that look though when I read it....at all.....

O.k., I'm not serious. I laughed and then I totally had that look on my face. Hmmmmm.

Sewing lately

I love the changing seasons. In our home I basically have two seasons, outside and inside. And since we're almost into winter (although it may already feel like it outside) it is officially my "inside" season. This is where the sewing happens!

Here's what I've been up to lately...

 

This one has a little story with it. My great aunt who was an avid quilter gave me bags of her fabric that she could no longer use due to eyesight issues. In it, I found all of these blocks. Already sewn together.

It broke my heart to think that she took the time to piece all of these individual blocks only to never see them in a quilt. I put them together in rows, added a border, had it quilted, bound it, and shipped it off with my parents. They went down to visit her and took the quilt with them. She loved it.

 

 These are two blocks of the 12 that will be made...(I think I'm somewhere on block 8 or so) for a sew a long on Barbara Brackman's blog. My good friend Michelle and I are sewing them together. It's so fun, each year we sew a quilt together. Last year was Lori Holt's Barn Along, this year is the Threads of Memory quilt, and starting in January we are doing Edyta Sitar's Homestead. Friends are the BEST to quilt with!

 

 

This little runner was made for my grandmother for her Thanksgiving table. The turkey pattern was from Lori Holt. I didn't get a finished picture of this runner because my grandmother and I finished the binding on it together when she was here visiting in November. Then she took it home.

This little wall hanging was mostly sewn by Timber Ann. It's a Christmas gift for her Nana. She saw the pattern (from Eleanor Burns) in a quilt shop and wanted to make it. We used fabrics that I already had and she picked the ones she wanted to use. We just got it back from the quilters yesterday so it still needs bound. We've got 5 more days to do it!

 

I have a few more things in the works right now as well that I don't yet have photos of...

I completed my Fair Isle Quilt top and took it to the quilter's yesterday.

I'm still working on a snowball quilt for our bed.

I'm still working on a new quilt for my grandmother's bed.

I halfheartedly started the Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas sew along on Lori Holt's Instagram.

And there is a very special little quilt that is at the quilter's in Montana right now that I won't be able to share for a few more months...the mama of the recipient reads this blog. That wouldn't be much of  a surprise, now would it?

 

I'll update with more pictures when I can.

What have you been sewing?

 

 

one year

We just passed our 1 year anniversary living on our off grid property. Where has the time gone? The Lord is constantly reminding me that my days have been numbered and that I should not allow the time to slip through my fingers.

 

 

The kids working on their 4-H Bucket Calf project

We dealt with water issues this summer. Both of our hand dug wells went dry at the end of June. But the Lord provided! Oh, how He provided! We have a creek on our property....way down at the bottom of it. Before we had moved I had watched the Wranglerstar video on ram pumps and had tucked that little bit of knowledge into the back of my mind. And in May, I showed the video to my husband, not fully knowing that we were going to actually need to use the information held in it.

Building our third ram pump. (They got smaller as the creek went down.)

I was out of town with the little ones visiting my grandparents when the wells went dry. My husband and our oldest son went to work on building our first ram pump. Not only did they build one, but they had it up and running, pumping water, before we even got home from the visit!

At this point, it's not as sustainable as we'd like. Because of the distance from the creek (and the elevation change) the ram pump is pumping into a holding tank about halfway between the creek and our home. A submersible pump is them pumping from that tank up to our holding tank above the house.

Knowing that the submersible pump is not going to work if we couldn't access fuel, we are hoping to resolve our water issues this winter with a sustainable alternative, or two.

Our water issues were temporarily solved but I was sure that the creek would dry up by late summer. Our rain/snow fall last winter surely couldn't be enough to keep that creek going. I prayed. We'd have to haul water up here if the creek dried up. But the Lord is good isn't He?? Even when things don't look good, He is good. And I am thankful for His faithfulness.

I'm eager to add more animals to this homestead but as my husband reminds me...if we barely have enough water for us, how are we to water more animals as well? And he is right. And so, I'm patient. I'm patiently waiting for the Lord to give us the direction that we need to take for a sustainable water supply. I know He will.

We were able to add one small animal to the homestead this summer though and that was Thomas. My daughter is in love. We all enjoy the kitten but he is especially HER baby. We have a horrible problem with mice and rats here and Thomas is still young but he's caught one small rat already (that I know of) and I am thankful for that!

Kitties sleep in the most interesting positions.

Our garden did amazing this year. Amazing! For what we had to start with I was sure that if a single green bean grew I would be thankful. I didn't hold out much hope. But again, I prayed. "Lord, this is your garden, not mine. You are the One that makes all things grow, I'm just a tender of it. If it be Your will, make this garden bountiful." And it was. Faithfulness. Again.

Mini watermelon

 

Garden 2014

 

Helping can green beans

Early on in moving here we realized that while we had a few neighbors that we liked there were no like minded families up on this mountain. I prayed that the Lord would bring up a family. There are quite a few pieces of property for sale up here. I can currently think of 3 or 4 just off the top of my head.  I wrote my prayers down in my journal, praying that it would come to pass. And it did. He brought up a Christian, homeschool family of 9 that bought the place for sale that borders ours! Of all the places up here they could have moved (and they really MOVED, from southern California to the mountains of northern California - from beeches to backwoods!) the Lord planted them right next door. I can walk to their house! Faithfulness. Again and again.

And so I'm encouraged to pray even more! Lord, one family a year, that's what we're going to ask for. One like minded family a year. And not only will He be hearing that prayer from us but also from our neighbors too! We're praying for a Christian agrarian revival on this mountain!
Wanna move? :)

Layton has proven himself quite the dedicated fisherman. While the rest of us are enjoying the river swimming in it or from it's banks, he is out in it, up a ways from us, waist deep, right by a riffle casting in his line. The entire time. Catching little ones and the occasional keeper like this one...

The big one!

He has the natural talent from his father. And if he keeps at it, which I'm sure he will, one of these days he'll be as good a fisherman as his daddy is too. In fishing am thankful for the lesson he receives from taking the time to do a job right, learning that the reward comes to those that are willing to stick it out and work hard. He is learning that success isn't always instant and that patience is a virtue.

Treadle sewing.

As for quilting (which is primarily what this blog was to be about, even though it's often not) I haven't had much time this summer to sew. As usual. I was able to finish up a few things this late spring and I'm already planning my quilts for this winter. This one, this one, and this one are on my list. I was happy about finishing up a civil war sampler (below) that my mother in law and I began over 5 years ago. How nice it was to get it quilted by Kathy and put the binding on it! It is serving as a second quilt on our bed already this fall season.

Butternut and Blue Quilt

 

I could go on and on it seems like but you've probably had enough as it is. Hopefully it won't be so long before I can post again. We'll see how it goes!

Until next time friends, blessings to you!

Why I Am Not A Prepper

The prepper movement is growing. And it has been for a while now.  The reasons behind it often seem quite valid to me. Whether it's a natural disaster, another great depression on the horizon, or the complete failure of the power grid. Those are all great reasons to "be prepared". But how you go about your preparedness is often where my similarity with the movement ends.

 

I was reading a blog post the other day about "the 7 foods you shouldn't stock up on" and it got me thinking.

If you're a prepper and you're simply saying, "For the next natural disaster, I am going to be prepared!" then more power to you! Way to plan! While everyone else is getting into fist fights down at the grocery store for the last can of tuna, you'll be home, knowing that you've got enough food and supplies to comfortably get you through the next few weeks (or months!) of turmoil.

source

 

What happens though when the food runs out? "But I have 3 years worth of food stored up!" you say. All right, what then after 3 years? What if we're living beyond just a natural disaster? What if life as we know it now ceased to exist? Having bunkers filled to the brim of food and supplies works well...for as long as that holds out.

 

source

I guess in a way, I am a prepper. But I'm a different kind. Instead of stocking up on things I want to know how to do things. I want to be prepared to feed my family off what comes from the homestead. Meat, milk, greens, fruits, and even grains. I want to be prepared to save seeds. I want to be prepared to breed and raise animals. I want to know how to feed our animals when the feed store isn't available. I want to know how to sew clothing. I want to know how to make soap, to care for our dental and medical needs, to do things without the use of electricity, propane, solar panels, wind turbines, or fuel. I want to be prepared with sanitation, with a clean water source, with a sustainable heat supply for our home in the winter. ...

I want to be prepared for if and when life does a 180 and we go back to the life people have known for thousands of years. That's my preparation.

 

I want to pray that the Lord would have mercy on my family and that He would bless our land, our animals, our efforts. For without Him, our lives would be nothing. He has given me a mind to learn and apply skills, but ultimately the success of our family comes from the Lord, as does the sun, rain, and everything that grows. I want to be obedient to His word and His leading. For our sufficiency is not of ourselves, but of the Lord.

 

Have these thoughts ever crossed your mind?

Planting an herb garden

Before we moved I had planted herbs here and there around our old property. They were somewhat scattered and few. Some Chamomile here, some Comfrey there, a dinner buffet of Echinacea for the slugs, some Lemon Balm, Calendula, and Sweet Leaf. That was mostly the extent of it.

Plus we had the Raspberry leaves off our plants and the Plantain and Dandelion that grew wild in our yard.

 

Since my husband decided to build a temporary garden spot for me to use this summer (I wasn't planning on even gardening at all this summer) and then started terracing some of the area, I began to think more and more about actually having an herbal garden.

 

Some of the starts, and seeds that are making their way into our herb garden this spring are:

 

Chickweed

 

Sweet Leaf (above)

 

Calendula

 

Yarrow (above)

 

Lemon Balm

 

Peppermint

 

Anise Hyssop

 

Echinacea (above)

 

Elecampane

 

Chamomile (above)

 

Nettle

 

Licorice

 

Feverfew

 

St. John's Wort

 

Mullein

 

Valerian (above)

 

Trees being planted:

Elderberry

Hawthorne

Chaste Tree

 

Herbs that were natively (for the most part) already here:

Dandelion

Plantain

 

Oregon Grape (above)

Comfrey

 

While most of this is going directly into the herb garden, I am also planting some around the property to hopefully encourage wild growth.

 

I'll be planting some elderberry trees, St John's wort, and nettle down by the creek. I've already seeded some chamomile around the hills.

 

I tried to think about where I have seen these plants growing wild, what type of conditions they were thriving in and then plant them in similar situations.

 

I'm excited to see how these plants do here. Success or failure. I'll let you now how it turns out.

 

What herbs do you have planted around your place?

A Spring Treat~ Dandelion Cookies

It's spring and the dandelions are popping up everywhere! Timber Ann and I found this recipe last week. And she couldn't wait to make them.

So we did.

 

The recipe comes from here.
 

 

The first thing you'll need is some dandelions. Pick them from your yard or anyplace you find them, with the exception of the roadside. (Plants easily soak up the toxins put out by vehicles and who wants to consume that? Not to mention, if your county sprays the roadsides, you surely wouldn't want that either.)

You're going to need a little more than a 1/2c full. Maybe about 20 -30 dandelions depending on their size.

 

Take your dandelions and remove any stems.

Then separate the yellow petals from the green base of the flower. All of  the green parts of the plant are bitter, but the petals are not. And "bitter" isn't really something we're going for in our cookies.

 

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

 

In a bowl, combine:

 

1/2 c sunflower oil (or the oil of your choosing) you can also use butter

1/2 c honey or sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

 

Mix well.

 

Then add:

1 c whole wheat pastry flour

1 c oats

1/2 c fresh picked dandelion flowers

 

Spoon cookie dough into a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for apx.12 minutes. You can keep an eye on them and when the edges start to brown, they are done.

 

 

Allow to cool and enjoy!

Oh, and let your kids lick the bowl and spoons too. It's more fun that way.

 

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale):

 

Parts Used: Leaves, roots, and flowers

 

Benefits: Dandelion is, I'm convinced, one of the great tonic herbs of all times. The entire plant is restorative and rejuvenating. The root is a prized digestive bitter. It is particularly stimulating to the liver, inducing the flow of bile and cleaning the hepatic system. Dandelion root is also considered one of the safest and most effective diuretics. It tones the kidneys and aids in proper water elimination while maintaining proper potassium levels. The jagged leaves are high in vitamins and minerals including calcium, magnesium, iron, and vitamins A and C, and the flowers make a delicious wine.

 

~Rosemary Gladstar from "Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health"