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!
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.
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!
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.
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)
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?
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!
O.k. I'm just going to come out and say it. The ugly truth....
I've never hand quilted anything. Ever. In my 15 years of quilting. Never.
That's almost embarrassing to say.
But, there's no time like the present right?
I'm telling you, this off-grid stuff is changing me!
{I may have over pinned this}
Lucky for me, my first hand quilting project is small. This was the sweetest little pattern from Thimble Blossoms.
There were a few recent Moda collections that really caught my eye but I've kept telling myself "no" to them as the last thing I need right now is more fabric.
Until this pattern came along and I realized that I could use Plum Sweet and Mirabelle in these mini quilts.
The quilting has begun.
I'm impressed.
But not with my work. I'm impressed that women used to hand quilt bed sized quilts.
Mine is only 14"x16" and I'm already thankful for long-arm machines.
Things have been wonderfully busy here. I can't even begin to express how much we are loving living here. The sunrises over the hills, the peace, the sound of the creek flowing, the bees that are flooding the plum trees, all of God's handiwork around us. It's amazing. And humbling.
And I for one am just downright thankful.
{Driving home}
We've been doing some clearing around the homestead and besides that there isn't much news around the property. Except that we finally added another rooster to the flock. And that we added 17 (which turned out to be 15 after they arrived) new chicks to the homestead. Timber and Layton now have their birds for fair and we have some new hens for the flock.
As far as the off-grid brooding, I took the easy way out....and we have the chicks at a friends house until they fully feather and can head up here.
I finally finished the top of a block-of-the-month quilt I did with my mother-in-law....which we began back in 2008. Yeah, I know. That's sad.
A special little girl turned 6 recently. Her Auntie made her a special cake.
She got a new bed from Grandma and Grandpa for her birthday.
And everyone helped to put it together for her.
She also got a new sewing area, compliments of her Nana and Papa.
The only problem is that the generator must be running for her to use it.
Which has been our sewing problem since we moved here.
So, to resolve that somewhat this got added to the homestead....
Mercy, I am in love.
I could go on and on about this machine. But I think that's for another post.
It is amazing though and works beautifully. I have already sewn curtains on it and have begun piecing my first quilt on it.
Now Timber says that she needs one in her room. And I think we're just going to have to share.
I've also been soap making. I got a new mold that makes a 1/2 batch of my normal soap recipe and love how it allows me to try different things in smaller batches. Now I only have 8 bars (plus the ends) in a batch instead of 15!
I think that's about it for now. I hope that all of you are well. If you're still here and still reading, thanks!
Wow. Where do I start? The last time I blogged anything was back in June. 4 months ago.
Part of that was due to the garden/summer season. And I knew it would happen. It does every year. My sewing machine collects dust- literally- and we spend out time outside and busy with warm weather projects.
At the ocean
Riding one of Uncle's horses
Let's do a quick recap:
Our county fair this summer was really fun. I'll have to apologize though for the lousy phone camera pictures.
Timber and her prize winning arrangement
Layton showing his calf
The garden and green house both did well. Layton grew the best corn we've ever eaten! We got about 25 pumpkins off our pumpkin vines and our fruit trees were amazing.
The Lord really blessed us this year with a bumper crop of everything. What a wonderful last summer to remember at our old home.
Main Garden 2013
And speaking of old homes, did you read that we were moving?
Oh, this has been such a long, patient process for our family. My husband and I have been looking at property for close to 5 years now. Looking and waiting. Waiting for the Lord to provide the right time and the right place (not to mention something affordable so that we're not in debt for very long!)
We are purchasing a 5 acre parcel with a fixer upper, off grid home. We are beyond thankful to the Lord for His provision of this piece of land. It is going to take a lot of work and a lot of fixing (home and land wise) but we are excited about the possibilities that await us. If any of you have ever read Michael Bunker's book "Surviving Off Off-Grid" then you'll know what we are shooting for with this new homestead. If you haven't read his book yet, may I humbly suggest that you get your hands on a copy and read it. Then re-read it. And then apply it to the best of your ability.
Mason and Oakley Mason is wearing his "mountain boy" shirt I made this summer using a pattern from here.
A few other notes...
I have read the book Trim Healthy Mama and am using the methods in it to change my eating habits. So far (about 8 weeks into it) I have lost nearly 17lbs. I am thrilled and am well on my way to being a healthier mama for my family. It was easy for me to employ the eating methods in the book since we already eat a organic/whole foods diet. All I really had to do was cut out the sugar (which everyone should do anyway) and reduce my grains significantly. I then used the way my body burns fuel (fats and carbs) in the S and E meals to lose the weight. It may sound a tad bit confusing but if you read the book, it becomes clear.
I was also supposed to cut out whole raw milk. That made me sad. So instead of being ultra strict with the diet, I now consume much less raw milk than I did before, maybe drinking 1/4 cup per day. I still want the beneficial bacteria and all the yumminess whole, raw milk has to offer, I just don't need all the fat.
We started school in the beginning of September. This year I have a Jr. (in high school), a 1st grader and a kindergartener. Wyatt is using a combo of Apologia, Rod and Staff, Journibles, and Notgrass American History.
Layton and Timber are using Heart of Dakota. Mason is just hanging out, being an almost 4 year old.
I found some of these at Fred Meyer a few weeks ago.
If there are 2 things I am a sucker for it's quilts, canning jars,.. and bowls. Wait, that's three.
Anyway...
I restrained myself to just purchasing the one 6-pack of them.
I canned Spiced Apple Peel Jelly in them. I used Quinn's recipe as a starting point and then altered it from there.
I took my peels and cores and poured water over them to almost cover. Then I strained that, added the ACV and a handful of cloves and cinnamon sticks. I placed a cover on my pot, brought it to a boil, turned the heat off and infused the spices in juice for about a half hour. I then strained the juice, removing the sticks and cloves. From that point I pretty much followed the instructions in the Pomona Pectin box for jelly making. For sweetener I used a combination of coconut sugar and evaporated cane juice.
From 20lbs of apples, the peels and cores made up a nice finished 6 pints of jelly.
Signs of fall
So far hunting season has been a bust. Well for the most part. My dear husband has been so incredibly busy with work this fall that he hasn't had the time to go hunting on his own. Hunting this season has included mom (me), a 16 year old, a 6 year old, a 5 year old and a 3 year old. All piled into a truck. A loud, diesel truck.
Or walking along paths, breaking sticks underfoot, jumping, laughing and generally running off anything within 500 feet of us, 2 minutes before we even get there.
So here is the fruit of our labor so far...
One Grouse.
This coming weekend is the last weekend for bucks here in Northern California's B zone but thankfully upland game bird and bear season continue.
(Oh, and as a note, the 3 year old is holding a bottle of ROOTbeer. Just to clarify.)
Roasting hot dogs
The perfect skipping rock
The Creator's creation is simply amazing. All through out the year but especially, in my mind, in the fall. The crispness of air, the changing colors and temperatures. Stunning.
Thank you, Lord.
Lastly, quilting.
I have started a bit more here and there. I wish I could share some of the finished tops here on my blog but alas, I have readers (family and friends) who will be receiving some of these come Christmas and I'd hate to spoil the surprise. It is wonderful to hear the hum of my machine again though.
I will say though that I am working on another quilt for our bed. I'm using Jenny Doan's tutorial below. It's quick and easy. When you're making a quilt to cover a CA King bed, you want quick and easy. At least I do. I dug through my fabric stash and found the perfect fabric for this quilt... Wildflower Serenade by Kansas Troubles Quilters for Moda.
Yes, I know that the line is about 5 years old but I don't try not to stash fabric unless I know I'll use it at some point in the future.
.jpg)
![LAF](<a href="http://www.ladiesagainstfeminism.com"><img src="http://www.ladiesagainstfeminism.com/images/lafbutton.jpg"></a>)
