WIP ~ Valentine’s Day Runner

 Here are the 4 blocks before assembling the runner.

I AM NOT REALLY CRAZY. JUST WANTED TO SHARE THE NEW SNOW WE GOT LAST NIGHT.
WE WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE COLD TEMPS BUT NO SNOW!!!

 I have finished putting the runner together and hand quilting along the major seams and around the hearts. Only a bit of the embroidery is finished, but I will continue with it each day. I’ve button hole stitched the hearts and embroidered down the centers.

I backed the runner with the cutest tiny vintage gingham print from Cottonwood Quilt Shop in Charlottesville, VA. It is a Civil War red. I am not buying new fabric unless I need backing. Am sticking to my resolution to use up as much of my stash as I can this year.

It fits my table so well, BUT the hearts really should have been turned two to the left and two to the right like some a Christmas tree runner I saw online. That way they wouldn’t have ended up all facing in one side directions. Since this was my first, and I was making it up as I went, I'm happy with the outcome. It washed and the hand quilting puffed up perfectly.

This post is linked with WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced. Just click on the “WIP Wednesday” and you will see how many fab things are under construction this week.

Naughty Woody

What a colorful surprise. Woody is finally back, but we have a problem. Din-Din just happens to be the post holding up the walkway from our washroom door to the side yard. Not Good! If you look, you can see the screen wire popping through because these were taken through the kitchen window.

GEEZE.....It’s snowing again. We had just melted, and now the white stuff is back.

Temperature ~ 17 degrees at 5:00 and going down to 5 degrees tonight. UGH!

This post is linked with Stewart’s Wild Bird Wednesday.

Snow Leaving for Now

 The snow has almost melted, but frigid temperatures are returning tonight.

 Goodbar Farm
Wire Fencing

 Rexrode Farm

Wire Fencing

 Rexrode Cattle Guard

 MOO! The snow is totally gone in more and more areas.
These guys prefer the road to being fenced in. They are always breaking out.

Now, this is a BIG puddle!
Metal Fencing

 Sunrise ~ January 27, 2014

  Sunrise over Route 60 in Front of the House ~ January 27, 2014

 Big House and Little House Mountains at Sunrise
More Wire Fencing

Lots of School Buses in People’s Yards
Finally, Wood Fencing

 People just leave vintage tools in the fields to rust away.

 Maury River 
The red sign in the distance is a warning sign. A high school student went over the dam there and was killed a number of years ago. The currents are pretty severe at times at this location. The old railroad bridge was turned into a footbridge, but it was washed away two times and never rebuilt. I have taken pictures of this area in the sumer but never in the winter.

Virginia Military Institute in the Distance

A Rather Nice Appalachian Trail Sign

I wish Springtime was under this sign instead of spring water.

The Skyline Drive Closed Due to Crummy Weather

This post is linked with:

Our World Tuesday

Rurality Blog Hop

Water World Wednesday

Signs2

Friday Fences

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Refections

Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Getting Ready for Valentine’s Day

I thought it was time to take a break from working on my Vintage Block Quilt so decided to come up with a  Valentine’s Day table runner. It will be 4~8X8 squares and will have strips of  patchwork squares in-between and around the edges...at least that is the plan right now. This will give me a chance to work on my embroidery stitches which need lots of work. It is so calming, and it is nice not to have to worry about matching points and getting blocks to come out the right size. I am creating this one as I go. The pattern is in my head :-) That may be good or bad.

These are the 4 blocks, but they will be all in one line and not on top of each other.

This post is linked with:

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy’s Quilts

Karen’s Sew Darn Crafty at Sew Many Ways

Paper Piecing Friday 1-24-14

 Two More Vintage Revival Blocks Finished...

and these went off without a snaffoo. 

 Cross and Crown

(The red looking points are actually orange. I followed the color wheel for the first time deciding on the colors I was going to use.)

Wheel of Fortune

This one was such fun to make, and it was a snap...and an “intermediate” block.

Now this one has got me so confused I do not know whether I am coming or going. I rechecked all of my measurements, and they are all correct. But, as you can see, the center section is larger than the four side pieces. I have measured and remeasured to no avail. I cannot figure out what went wrong to save my soul. Here are pictures showing the 4 side sections and the ill fitting center section.

Outer Sections and the Middle Piece (it was not paper pieced.)

This is the center section. I have measured all the pieces in this sections and they are what the directions called for.

You can see how well the pieces fir without the center.

You can see here that the middle section does not fit.

What’s going on? I cannot figure it out, but I am moving on and making do.Have fretted and stewed too long.  I trimmed the edges of the two long sides of the middle and sewed it together. 

Crosspatch

Here it is sewn...smaller and finished. It such a cute block.

Such a shame it is not the correct size.

I do not have enough scraps left to redo it even if I wanted to.

It is a wee bit smaller than most of my other blocks, but I made it work out. Actually, I have ended up with 4 blocks now that are smaller than the correctly sized ones, so I will just do something else with them and use the good one for the quilt. This is a learning process so I am not expected to get it all right....right?????  Hopefully, next week I will have my first block of my Sew Kitchy Paper Pieced BoM @ Quiet Play. The ones that are posted are so cute. I need a break from the vintage quilt.

The question of the day is:

Do any of you quilters have things like this happen to you?

This post is linked with Paper Piecing Party at Quiet Play.

Firewood for Sale

 Our neighbors down the road have been cutting up trees that fell during one of last year’s storms. It is so cold that they are selling lots. I stopped by to ask if I could buy a little bit to use in our fire pit down by the creek where we sit at night and roast marshmallows with Eloise when they come for a visit. They were happy to let me have some, and about 10 minutes later they brought it up to the house and stacked it for me....15.00. Now that a GOOD NEIGHBOR!

Before the Snow

After the Snow
This is a repost...I just wanted to show my wee woodpile before and after the snow.

This post is linked with Lesley’s Signs 2.

WIP ~ 1-22-14

My vintage quilt blocks have been a VERY slow “Work in Progress" yesterday and today. It seems like all I have done is rip. I have only finished two blocks because of my ongoing errors. These boo-boos have got to stop ASAP! I think I’m being so careful, and I still mess up.

 Art Square

I do not like the way the white corners came out against the off-white of the fabrics, so when I finish all my blocks I will change the squares to some of my white that has off-white in it. I think that will look lots better.

 Dove at the Window with Upside Down Error

This is the block that about killed me. I made so many mistakes with cutting and placement, and then in the end I still finished it with one upside-down square. And, this was classified as a “beginner” block in the book. UGH! Have any of you done a block incorrectly over and over again? I feel like such a dufus.

I even nipped my left thumb cuticle with the new blade on the rotary cutter. I am really careful with the thing, and this is the first time I have ever had a slip up. A wee bit of blood in my book, but no damage to the quilt block.

 I went back and ripped it out again, and now I think everything is OK.

It sure is a good thing I do not mind ripping.

Here are my 11 blocks out of the 20...that’s half way. I have finished all of the “beginner” ones...that’s a joke...and have made a dent in the “ intermediate” ones. All of the non-paper pieced blocks are complete. The rest require foundation paper piecing.

This post is linked with WIP Wednesdays at Freshly Pieced..