Harvest Hassles & Soothing Sewing

It's been a frustrating week on the farm. While harvest is in full swing all around us, we have only cut one combine bin of wheat. Equipment problems have kept us stationary and repair mechanics perplexed. After multiple trips for parts to fix possible causes, everyone is still scratching their heads. I went to bed last night positive that things were going to turn around today only to wake up to the sound of rain on the roof this morning. That's life on the farm!

To soothe my anxieties (the hubby has enough for both of us!), I've spent a little of this idle time working on my "Spell It With Moda" ABC quilt. This is one of my 2nd quarter Finish-A-Long projects that I'm really hoping I won't get done before the end of the month because that will mean we've finally got everything running and we're busy in the harvest field!

Wishing my fellow farm wives a safe and successful harvest!

~Sharla

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New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop - Week 2

Just a reminder that today starts the second week of the 2016 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop. Soooo, hop on over to these members of my blogger hive, Hive Sewciety, and meet them.....

• Nicole @ Handwrought Quilts
• Pamela @ Sew Crazi
• Karen @ Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats
• Mary @ Briarystitches

Then hop on over to our hive host, Stephanie at Late Night Quilter to enter for this week's PriZe GiVeAwaYs! And if you have time, visit Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl and Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs for links to their featured bloggers this week. There is 'sew' much quilty goodness that you will want to visit them all!

~Sharla

P.S. The blog hop will be taking a short break after this week and will resume the week of July 11.

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Let's Celebrate! Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage Anniversary

One Year! 52 weeks! 366 days (it was a Leap Year, remember?)! That's right, it's been a year since we were in the midst of one of the most fun and absolutely cutest quilt-alongs ever - Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage. And Lori is celebrating her anniversary with a fun new block!

I was honored to be invited to help Lori celebrate by making this sweeter-than-sweet mini quilt using Lori's "Modern Minis" fabric line. Visit the Fat Quarter Shop's blog for the free pattern for this Farm Girl Layer Cake block.

I used the squares from the patchwork panels from "Modern Minis" to make a border around my Layer Cake block, then finished it off with an outer border of the printed sayings from the panel selvedge. I just love the sayings!

Be sure to visit the rest of the blogs that are helping Lori Holt (Bee In My Bonnet) celebrate her Farm Girl Vintage Anniversary to see their Farm Girl Layer Cake blocks:

• Kerry from Very Kerry Berry
• Vickie from Spun Sugar Quilts
• Sedef from Down Grapevine Lane
• Erin from Why Not Sew?
• Kelly from Kelbysews
• Pam from Pam Kitty Morning
• Debbie from Happy Little Cottage
• Greg from Grey Dogwood Studios
• Renee from Sewn with Grace
• Sinta from Pink Pin Cushion
• Lisa from In the Boondocks
• Connie from Free Motion by the River
• Dana from Old Red Barn Co.
• Barb from Me & My Sister Designs
• Melissa from Happy Quilting
• Kim from Persimon Dreams
• Marni from Haberdashery Fun
• Jacque from Lily Pad Quilting

Thanks for stopping by this farm girl's blog!

~Sharla

P.S. I just had to reminisce a little about the quilt I made using Lori's Water Turn Block from the Farm Girl Vintage book when it was my stop on her QAL blog hop last year....

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What's Up Down On The Farm

Summer is in full swing on the farm and that means less time for sewing and blogging. I thought I'd share what's up down on the farm before I get busy with wheat harvest.

With all the rain we have been having, my days seem to be filled with mowing and yard work. This morning while mowing, I found two birds nests that had been blown out of the trees and were laying in the grass. I love the texture and tucked both nests into my back door patio décor.

I'm just hoping the field mice don't decide to make them their new homes! To hinder any house squatting from happening, I nestled a couple of metal birds and stars in them.

I don't mind mowing if its not too hot and the insects aren't biting. It gives me time to enjoy the flowers and shrubs in my yard.

The daylilies are just beginning to bloom. They look so pretty next to the wild gaillardias or what we call Indian Blanket. These lilies are loving all the rain and I should have quite the show when all those buds bloom!

Once it starts getting hot, I retreat to the house to do the usual household chores. Right now, that includes cooking casseroles to freeze for harvest - which is just around the corner. Since I'm chief combine driver and the hubby is head honcho of everything else, there's no one to cook during harvest. By making freezer meals ahead, I can pop them in the oven at the end of the day and have a hot meal (even if its quite late in the evening) when the day is done. One of my go-to recipes is Porcupine Meatballs. They're quick to make and freeze well, so I thought I'd share. (Sorry, I don't have a yummy photo to share along with the recipe.)

Porcupine Meatballs

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup saltine cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup raw rice (Minute Rice)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 large can tomato soup
• 1/2 soup can water
• salt & pepper to taste

Mix first five ingredients; make into balls. Place in casserole dish. Mix tomato soup and water together and pour over meatballs. Season. Cover casserole with foil. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Serves 4-6.

I have been able to sneak a little quilting into my day as well. I've been working on my quilt guild medallion challenge quilt the last few days as I am a couple of months behind now. Round 3 is flying geese. To challenge myself, I decided to set my center on point and then add the flying geese. The math took a little time - and all the paper pieced flying geese - but I'm liking the results so far. Only one more corner to go!

And I've been doing some secret sewing for a surprise that Lori Holt of Bee In My Bonnet has planned for Friday. Hint - its Farm Girl Friday again!

So be sure to stop back by on Friday for the reveal!

~Sharla

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New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop - Week 1

I am participating in the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop again this year. Last year I learned so much about blogging that when the chance came up to participate again this year, I jumped at it. We've been working on our blogs behind the scenes the last few weeks and today the first week of the blog hop begins.

One of the learning exercises we did this year was making a blog button for our group, The Hive Sewciety. I really enjoyed the exercise and this is the button I created....

But I really love the button that Alli created and it is the one the group chose to use....

That exercise got me excited about creating buttons and I tackled creating new social media icons for my sidebar. I just love the stack of thread spools that I ended up creating....

But enough about the behind the scenes activities of the New Quilt Bloggers group because today you can get involved! This is the first week of the blog hop, so go visit these great bloggers from my group....

Allison @ Woodberry Way

Sarah @ 123 Quilt

Mary @ Strip Quilts

Jodie @ Persimmon + Pear

Of course there are PRIZES to GIVEAWAY!!! So stop by our hive host Stephanie @ Late Night Quilter to enter for a chance to win some of these great prizes...

Fat Quarter Shop – $50 Gift Certificate

Aurifil – 12 Large Spool Designer Collection – Amy Sinibaldi, Sweetly Stitched (28 and 50wt)

Hawthorne Threads – $40 Gift Certificate

The Quilter’s Planner – 2017 Starter Kit (Planner, Pens, Clips, Highlighers)

Mini Barn Quilts – Winner’s Choice of (1) of the (6) Original Mini Barn Quilts

Story Patches – Story Patch Quilt Label Starter Kit

Stitches Quilting – $30 Gift Certificate

Meadow Mist Designs – Winner’s Choice of (2) Digital PDF Patterns

Quilting Jetgirl – Winner’s Choice of (2) Digital PDF Patterns

Be sure to also visit the Sewcial Network Hive Host Yvonne @ Quilting Jet Girl and the Miss-Bee Hivin' Hive Host Cheryl @ Meadowmist Designs to enter the giveaways there too. They also have members of their hives featured on the blog hop this week and you can visit those blogs from their sites.

So Jump 'n Jive and visit our Hives! Have fun & good luck!

~Sharla

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Playing Catch Up: May Is For Makers

May was a crazy month in this farmhouse as we've been a bit disconnected. With one of the many spring storms that rolled through western Kansas in the last month or more, our house was hit by lightening. We've lived on the farm for more than 22 years and it was a first for us. The lightening entered through our cable TV dish and fried our satellite TV equipment, wifi and computer. Luckily, nothing else was damaged and the house didn't catch on fire. It happened at 4:45 a.m. The loud boom woke my hubby up with a jolt. I, on the other hand, slept blissfully through it. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

So finally, after more that a month, I have a new computer up and running (thanks to the family computer expert, my brother, who came home for Memorial weekend and assembled my components). I managed to keep up with most things through my phone (which my hubby thinks is permanently attached to my hand now) throughout this whole ordeal. Technology withdrawals - it's a real thing people! Ha, ha!

So now I'm playing catch up. And one of the things I wanted to participate in this last month was a movement started by another quilt blogger, Lindsey Rhodes, called "May Is For Makers".

The goal of the "May Is For Makers" movement is to support independent pattern designers by purchasing one pattern each week during the month of May. There is so much free stuff on the internet that it has devalued the work of pattern designers, and Lindsey wanted to show them that we appreciate all the hard work that goes into designing, writing, testing, photographing, publishing, etc. patterns for the quilting and sewing community. I know I'm guilty of finding free patterns online or drawing up my own pattern inspired by a photo I've seen online. Heck, I've even shared a few free patterns here on my blog.  But I aspire to design and sell patterns, so I wanted to support the industry just as I hope, someday, other quilters and sewists will support me.

So today, I started surfing Craftsy for a few patterns I've admired and I purchased five - one for each week in May. Hey, better late than never! I ended up gravitating toward paper piecing patterns and they are all ones that I can make as mini quilts to add to my collection hanging in my studio.

"Double Goosed" photo by Jeli Quilts

The first pattern I purchased was this "Double Goosed" block by Jeli Quilts. I follow her on Instagram and love her flying geese patterns and have been wanting to purchase one for quite some time, but it took something like this movement to get me in gear.

"Vintage Dresses" photo by Charise Creates

Next, was another cute paper piecing pattern I fell in love with on IG: "Vintage Dresses" by Charise Creates. Sew adorable!

"Geometric Sewing Machine" photo by Quiet Play

And I definitely needed a sewing machine mini for my sewing studio! Isn't this "Geometric Sewing Machine" by Quiet Play awesome!

"Fractal Quilt Block" photo by Patty Sloniger

The next two I stumbled upon while perusing the patterns on Craftsy. This one is called "Fractal Quilt Block" by Patty Sloniger. This would make a really cool scrappy quilt, in either prints or solids!

"Hexagonia" photo by Piece By Number

And lastly, I found this one called "Hexagonia" by Piece By Number. Again, this would make an awesome scrappy quilt. I love this sample picture using 30's fabrics.

Thanks to the "May Is For Makers" idea, I have five really cool patterns to add to my collection. And hopefully, one of these days I'll actually get around to making them! But for now, I'll enjoy reading the patterns.

On a side note, I've never taken the time to look around on Craftsy. I know, I'm behind the times. But, how cool it was to purchase patterns from the UK, Switzerland, Australia and the US in one transaction! Plus, they are PDF downloads so I got the patterns immediately, no waiting days or weeks for a package to arrive!

May is over, but that doesn't mean it's too late to jump on the "May Is For Makers" bandwagon and show some love to our fellow quilters and talented designers. I'm so glad I did!

~Sharla

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