Category Archive: quilts
Wee sheep movie plus
Plus I actually got a bit of sewing done today. Without a doubt there will still be color shifting.
Mountain blocks
The mountain blocks have been put together. Now I have to decide on an arrangement. I was surprised at how fast they went together. I laid them all out in piles and then just chain sewed them. Fast and easy.
These little ones start solid food early.
Meet Peppy
Meet Peppy, our latest little ewe lamb, who did it right. I fed the bottle babies, went home to get something, came back 15 minutes later. She had entered the world at 9# and was already nursing. It would be so wonderful if every baby entered this way and we could let nature do all the work. She is #13 and the 9th ewe lamb.
We are expecting another 10-12 babies in March. I am also anticipating good moms that will have plenty of milk so there will not be more bottle babies. In that way, I’ll also get nightly sleep and perhaps be able to get some sewing and quilting done.
Other than that, we spent a share of our day at Costco, and of course going back and forth to the barn to feed the bottle babies. So for the first time in over a year, I did not finish my “One monthly goal” with Elm Street Quilts.
Mountain mistakes
I’m showing you a couple of mountain mistakes I have made so that you can avoid them. I think I made them because I am grabbing minutes here and there instead of doing them thoughtfully. The above is how they should look. I have 4 of each side.
With these mountains, I failed to reverse two of them, so have 6 of the left side and 2 of the right side. They will still be used. I have a bit of extra fabric, so I will make corrected blocks.
And obviously in this mountain, the first cut was 1.5″ instead of 2″. Again, it is still usable, but not what I had in mind for this quilt. I’m glad I saw this error as soon as I made the first cut. The other blocks are cut correctly.
I am finding with this block, I need to lay the pieces out in the correct order before sewing them together in order to avoid ripping. It really is a very easy block, but one does need to think about the order of sewing.
Delectable mountain tutorial
I’m not sure if this is more for me or you. The delectable mountain tutorial was a dry run before I actually cut out my pieces for the quilt.
I started with 8 1/2″ squares cut on the diagonal. In this case I used the same fabric for the light color in each of my blocks. Sew them together and 
square them up. This I found to be the most crucial step, because somehow when I sewed those large triangles, they didn’t always come out square. So I squared to 8″. (the rest of these photos is using my practice piece)
I put 2 of these new squares together with sides reversed and matching the diagonal line, then cut the 8″ pieces into 4 -2″ pieces and 
switched the two outside pieces and then the two inside pieces so they now look like this. Because you have cut two of these squares, one is the reverse of the other and can be put together like this
to complete your mountain. If you have trouble visualizing this, you might want to make two squares and try it out first. It makes more sense once you have done it.
NEWS ITEM: Meet Paco and Pepita, our latest additions
She is white, but she is fresh and not yet dried in this photo.
Kaarsten, Kristie, and a new start
Meet Kaarsten and Kristie, our two newest family members.
Here are Petunia and Pepe’, our first two who were not expected to survive. Looks like they are doing well.
Our frozen wonderland has made me long for the sewing machine and a new quilt start. Really, I had run out of projects? – no, not really. Just a creative need.
This batch of fat quarters has been hanging around the sewing studio. I have no idea where they came from or when. They are not a grouping that I would have chosen, so they must have chosen me. They needed a purpose and so they are becoming mountains.
I have cut triangles from 8 of these pieces and sewn them together ready to square them up and cut again. Tomorrow, I’ll show you how they are going together.
I grabbed some minutes here and there this week and then an hour to finish the spool soufflé flimsy, which measures 62 x 68″. I’d love to get it quilted before the end of the month, but that will take some real time, which I may or may not get.
The wee ones take much of my time, but they are also a lot of fun and the diapers make it possible for them to have more freedom to follow us around. This photo was when they had full tummies and were tired.
The spools quilt is together and ready for borders. It seems this week has been fast and furious. Last night I finished getting everything into Quicken so I can pull up categories for taxes. I showed it to DH so he could assemble what he needs for the part he does. I found a couple mistakes which I will repair and then it is ready for my visit with the tax man. We have added the farm this year as a business so I don’t really know which numbers he will want. But they are all there and that is a huge relief.
The feeder is full, the floor is cleaned with fresh straw and 
she’s almost ready – just in the last stage of waiting. You can see her eyes are closed and she is tired. She’s breathing heavily and babies have dropped. We may be looking at 2 days, but you know nature has a way of it’s own.
Between watching sheep and cleaning stalls, I took some time to finish putting these spools together. I still have the strips and the squares to put between the rows. That will take time to decide which color to put where, but I am happy with the progress I made today.
Spool Souffle’ row 1 is together. Most of the day was spent researching stem cell for Parkinson’s. One has to dig and make many calls to learn much. And that means much time on the phone. So I’m linking up to Elm Street Quilts in the hope that I can get this done as my “OMG” for February http://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2018/02/one-monthly-goal-february-goal-setting.html