Merry Christmas Yall!

Polaroids and the winners!!!!!!

Hey yall! Boy, I sure did enjoy reading everyones comments and meeting so many new people during the Sew Mama Sew and my 101st blogpost giveaway! I found so many new and fun blogs to read and so many nice people! You guys are awesome! I also want to say a big huge WELCOME to all my new friends and followers. I am really looking forward to getting to know yall and visiting everyones blogs! I had 6 prizes available for the giveaway! The Aurifil thread packs were by far the most popular request! I recently started using Aurifil and have really enjoyed it so far. The main difference I see in Aurifil to the previous thread I was using is the reduction in the amount of lint. I think my machine seems to really like it too! :)  So lets get right to the giveaways and then I'll show yall what I have been working on this weekend!
The winner of the "Lovely" Charm Pack is:

CraftyHourMomDecember 12, 2013 at 2:23 PM

The winner of the "Emma" 10" stacker is:

JoyceLMDecember 12, 2013 at 3:47 PM

The four winners of the Aurifil thread are:

QuiltCandyDecember 12, 2013 at 1:57 PM

Danbury QuilterDecember 12, 2013 at 4:53 PM

Celtic ThistleDecember 12, 2013 at 6:43 PM

margaretDecember 13, 2013 at 3:56 AM

Ladies I will be emailing you shortly for your mailing addresses! Thank you to everyone for participating and I look forward to another 100 posts! I hope yall will stick around for that!

Yall these are Polaroid blocks. I had so much fun making these as part of the Global Scrap bee. Decembers Queen is Nesta of Ella and Nesta. Nesta is making a polaroid quilt for her girls to use when snuggling on the sofa and reading. We used a tutorial from Capitola Quilter. This was the first time I have made these blocks before and they were very easy and fun. So another quilt on my long list of to-do's!  I hope her girls like them!
 Well yall I had so much fun during the giveaway. I hope that yall had a great time too. I wish everyone could win a gift. I love sharing. So congratulations to the winners. I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season and I will see yall soon!
xo jan

Iron Quilter II..."Oh My Lovely Stars"

Edit again yall!!!!!

well, now they have gone back and added it to vote on facebook too. lol..

Here is the link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.705136326172320.1073741831.174183745934250&type=1

At this point I hope yall just get to see the projects. Anyway have fun.

xo jan

Mine is way down now close to the bottom!lol.....

 Edit!!!!!!!!! Hey yall. Well Missouri Star Quilt company has changed the rules for voting to Google +. The rules said it was going to be on Facebook for the top 25 by counting likes, then some other means for the finals. I don't know why they changed it and I am not sure if you have to be on Google+ in order to vote. It is a shame that they took this route because there are ALOT of awesome projects that were entered and no one knows where to go to see the projects. So here is the link:

https://plus.google.com/photos/+Missouriquiltcompany/albums/5952742715082642513?gpsrc=gplp0&partnerid=gplp0

Plus there are no names or anything with the photos - (mine is toward the top) but you can vote on as many as you would like and as often this week as you would like ( at least that is what the rules first said) But have fun. There are really some beautiful projects entered and worth the extra trouble to see them. Have a great day! xo jan

Hey yall! Well I just barely got my quilt finished in time to enter the "Iron Quilter II at Missouri Star Quilt Company! Entries had to be submitted by midnight tonight. The secret ingredient for this years Iron Quilter is "Lovely" by Debbie Beaves for RJR fabrics. Yall know how much I love pansies!

I named this quilt "Oh My Lovely Stars"! It measures 68x68" square. I used 128 "Lovely" charms, 16 white charms, 128 2 7/8" squares all for the star blocks. The inner border is 3'' and the outer border is "Purple Pansy " from the Lovely line and measures 5". It was so nice to finally have some sewing machine time.

I didn't have much time for quilting, so I did a simple stitch in the ditch and quilted around the stars.
This was a really fun quilt to make. Missouri Star Quilt Company is hosting the Iron Quilter II challenge and voting will begin December 1st on a special facebook page that they will be setting up . There are some awesome prizes up for grabs. A Babylock Rachel sewing machine valued at $800.00, $500.00 quilters cash from Missouri Star!, $500.00 fabric bundle from RJR fabrics, A $500 gift basket from Clover, A Madeira Cotona Thread chest valued at $165.00 and Hobbs Quilt batting!!!! Yall it's a pretty impressive list of prizes. I am not very active on facebook so I don't think I will get into the top 25, but Jenny from Missouri Star Quilt Company does possess 3 "saves" so I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Either way, this quilt was so fun to make. I love pansies and I love purple and I know a very sweet older couple that will be receiving this little quilt to brighten up their sofa! They have known my husband and his family for many years.
 Also, this is my 99th blog post! I promised a giveaway on my 100th blog post which will hopefully  be coming up in a few days so be sure to drop back by for that! We have been busy hammering up corn for the cows, feeding hay, working on some fence and trying to keep waterhoses that we use to water the cows from freezing up every night. Since we lost the 30 acres that we used to lease for pasture we have to feed and water alot more. We are slowly working on clearing some new pasture but have a long way to go before it will be ready for the cows. So in the meantime we feed and water ALOT!!!!!
 Thank yall for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed seeing my "Oh My Lovely Stars" quilt. I have quite a few charms left and may just have to make a smaller version of this quilt for myself! I will see yall in a few days! Until then, enjoy every minute of every day and welcome in December, ( where did November go?).  I'll be thinking about ya!
xo jan

Woe is me yall and upcoming giveaway!

Hey yall! I guess I should say that "Woe was me"! Besides the normal crazy busy happenings around the farm, my computer decided to just quit responding! Yep - it's just been sittin here like a knot on a log! But hurrah ! I finally got it fixed. I think :o. Keepin my fingers crossed. Plus it had not one, not two but three viruses. I just do not understand when you have virus protection installed and up to date how your computer can still get sick. But those suckers are gone now too. So hopefully everything will get back to normal around here now.
 We finally finished picking corn! I am so happy about that. We are actually a week or so early. Many years we have been picking corn right through Thanksgiving, so I am glad we were able to get it picked before the bad weather starting moving in. It was a very good harvest too so plenty of food for the cows and chickens this winter and we have some really good corn for seed.

 I have been using up some leftover and single skein yarn. I am making a bed runner for our bed to keep our feet nice and warm. And that bright green ball is the fruit from an Osage Orange tree. It is about the size of a softball and just as heavy. You do not want to stand under one of these trees on a windy day! These ARE NOT edible. The cows will eat them but sometimes may choke so I do not let them have them either. They have a very pleasant citrus smell. Granny always cut them in half and laid them around the foundation of the house outside. She said it kept bugs away. I don't know about that but they sure do smell good and make a beautiful tree. They are very hard, but you can chop one up and run it through your garbage disposal and it makes it smell really fresh. And a bowl of them sitting around just look and smell festive!

 I also finished and mailed my 1"hexie flowers for my swap partner this month in the Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap. These are so fun to make.

 And our "I Love Lucy International Bee" got started this month. November's Queen is Susan of sue mac seeds and she chose yellow, gray and black for her colors. I am not used to using these colors but I love how this block turned out. I hope she likes it. 

 And I have started a project for the Missouri Star Quilt Company Iron Quilter II. Several weeks ago I purchased some charm packs of "Lovely" by RJR Fabrics because I love pansies so much. Well "Lovely" is the secret ingredient in this years Iron Quilter Challenge. I decided on a scrappy star quilt but entries have to be in by November 30th. I have 3 blocks made :(   Soooooo I dunno if I can finish in time or not. Maybe since the corn is in I can find some extra time to work on it.
Since the computer has been down I feel I have missed out on so much that I want to go back to catch up on. 
Also, yall I wrote my first blog post back in February of this year. This is my 98th post. So, I am getting close to my 100th blog post. I really just don't know where the time has gone. So much has happened here and around the farm over these last few months. So I think I will celebrate with a giveaway on my 100th post. I have a couple of ideas and will be back in a few days with the 100th post and giveaway information. 
Now I would love to extend a very warm welcome to two of my newest friends and followers:
Ivani at arteemcasa and kesch! Welcome to the farm ladies! I am so glad to have yall plowing along with us!

Yall, this was what greeted us as we got back from the corn fields the last day. An amazing sunset over the barn that has the corn cribs. This picture is how my little point and shoot took it. It was so vibrant with reds and pinks and purples. A glorious way to end the harvest!  See yall in a few days!
xo jan

Whew!

Hey yall!
 The last two weeks have flown by. I hope that yall had a great Halloween. Things have been extremely busy around the farm.That handsome farmer hubby dude had to work on Halloween. And I spent the evening helping this big guy come into the world:

 He is his mamas first calf and was rather large. She will be three in December so she is plenty old enough to have a calf but she required some help. So I spent the evening behind the hay barn in the edge of the woods in the drizzle and cool weather waiting for her to let me help. And of course I couldnt get her to go to the barn where it was nice and dry. I thought I was going to have to resort to pulling him out with my tractor, but finally managed to help her get him out with a double rope. He has very broad shoulders. At first she didn't want to get up and I was really worried. I kept popping her with my gloves and the rope. She finally got on her feet and started cleaning the big guy up. I know it sounds mean to scare her onto her feet, but the sooner a cow gets up, the better off she and her calf will be. And this character is going to have horns. I refuse to name him Devil even though he was born on Halloween and will have horns. I need to think of a good name for him. Any suggestions?
   I left a note and a candy bowl on the porch for any would be Trick or Treaters. I know we had at least one family because they left us two caramel apples. We usually don't get many visitors on Halloween anyway. There are several Fall festivals and Harvest festivals at the different churchs and around town that most people take their children too. I haven't gotten to go to any of those yet. I love to go see all the pumpkins.
And at the risk of being really repetative, we spent several days back in the hayfield!

 But that did give me time to work on my next Lucy Boston Block while hubby was loading the hay. Then we had to start the process of trying to rearrange the hay barn so it would hold 400 rolls of hay where we normally put 300 rolls of hay.
So we stacked:

And restacked:

And stacked some more:

Until we finally got most of it into the haybarn:

This is a very good problem to have!
Plus we have been cutting and stacking alot of wood. I do not use the chain saws. I usually just help stack or run the splitter if its working and let my hubby roll the logs under it. A few weeks ago we started removing a very large Oak tree that dropped a large limb on our neighbors mothers house last winter. I was really glad we got it down. We piled up the largest pieces of the trunk.

Mississippi runs and hops up there every time we go past it. I guess she has alot better view from up there.
I also finished up a ripple scarf that just so happens to match my tractor! hehe..

Yep I will be styling in the corn field!

And yall, my baby peeps are 9 weeks old and look how big!

They are just so sweet and I think there are at least three roosters.

The one on the left is definitely a rooster and the one on the right is a hen.

And of course Double trouble are being their usual getting into trouble selves and following me everywhere I go.

Pigging out on some dandelions.

And best of all, our "I Love Lucy Bee" started November 1st. Susan from Sue Mac Seeds is our Queen for November and she has chosen some gorgeous colors! Here is her first block in progress.

I love her color choices and fussy cutting. If you have a moment I would love for you to stop by and visit her blog and let her know what you think about her first Lucy Boston. And I have been digging through my stash and found a couple of possiblilities:

I love "Pillow fort' from in My Room, (foreground) but not sure about the other fabrics yet. I would like to find a darker gray and I really like the black swirls. This Bee is really starting off to be so much fun and a challenge! We have two spots open if anyone would like to join in. If so just send me an email.

 And finally, I have spent a few minutes piecing a back for my "Pumpkins Gone Wild" quilt:

Yep - Halloween is over, but I think it will still be pretty for fall and Thanksgiving, if I ever get it finished! Yall it can be so frustrating not having time to sew. Since we lost that 30 acre pasture that we have leased for the last 18 years, we have been clearing some trees to get ready to put up some fence and sow grass. But all that takes time. So we are already feeding hay and feed. Plus we had a pond on that 18 acres that we no longer have, so I am spending 1 to 2 hours watering the cows twice a day! It just hasn't left me much time for blogging, visiting or sewing (unless its portable). So I apologize once again if I have missed a few of your blog posts or emails. Hopefully things will get better around here soon. We are getting ready to start picking corn too. We have already had a couple of hard frosts so the next free day or three or four  we will pick corn. I usually haul wagons back and forth from the corn fields. I love harvest. It is hard work, but also rewarding. And it makes me really happy to see that smile on my hubbys face when we are pulling wagon after wagon of corn from the fields. Between all the wonderful hay this year and the corn crop that we will hopefully get in, the cows ought to have plenty to eat this winter.

And yall these guys are sure worth it!

I sure hope yall have a great week. Enjoy this beautiful harvest time of year wherever you are.

Know that I will be thinking about yall as I plow around the farm.

And

Please help me welcome two of my newest friends and followers:

Leila at http://sewnbyleila.blogspot.com

and

Ana at http://anamarpatch.blogspot.com/

Welcome to the farm ladies. Feel free to grab a tractor from the sidebar and plow along with us!

Happy fall yall!

xo jan

Autumn is a time for Pansies........

Finally cooler weather is expected around here. I love love pansies, so I couldn't resist these charms.

They are "Lovely" by Debbie Beaves for RJR Fabrics. And the colors are gorgeous and rich.  I think I am going to just make a simple patchwork lap quilt. And just maybe after this rain we are expecting I can get outside to the flower bed and plant some lovely little pansies to welcome Autumn to the farm. So what have yall been up to this week?
linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for W.I.P. Wednesday! If you have a moment, stop by and see what everyone is working on.
xo jan

Lucy, Lipstick and a Lazy Sunday...........

Hey Yall!
    I hope everyone has had a nice and pleasant Sunday afternoon. It has been a beautiful day here around the farm.

 I cooked a nice dinner of ham, black eyed peas, creamed corn, potato salad (made with Klondike Gold potatoes) sliced tomatos, cornbread and ice tea. And a nice, big fat slice of pound cake for dessert. And I had great plans for after dinner......

I wanted to work on my  new Lucy Boston Block and

I wanted to give this Lass some lipstick.....
But....

You know what they say about the best laid plans. yep, me and those Klondike Gold potatoes had a fight and they won! Egads..... This really stinks yall. I can't hold a needle. :(

But I did see a gorgeous barn and barn Quilt yesterday up in Tennessee. I knocked on the door but no one answered. I wanted to meet the person that made this. I don't think I have seen this block before.
 linking up with a really lazy Sunday  with Kathy at Slow Stitchin Sunday! Yall should see some of the gorgeous slow stitchin going on over there!
Folks, I hope yall have had an awesome week. Happy Thanksgiving to all our sweet Canadian friends! It's been a beautiful week around here in more ways than one. Even if I can't sew.
And I would love to give a very warm welcome to two of my newest friends and followers.....
Deborah at Little Ms Sew Un-sew ( yall should check out her medallion - awesome)
and
maureen at The jubilee Quilt Project. yall should see what she is working on there! Gorgeous!
Welcome to the farm ladies!! Feel free to grab a tractor from the sidebar yall and plow along with us!
And thank yall for all the super sweet comments on my last post. That gentleman made my day!
Now I gotta go find some Neosporin and see if I can't get this thumb well.
Watch out for those Klondike Gold Potatoes yall!
xo jan

Making pancakes taste a little sweeter...........

           

This morning I had to run up to town to pick up a coupla things at the feed and seed.

I like to go before they get busy with all the town folk . So I cooked my husbands morning breakfast of oatmeal with raisins and jumped in the pickup.

On my way back I thought I'd like to stop and get me some pancakes at McDonalds.Yall those things are addicting. Let’s just say it’s a good thing I don’t go to town too often.

  Since I was in a hurry I drove through and ordered my pancakes and then drove up to the next window to pick them up. There were a coupla rowdy boys in a pickup giving the girl at the window a hard time. Finally they drove off.

 The sweet little girl at the window asked me if I wanted an Egg McMuffin. I told her I just ordered pancakes and she said it was one they made for the car ahead of me but had accidentally left off the meat.I said “Well, I can probably find something to feed it to”. So she threw it in the bag. “Preciate it” I said and headed back through our small little sleepy town.

At the redlight ( one of the two that we have in our town) I saw those boys ahead of me

giving an old man that was pushing a bicycle loaded down with all of his possessions a hard time. Laughing, snickering and blowing the horn at him.

The light turned green and they left all the while whooping and hollering at the guy.

The elderly gentleman was picking something up off the ground beside his bicycle when I turned the corner.  

 “Well, I can probably find something to feed it to” popped into my head. So, I circled the courthouse and spotted the old man pushing his bike up the sidewalk. When he got

closer to me  I rolled down my window and asked “Pancakes or Egg McMuffin with no meat?”

He said “How’d you know I don’t have teeth?” I’ll take the McMuffin!” I laughed and he grinned a huge toothless grin. I asked him if he needed anything else. He said no he was just passing through and wasn’t it a beautiful day. I smiled with a tear in my eye and told him it sure was and wished him luck on his journey.

I went on back to the house with a smile on my face and thinking about how those mean boys had just bought that old man breakfast and didn’t even know it.

 And my pancakes sure did taste a lot sweeter this morning.

xo jan

Cow patties and EPP.....

Hey yall!

 First, thank yall so much for all the kinds comments on my first Lucy Boston block. And I finished my second one today using mostly Bake Sale  by Lori Holt. I am still trying to decide on the type of fabrics I want to use. I am leaning toward 1800's Reproduction prints. Although I have very few of those that are suitable for fussy cutting. But like I said before, if I am going to spend all this time hand sewing a quilt block, then I should spend just as much time deciding on the fabric and the extra time it takes to fussy cut . I really like the way fussy cutting looks in the block compared to a non patterned center.

I have had a few questions through comments and emails regarding the way I sew around

instead of through the paper pieces when I make honeycombs or any EPP for that matter.

So I thought I would give a quick tutorial on how I  EPP. I don't think there is any wrong way . Just do whatever works for you. I find this a really fast and easy way for me.

  First, center up your paper template on the fabric. I LOVE using my acrylic template from Paper Pieces.com. First it has a 3/8" seam allowance which I like alot better than 1/4" , I can use it to fussy cut my fabric and I use it to center my paper on the fabric.

I like to punch a hole in the center of my paper for easy removal later on. Use a small applique pin to pin the fabric through the hole. You do not have to have a hole puncher, just use the point of your scissors.

Using good cotton thread not too long so it won't tangle, fold over the fabric, finger press and fold over again. Stick the needle through the bottom layer and then the top layer of fabric. Do not sew through the paper.

(And yall , I prob have the ugliest hands with no manicure, but I loose any hopes of having fingernails this time of year around the farm, plus I get freckles!)

Pull the thread through and repeat. Basically you are just doing a whip stitch.

Now, move to the next corner which will be the point. I find it easier to start on the side and then go to the point. Whip stitch the point. If you need to , run your needle under your thumb to smooth the fabric before you sew the whip stitch.

Now just keep going around the honeycomb. I don't pull the fabric extra tight against the paper. It makes it harder to sew the honeycombs together.

. End up at the first corner that you sewed with a whip stitch.

Do not remove your papers! I just removed this one to show you that the honeycomb keeps its shape without the paper piece and you do not have to remove the stitches! No glue to unstick and no basting to take out.

Play around with your honeycombs and see which way looks best. I have alot to learn about fussy cutting. If anyone knows any helpful hints please let me know.

These are really easy to sew and so much fun to make. I can sew these alot easier bumping along in the pickup or tractor than I can embroider . So I really want to decide on my fabric colors and get plenty cut up and ready to take along with me everywhere I go. You would be surprised how many you can get done in just a few minutes here and there!

I leave all my papers in until I am finished. I could probaly remove the inner papers and just leave the outside ring but for now I am leaving them in.

 You can sew the honeycombs together in whatever order is comfortable for you. I sew the four center honeycombs (red), then the next four (aqua) then the next eight (red) then the last 8 (green).

Depending on your background choice, you could either applique the block onto a fabric square at this point or as Lucy Boston did, add 24 background honeycombs surrounding your block.

Now I have a question. Does anyone recognize this line of fabric?

This is a UFO using a layer cake from last year and I really like the stripe in the first photo. I need one more piece of it to have enough for my center Lucy block.

It's kinda like the moon from my Aquarius quilt.  I lost the other honeycomb! It's probaly in the cornfield  if it didn't go through the hammermill! And I sure aint searching cow patties for it!

Yall I am sure this tutorial was just clear as mud, so if you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know. And I received a few requests from our international friends regarding our  "I Love Lucy Bee" so we are going to open it up to everyone no matter where you live. I don't think there is much difference in postage when mailing a standard envelope. Just send me an email if you are interested in joining up. We would love to have you and we will not get started until November. I believe we are just making one block per month.

Have fun yall and Daniel says watch out for those cow patties!

xo jan

And I would also love to give a very warm welcome to two of my newest friends and followers;

Donna from Quilted Chocolate

and

Ellen at Little Jewel Quilts!

Check them out yall! Awesome quilty goodness.

Welcome to the farm ladies. Feel free to grab a tractor from the sidebar and plow along with us.

xo jan