the farm quilt: finished top?

Here is my pieced top for the farm quilt:

and I love it!

So pretty, happy and fresh...

Last time it was just a bunch of blocks:

hanging on my small design wall in my sewing room.

While it is pretty much perfect (ish!),

I thought it could use one more touch;

my niece's name:

Since I have another book from Lori Holt:"Spelling Bee",

I used her pattern and quickly spelled her name,

using the same print that are in the quilt.

Now I just need to sew some more background fabric,

and the top would be really done!

And then the real hard work really begins:

quilting it!

It is not too big so it should fit nicely in my machine,

but still it is my least favorite part of making a quilt.

And finally I will add all the legs and eyes, and details

to all my creatures.

Happy sewing!

a simple teenager bathroom makeover, part one

This bathroom makeover started with Miss C. mentioning that the medicine cabinet mirror was not the best  and that she would like a new one.

Pretty right?
We found the perfect mirror at target and I was just planning  on hanging it up and calling it good. Well it turned out to be another one of those stories:  "if you give a mouse a cookie..." One thing leaded into another quite rapidly!

I removed the ugly and dated medicine cabinet and found the wall needed patching, a lot. And then I saw how rusted the old light fixture was, and how most of the bathroom looked tired! We had not done anything to it since we moved in 8 years ago besides shower curtains and sink faucet.
So I removed everything: mirror, light, towel hangers.... and started patching all of the walls! Because this was just supposed to be a minor change, we tried to keep everything on a tight budget.
Miss C. shares the bathroom with Brick Master for a few more months (he will go away to college in the fall,

can you believe I am the mother of a high school graduate?!) so it has to appeal to both of them, but mostly to her as he does not really care. Luckily for him, she likes it simple and black!

Once the walls were patched up, Mon Cheri installed a new light fixture from HD and I painted it all a nice gray, the same gray I used for our bathroom during the ORC Master suite. With the new mirror, light and paint, it looked already updated.

Miss C. is really into cactus so she chose a shower curtain with that theme and put some on the ledge of the mirror (she has a small collection of fake and real ones, perfect for the bathroom!)

For the towel holders, we decided to not buy traditional ones  as I did not find ones that I really liked (unless they were very expensive) So instead I purchased a coat hanger with 3 hooks from HD, unscrewed them and mounted them on 2 different pieces of wood to make 2 towel hangers.

We could have stopped there as she was quite pleased with the outcome, but I suggested I would do a couple more things.... that I will share next time!

Happy Day!

the farm quilt: the last 10 blocks!

Here are the last ten blocks of my farm quilt:

Most of the patterns are from the "farm girl vintage"

by Lori Holt,

except this little turkey:

Lori had a tutorial for it on her blog:

It is cute and childish, perfect for this quilt!

but let's get back to the book:

a little basket,

a sunflower,

a flower stem,

and some threads!

These next 2 blocks are also from Lori,

but from individual patterns.

Soon I think they also will be in her new book:

a sweet pink kitty (a memory for my sister!)

and a cow of course,

lots of cows where we grew up!

For mother's day, I received a new quilting book:

"spelling bee"

which is the perfect addition to my farm quilt,

the blocks are also 6 x 6.

So I choose the globe,

which I will embroider with a map of the US and Europe,

and a little butterfly.

My last block is this Dala horse from Moda Bake Shop

not really farmish,

but ideal for a little girl born is Scandinavia.

I previously made a cute little bag with this block:

So here are all my 35 block: 

first row: here,

second row: here,

third row: here

fourth and fifth: here.

now it is time to assemble the top,

quilt and bind it

and all of the details....

Happy sewing!

the farm quilt: some farm building and a tractor!

I have been hard at work on my new farm quilt,
and today I am sharing 10 new blocks!

While there are many 6 inch blocks in the book "farm girl vintage",
there are a few much larger ones, like the silo barn
that are quite larger (14 x 14 inches),
so I tried to scale them down to 6 inch block.

So here is my mini version of the silo:

it is not a perfect representation, 

but it keeps the same vibe,

with a dog in the attic,

and a simple quilt as the door.

I did the same thing with the quilty barn block,

also a 14 x 14 inches,

into a 6 inch block to match all my other blocks.

It is also slightly different, but recognizable!

There is also a dog in the door and a mouse in the attic,

and of course a little quilt on the side.

The last one I revisited is the tractor block, the original size is 16 x 20 inches, so a lot harder to downgrade to 6 inch square. Luckily Lori (of bee in my bonnet) has just written a new book "farm girl vintage 2", and in it she has a small tractor block. So between the pattern for the large tractor and the picture of the small one, I was able to make a tractor block:

it is not perfect and still need some hand embroidery

for the steering wheel, but it kind of looks like a John Deer tractor!

(and I know my niece will recognize it has there is a dealer near my parents.)

And here there are together:

quite cute, even imperfect, I like the "I spy" aspect of this quilt  with all the dogs and mice hidden in the barns!
I made 4 gingham blocks:

just perfect for the 4 corners of the quilt.
And I made 3 "kitchen" blocks, nice and easy just following the directions:

the canning jars block,

the tea pot or kettle block, 

with cherries, we do live in DC, a big symbol!

the bowls and mixing spool block.

And here there are altogether:

you can check here for the first row,

here for the second row,

and here for the third row.

25 blocks, just 10 more to go!
Happy sewing!