Man, you guys really inspired me this weekend!  I had so much fun reading about your current favorite color combos.  Some of you made me want to run right out and start a new quilt!  I love getting your feedback to these kinds of questions so thanks to all of you for playing!

  The winner of my red and white scraps is Lynn, who said:

 

Oh the blocks are lovely. Red and white is my favorite color combination, no matter how I try other - I keep coming back to Red and white.

Thanks 

  

 I'm pretty sure these scraps are going to a good home because I stopped by Lynn's blog and was immediately taken with the beautiful quilts for sale in her Etsy shop.  She also had some other show stoppers on her list of finished quilts page.  You can stop by and check them all out HERE.

Lynn, I already sent you an email so send me your shipping address and I'll get these right out to you!  

Thanks everyone for playing!

 

Happy quilting!

Amber

Farmer's Wife Blocks [Done] and a Giveaway!

I've always wanted a red and white quilt.  So in January 2012 (when the fabric store I work at decided to start a Farmer's Wife Club), I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and get my quilt while jumping on the Farmer's Wife bandwagon!

 In our Farmer's Wife club, I got to teach different quilt making techniques once a month to a small group of women (who seriously amazed me - most of them ended up making all 111 blocks!)  I already knew how to paper-piece (a technique I used on some of the more intricate blocks) but the technique that was new to me at the time (and has become an easy, enjoyable method) was the template piecing.  I also learned new methods for making half-square triangles plus lots of other tips and tricks.  Overall, I definitely grew as a quilter and I'm so glad that I was able to be a part of the club.

 

I started off thinking I would make all 111 six-inch blocks.  But then reality set in and my plans changed.  I thought, I don't need a king-size quilt and to be honest I was getting a little tired of my red and white fabrics so I opted out at 83 beautiful little blocks to make myself a twin-size quilt.  I feel good about my decision and have had a blast farming! 

Since my last post, I needed to make 5 more blocks to reach my twin-size goal. Here they are:

L. to R.: [28] Duck and Ducklings [32] Farmer's Daughter, [51] Hovering Birds, [23] Country Farm and [27] Darting Birds

This little stack contains lots of red and white fabrics plus hours and hours and hours of love :)

Did I mention that I was getting a little tired of my red and white stash?  Well, that's where you come in!  I thought I'd share the red and white LOVE by doing a giveaway for some of my leftovers (what you see above) and maybe a pattern or two :)  Interested?  Just leave me a comment telling me what your favorite color combination is right now.  This giveaway will close Sunday night and I'll announce a winner Monday morning.

Have a wonderful weekend!

[We're off to Park City, Utah for some family time!]

 See ya on the flip side!

~ Amber

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

A Happy Weekend

Man.  This little guy melts my heart.  Except he's not so little anymore.  11 years ago, yesterday, he made me a new momma.  I waited four years for God to give him to me.  A long, emotional four years.  But in retrospect, God knew what he was doing in his perfect, my-timing-is-not-your-timing kind of way.  He needed me to wait, to prepare, to learn and grow.  To depend on Him more.  To grow closer to my husband.  And when it was time, he arrived.  A 7 lbs. 1 oz. healthy, blonde baby boy.  This little guy is super smart, crazy good on the soccer field, so sweet, thoughtful, funny and well like I said, he just kind of melts my heart.  And did I say sweet?  Yeah, he's super sweet too.  I'm so thankful for him and thankful to God for giving him to me.

We celebrated with a dang good, Hot Chocolate Bundt Cake - recipe from the blog, Cookies and Cups.  My little guy loves anything with marshmallows in it (like he can eat half a bag of jumbo marshmallows at any given time) so I knew he'd love this cake.  It had GREAT flavor and it's now my official "go-to" chocolate cake recipe.  Yum.

[source]

In between birthday festivities and watching LDS General Conference I snuck in a little "me" time :)  It felt like I was preparing a football fields length of binding but in all actuality it was only half that amount - about 60 yards.

  I like binding but I have a feeling this might take a while.

 What about you?  Did you have a good weekend?  I sure hope so!

~ Amber

Quilt Sale [and a little explanation]

Hello!  

Well, geesh.  Apparently I needed a little blogging break, huh!?!  

Sorry to concern some of you.  I guess I was feeling a little overwhelmed at the time of my last post (and possibly a little hormonal :)  Sorry about that.

I hope I didn't make it sound worse than it really was.  I was in a little funk there for a few weeks and I think it all stemmed from being really busy with work deadlines, my house and every other commitment going to pot, a really good friend passing away, worries about family members and well, I just started feeling like blogging wasn't really worth the time and energy I was putting into it.  Honestly, I was starting to feel like maybe I should just bag the whole thing.

 I even started wondering if anyone was reading this anyways???  With the ease and quick paced nature of Pinterest and Instagram (which I love and am totally addicted to) people don't really seem to want to sit down and read a long blog post anymore.  Let alone leave a comment!  I guess I was starting to feel like all of my blogging efforts were in vain.  And, I'm embarrassed to admit ~ I may have even thrown myself a small pity party. 

But after some thought I reminded myself that I do this for fun.  I do it at my leisure.  I don't answer to sponsors.  I don't have a post schedule I have to stick to.  I write about what I want, when I want.  I've made some great blogging friends along the way and I LOVE being able to share my quilting passion with others.  If I can bring a little quilting joy and inspiration to those that stop by once in a while then GREAT!  So thank you to all of you for your concern, friendship and support.  I really do love sharing my love of quilting with you!

 

I'm feeling back to normal again, but I have to share these pictures of my sewing room at this very given moment.  if these pictures say anything, it's that life's been a whirlwind.  Anyone want to stop by and help sort fabric?

I have managed to list a handful of quilts for sale in the shop today.  I do hope you'll stop by and check them out.  There's a couple of my own designs plus a few others.  Our house is overflowing with quilts and it's time to make room for more :)

Happy quilting!

~ Amber