Second Sunday in March

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine

and puts them into practice

is like a wise man who 

built his house on the rock."

Matthew 7:24

Farmer's Wife Friday--Satisfaction of Being a Real Helper

Welcome to another installment of the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along, featuring letters written by 1920 farm wives and the blocks they inspired. For my new readers, today's blocks are my 71st through 75th blocks. There are 111 all together so I still have a ways to go in creating these 6 inch, sometimes complicated ...dare-I-say-it...pieces of art! My partner in this endeavor is Cindy, who writes one of my favorite blogs, Live a Colorful Life. She is making her quilt using all solid cross-weave fabrics, while I am using bright prints. I hope that someday we will get to show our finished quilts side by side! Each Friday we feature a letter from the book and the coordinating blocks. 

 Today's wife is from Montana. Like many before her, this lady speaks of the many varied interests that broaden her mind while living and working on a farm.

 Rainbow Flowers--block #73

 I like the first sentence of her letter: "Farming is the only business which a woman automatically can enter, upon marriage, as her husband's assistant manager." She enjoys "the satisfaction of being a real help-meet."

 Strawberry Basket--Block #91

Admittedly, her life has not been easy and she's had to give up luxuries, but predicts "for my daughter no such life of servitude as ours has been. Our education did not fit us for our work."

 Buzzard's Roost--Block#15

With pride she adds, "I see the barren country blossoming like the rose under their capable management; drudgery over, poverty ended, fueds all past."

 Rosebud--Block #75

One of my favorite things about these letters each week, is the sense of accomplishment and the healthy significance these women all have expressed about the lives they live.

As for me, I'm feeling pretty good about accomplishing four more blocks that are fairly "square"!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to the sweetest 30 year old in the world!

 I'm so happy to have you as my daughter and my friend, Megan!

First Sunday in March

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is His love for those who fear Him;

as far as the east is from the west,

so far has He removed our

transgressions from us."

Psalm 103:11,12

TGIF

Yesterday afternoon it got up to 71 degrees here in Missouri. Today's crazy weather....

 So if you are here looking for Farmer's Wife Friday, she let me know that she won't be showing off any quilt blocks today, because there's just too much to do on the farm. I hear that Cindy's farm wife is experiencing some of the same complications. Come back next Friday for the next Farmer's Wife post! Meanwhile, I've finally finished cleaning and organizing my sewing closet.....Yay!

 The hexagon quilt is ready for binding. (I love that last step! Do you?) Hopefully, Monday, I will have some pictures to show you of the finished project....looking forward to listing it as a "finish" for 2012! Here's a hint of my non-traditional quilting for these traditional hexies...

 How fun to read all of your "young" ages for the Leap Day Giveaway! (It seems that most of us would rather stay our age than go back to the teenage years!) "Welcome" to the new Lollyquiltz followers! I hope that you enjoy seeing my projects and that it inspires you somehow in your quilting creations. Comment often as I love to get to know everyone in this fun community! Thanks for entering the giveaway...I wish I had a spool of thread for everyone.

My Random number selector (my hubby, Fred) chose these numbers as the winners of  the Masterpiece thread, bobbins and AMH voiles:
#5--Felicity from Vancouver, BC, #114--Barbara from Idaho, and #172 Toni Anne from New York. I'll get your prize in the mail later day, if I can get out of my drive-way in the tractor. (Just kidding, it's already stopped snowing!) Have a great weekend!

Leap Day Superior Thread Giveaway!

Happy Leap Day, everyone! Anyone have a birthday today? (Happy Birthday, Karen!) Using my mathematical expertise, I figure out today, that if I had been born a mere 13 days earlier, I would be turning 15 today.  (Think about that for awhile.) Since this day only comes around every four years, the good people at Superior Threads thought it would be a great day for giving away some free thread!

 I love Masterpiece Thread by Superior. If you haven't tried it, this is your chance...but I'm warning you, you'll be hooked right away! I'm using it now to quilt my hexagon quilt and can attest that when I have to stop and change the bobbin, there's hardly any lint inside the case. It's a fine thread, so the bobbin can hold a lot more...another reason to love it! I have three big spools of thread to give away, plus three fat quarters of Anna Maria Horner's cotton voile fabric, Good Folks, from my stash.

 I'd also like to share one of my favorite Superior products: pre-wound bobbins. They are great for free-motion quilting as each tightly woven bobbin holds 80 yards of Masterpiece Thread.  

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So here's how it will work: There will be three prize winners. Each winner will receive a spool of Masterpiece thread, a fat quarter of Good Folks and a pre-wound bobbin. To enter, leave a comment telling me how old you would be if born on Leap Day or anything else you want to say (if you don't want to give up your age). For a second chance, become a follower of Lollyquiltz or tell me if you already follow. (Be sure that I have access to your e-mail address when you enter. No email equals no entry.) The give-away will close at midnight today, (CST) February 29, 2012.  There are more chances to win shown below, so be sure to visit these other great blogs....

Elizabeth from Occasional Piece-Quilt!--http://www.opquilt.com

Cindy from Live A Colorful Life--http://aroundtheblockdesigns.blogspot.com

 Lee from Freshly Pieced--http://freshlypieced.blogspot.com

 Sherri from A Quilting Life--http://www.aquiltinglife.com

Leanne from She Can Quilt--www.shecanquilt.blogspot.com

Thelma from Cupcakes 'n' Daisies--http://cupcakesndaisies.blogspot.com

Jeni from In Color Order- http://incolororder.blogspot.com

Amy from During Quiet Time--http://duringquiettime.blogspot.com

Carla from Lollyquiltz-- http://lollyquiltz.blogspot.com

Jennifer from That Girl, That Quilt-- http://www.thatgirlthatquilt.com

Corey from Little Miss Shabby-- http://www.littlemissshabby.com

Terri from Sewfantastic-- http://sew-fantastic.blogspot.com

*This giveaway is now closed. 

Odds and Ends

Is spring coming early in your neck of the woods, like it is mine?

 Every day for the last few weeks I've been seeing sweet little periwinkle blooms among the scraggly looking leaves bordering the sidewalk to the front door. And when the calendar flips to March, we will be on the downhill side of winter...yay!

Speaking of Spring, my grand daughter, Maelie's bedroom shouts it

 everyday of the year! 

Those adorable pennants around the ceiling adorn all four walls of her room.  Maelie's mommy made them from scraps, both from her stash and mine.

 Aren't they so cute?

 Finally, my hexies are all together and made into a top! It's pin basted and ready to quilt...stay tuned for a finish. (I've almost worn the thing out from carrying it around on car trips so often over the last two years!)

The mailman dropped off a mysterious package in my box.

 Wonder what it could be?

Inside, I found this fun scarf and necklace from my friend, Cindy who blogs at 

Live a Colorful Life. She made the scarf from Anna Maria Horner voile on one side and flannel on the other....so clever.

 Cindy's husband, Mark, created the glass necklace pennant.

 It is so unusual and creative.

How sweet to get a gift in the mail, for no special reason...just friendship.

 I love blogging!

 Sometimes I run across something that I can't pass up...like this pretty sewing box I found at an antique store down the road from me. And the sweet soft blue vintage sheet was calling my name from the linen closet at an estate sale over the weekend. At 40% off, I couldn't pass it up and plan to use it as a quilt back for that vintage linen quilt I'm going to make someday!

 Then there was this fun little quilting book on the clearance rack of a LQS. I plan to pass it on to my quilt guild library...that is if I can turn loose of it!

Oh! And what's this? You'll have to come back on Leap Day to find out!

Yes, there's a February 29 this year and who wouldn't want to celebrate that!

Who knows, you might even win something.