The last block for Down on the Farm

Oh my—could I be running out of gas with Down on the Farm? NO -- I must forge ahead - I must get it done! 

One of the things I did was to test a new fabric for the grass. While I won't be remaking the grass section today, I did need to cut grass fabric for the final block. So I dug out something I think will work and cut a piece to see what the contrast would be. 

Well, it looks a bit messy in this photo, but YES—there is enough contrast. 

Testing the new fabric for contrast

After looking at the other blocks, I realized that there is ONE piece of grass in the cow block. Yes - you can barely see it right beside the dark grass beside the pond. 

Can you spot the one stock of light grass?

I decided to switch that one piece out this morning for the new fabric. It's only one piece and at the bottom of the block, so easy to change. I will totally remake the larger grass section for the rooster block. 

The new grass fabric looks just fine.

But neither the grass section nor the turtle is my priority - I NEED to get that final block done. This is what I have accomplished so far. I could have had the entire block done, but I was busy with other things yesterday - I'll share in a minute. I also had a two-hour car errand, so that ate up my afternoon after Monday sewing. I will not show you what I bought. Maybe another day, but I had to stop by the puzzle warehouse to pick up an order. I will NOT buy any more puzzles! I will NOT buy any more puzzles! But I needed one with candy in it! More on that another day!

Working on the final block

Here are the pieces left to sew. It shouldn't take too long to get this done, but it'll have to wait for the afternoon as this morning between 7:30 and 10 is going to be chaotic in the house. I have to take DH to the train at 7:30. The cleaning service and the electrician will arrive around 8:30, and Lexi has a vet appointment at 9:30. It just worked out that way, so getting the girls for a morning walk will be a bit sketchy. 

The remaining pieces in the final block

Here is some advice if you have access to a digital version of any pattern. I loaded the pattern (25 pages) on my iPad and keep it right beside the sewing machine. It is great when you need to see the diagrams a bit bigger, because some of the pieces are teeny-tiny! Or you want to check color placement of some of the smaller pieces. I get it that we are used to paper. But you know what? Get over it! 

Using the iPad to display the pattern

We now have some amazing tools at our disposal, and we need to get with the times. First - this saves a lot of ink and paper, and it just works better. I'm done with paper patterns if I have a digital version. I just wish that if we bought digital, the cost would be somewhat lower. That is NOT the case with Sew Fresh Quilt patterns, as they are already a bargain, but some of the others are very pricey, whether you buy them digitally or in hard copy. 

I did attempt to mark up the document, as in mark off what I have sewn, but I didn't figure that out. So I'll try later. But I will NOT sew a digital pattern any other way. I get the full color version; I save on printing because this type of pattern works best in color, and if there are any mistakes and I get a new copy, I am not throwing anything away. Plus the ability to enlarge the pattern is FABULOUS. 

The only thing I printed was the four pages of cutting instructions. Then I can check that I cut and used that piece. It works for me, and I highly recommend going digital for any of these patterns with diagrams and color. 

I grabbed another small bag of triangles and sorted them. I am trying to have a definite light and dark with the colors, and I found these were too close. They work, but I didn't want to use them that way. I don't even remember making anything from these. But then I also remember asking people for triangles, and I got lots. Don't ask me why I would do such a silly thing, as I was generating enough of my own. But I'm working my way through the remaining three baskets, and I might just spend one or two days just focused on going through the bins and whittling them down into trimmed HSTs. 

Sorting HSTs

It's easy to say, "I'll spend 30 minutes a day working on HSTs," but then how do you schedule that in with all the other things you want to spend 30 minutes a day on? I'll do what I can, but now that I've made these units a focus, they will get done - just not overnight. 

Even though I said I would never do this again, I let it happen, and now there is a huge pile that needs to be pressed and trimmed. I'm OK with that - at least step one of three is done for these |HSTs. 

HSTs sewn but not pressed or trimmed.

And I know --- some of you are scratching your head and asking, "what will I do with them?" I'm sure I've shared my small quilts made with HSTs. I also made a pencil case way back in the day. 

Someone sent me this picutre - can you believe? I think she said there are 3,276-ish HSTs (1" - just like mine) in this quilt. That is a big quilt!!!! And it's mostly made from 1" finished HSTs - all scrappy. It must be very heavy!

A scrap quilt made from 1" finished HSTs

She also mentioned that it took her 9 months to make and trim the HSTs and then 2 months to sew it together! I don't have plans yet for mine, but I have several ideas sitting in the baskets of finished HSTs, so I will have lots to get my creative juices flowing. 

It was getting late in the day, and I had done nothing to clean up the mess in the house. The furniture upstairs was still in disarray from the electricians, there was drywall dust on the floors, and I needed to get it done. 

So I got super ambitious and cleaned up the guest room. Packed a couple more boxes for my SIL and moved my rack of quilts back into the room. All the suitcases got put back in the closet, and the room looks tidy. Studio U and the other two bedrooms are also back to normal! 

Here is the upstairs hallway—clear! 

The upstairs hallway is empty!

Then it was time to tackle the downstairs hallway and kitchen, which were strewn with boxes. The books all got repacked into smaller boxes - I need to schedule a pickup of them. And some of the electrical boxes got flattened for the recycling cart, and some were moved into the office to be dealt with another day. It gets boring to do a lot of that, and it's hard on my hands. I'm happy with the progress, and that's all that counts. 

The downstairs hallway

All that remains in the main hall are three boxes to be loaded into the car this morning and my stick vacuum, which I love. Every house needs one of those! I wish I had NOT bought the larger Dyson as I only use the stick broom. I think I'll be selling or giving that large Dyson away. 

And on that note, I'd better get myself organized for the morning chaos, then get back to sewing after Lexi's appointment. I NEED to get that block done today, as I need to move on to sample making. 

WAIT --- if you want to watch a time-lapse video of fungi, someone sent me this link. It's absolutely fascinating to watch. There is NO time mentioned in the video, and it would be interesting to know how long each fungus was filmed. Also, take note of the little critters that litter the screens. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!