Under the Needle: April & May

 A while ago I received a comment from a reader inquiring about this quilt top:

This is my Farmer's Market quilt top that I posted about when I listed the quilts I hoped to complete this year. Sue wrote:

Anonymous said:

I absolutely love your blog. Your life on the ranch is so interesting and I look forward to each new post. Could you answer a question for me? On your Farmer's Market quilt (see your post on 1-19-21) could you tell me the size of your blocks? I love the pattern and want to use it with bold flowered pieces. Thank you for your help. I hope your drought ends soon. I hated to see the cattle going. I grew up on a farm (Iowa) and the animals were so important to the whole operation. Sue

I don't have any contact information for you Sue, so I hope you will see my answer here. The blocks are 5". unfinished, before stitching the blocks together. I didn't use a pattern. I just picked a size. And that poor top is still hanging in the same spot. I haven't made much progress on much of anything on that list although I have matched a few backings and taken them to Jackie. 

I am binding our Zimbabwe Quilt, but progress is slow:

DH helped the neighbors on Thursday and he left the house at 4 a.m. so I took advantage of the empty morning hours and spent some time in my sewing room.

I am making another Tail Feathers quilt using a fat quarter bundle of Dad's Plaids as a jumping off point

                              

I love this pattern:

I made it a few years ago and gifted it to our mechanic's son:

I made it a second time, but it's at Jackie's and I can't put my finger on the photo. This time around, I redrafted the block, decreasing it to a 9" block. I always seem to have a need for quilts for men and I think the plaids will be fun and I've begun to pull more from my stash:

And yes, I know that there are too many quilts to make to make the same quilt twice - or more than twice! - but I also feel good knowing I'm getting my money's worth from a pattern. Makes me feel a little better about the money I've spent on all those patterns I'll never get to.  And that's my not so logic, logic for today. 😏

I cut everything out when I was in Texas last month:

                    

I'm still a 'draw a line across the square' kind of girl.

                                

And I cannot tell you how nice it was to just sit and sew for a little bit! It's been a month since I've sewn and these little HSTs made me happy:

                                 

Blocks are coming together and I'm eager to stitch them into rows.

Before I left for Texas, I wanted to sew something simple and I have these 2 flannel layer cakes:

And it wasn't long before I had a top:

And now I want to make another one. I haven't made a western quilt in a while and this might be a good way to make a dent in that bin. And that's how new quilts are born. I know I'm not alone!