A fun quilty weekend!

Two weekends ago I went on a fun quilting adventure! I started out on Friday afternoon and went to the annual Walnut, Ia. Antique Walk. It is every Father's day weekend. There were antiques galore and lots of fun things to see. I was mainly looking for feed sacks and picked up a couple to put in the new baby grandson's quilt. This little cupboard was so cute, I had to take a picture of it. It was made out of 6 or 7 wooden boxes, cute, cute!

After leaving Walnut,(the boothes were closing so I had to leave), I headed to Guthrie Center. They were having all kinds of fun things going on, town-wide garage sales and a garden and quilt show/ luncheon. The picture above was a neat antique double wedding ring that was displayed at the luncheon. The salads were so good! Thanks ladies, you did a great job.

We went to 5 different houses for the tour. they were all very beautiful, but just about the time the tour was to start, it also started to rain, and just didn't seem to want to stop. Oh, well, it was still beautiful!

This was a unique display with the old tractors and quilts.

A cute little garden shed with quilts hung beside it.

After finishing the quilt tour I headed east to Adel. They were having an outdoor quilt show also at the quilt shop. Here the owner Jackie is visiting with a customer. It was a fun show too! I felt like I had been around the world in a day and a half!

How to save peonies

Bouquets from my dotter, Lindsay's wedding. About 2 weeks before the wedding we picked over a thousand buds and saved them for the arrangements. This 1st picture were the bouquets for the bridesmaids.

The next picture was all the arrangements that we used tables at the reception.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I would tell you how to save peonies for later use. The peonies above and below were picked about 3 weeks before I used them and I had just got them out of the fridge. It's really not hard, they just take up a lot of room in the fridge. The trick is to pick them when the bud feels like a marsh mellow when you squeeze it. I pick them with about a foot stem and put a whole bunch in a plastic bag in the fridge. When you want to use them, take them out of the fridge and re cut the stem and put in water. They will open up to their full bloom in about 4-12 hours. SO PRETTY and FUN! They will last about 5-7 days, inside.

This is the Day!

This is the Day the Lord Has Made! I just love this song and verse. This also, is the day we found out that we're having another grandson! Let us rejoice!

We are very happy to have another grandchild on the way, this is just our second.

The feed sack scraps above will go in a special quilt for him. I've been saving them for a special project and this is it! Will show the finished project later. I may even have kits for this later.

Good for the soul retreat!

Hot fudge brownie sundaes topped with pecans. The hot fudge recipe is one of my Mom's.

One of my guests last weekend described their stay as "good for the soul". It was good for all our souls, including mine! Lots of fun and laughing! This is a return group from the Osceola area. They chose the fully pampered deal and seemed to enjoy every bit of it! Here they are finishing their meal with homemade rhubarb cobbler with ice cream. Notice the peonies in the middle of the table, I picked those about 3 weeks ago and was able to save them until this weekend. More info on how to do this later.

This salad below was one of the things we had for lunch on Friday. It was a Hawaiian chicken pineapple salad made similar to the one at 54th Street Bar and Grill. Lot of compliments on this meal and all the meals. Thanks ladies! I love serving you and using all the fun dishes!

Below: everyone took lots of pictures...if you have any good ones, send them to me by email. Thanks ladies for the wonderful weekend!

My Quilt is in the Quilters Festival ~ Take a Look!

Many of you have seen this quilt before on my blog, but I have entered it into the Quilt Festival on Amy's Creative Side blog, so I'm showing it again. I love vintage fabric and antique quilts, so this quilt is designed to look old, (as most of my quilts are). I have quite a stash of vintage fabrics and would love to have some of them reproduced someday (that's another one of my dreams). I do sell patterns and vintage kits, if anyone is interested, email me at farmersdotter@frontiernet.net.

I designed this quilt after an antique one that I had seen, only smaller. I think it is my favorite one yet. I named it after my dear Mother-in-law who had the middle name, Mae, and a few other dear friends with that middle name.

Iris Farm Open House

I thought I'd change my title picture for iris season. I have several varieties of iris here around my house, but I just want to let you know about the Rainbow Iris Farm that we have here in our community. It's a great place to visit right now and til about the end of May. If you are in the area, give me a call and maybe you can stop in and see my flowers and retreat center too!

Trunk show in Stewartsville!

Today I'm going to the Quilt Shoppe in Stewartsville, MO to do a small trunk show. Should be fun, stop in and see me if ya get a chance! They have lots and lots of selection there. Their shop was a top 10 quilt shop back in 2008 AND it's the home of Tula Pink, the famous fabric designer and her Mom! Many thanks to them for letting me do a little show for the bus tour ladies that are coming through this weekend.
I also hope to make it to the quilt show in Lawrence, KS that's going on today and tomorrow. More news about both adventures later!

(April Showers Bring) Mae Flowers!

I just finished up a couple new quilt patterns for sale. This one is called Mae flowers after my mother-in-law, Glenna Mae Weed, and a few other Mae loved ones. Just in time for May day!

Antique springtime quilt

I love to use antiques to decorate with and this is one of my favorite spring-looking quilts that I have in my living room right now. I can't remember the name of the block right now, does anyone else know?

Spring is here!

I'm back at it, got a new computer and just getting caught up now. I took this picture about a week and a half ago. The daffodils have done great this year. I love flowers just about as much, or more, than quilting, can you tell?

We are having quite the showers here today, but April showers bring May flowers! I will show you my new pattern called Mae flowers in another post.

Computer on the blitz!

My computer is not working at home right now, so may be awhile before I get to do much blogging. Hope to get it up and going soon! Talk to ya later! Enjoy the wonderful spring weather!

Cozy Little Tablescapes: The Heart Of Every Home

Check out this gals decorating. Looks fun! Cozy Little Tablescapes: The Heart Of Every Home: " As you can already tell from the rest of this blog, I adore color. I love vintage table cloths (old or new). I love texture and detai..."

Red and White Quilt Show! Take a look!

Check out the red and white quilt show going on at this link http://reproquiltlover.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=10. Lots of great red and white quilts!

Here's one of my red and white table runners made from an antique quilt top. I use it for entertaining my quilt retreat ladies for Valentines and Christmas decorating and everything in between. Please check out the rest of my blog to find out about my retreats, patterns and trunk shows!

Another great group!

I want to send out a great big thank you to the quilting "ladies" from Corydon! They had a great time and I had a great time serving them!!! They were my 1st return group and they say they'll be back again. I've decided to give the gals an extra $30 off discount the 3rd time they've been here, so they are well on their way! Anyone else interested in this deal, give me a call! I will give you 4 years to come 3 times, that's the deal!

They arrived on Sunday afternoon, usually the retreats start on Friday or Saturday, but I am willing to work around your schedules. That evening we had ham balls, cheesy potato casserole, hot rolls, Ramen noodle coleslaw, home grown corn and fruit pizza for dessert, all served on fun dishes. It's so much fun to serve the ladies, they seem to enjoy being pampered!This is the fun salad I served on Monday, with sandwiches and 2 different kinds of dips with chips and crackers. Sorry the picture isn't the best, but hopefully you can get the idea of fun foods and dishes. Monday evening we had turkey with mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, apple salad and coleslaw. Later that evening I served hot fudge brownie sundaes. It's no wonder I'm struggling with my weight!

Here Cheyrel is showing my husband Lonnie a card trick and Lonnie tried to teach her one too! I think everyone had a great time. Lonnie usually doesn't hang around too much, if you're worried about that! You're welcome to stay in your jammies all day long, if ya want to! He's usually gone to Farmer Jack's all day and into the evenings.
Please call or email me if you're interested in booking a retreat. I have a great special going on right now until July 1st (look for it on my website). It's a great time for that spring break!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

Some of you may recognize this valentine. Just love the polka dot dress! If any of you have old pictures or clip art that has polka dots, I would love to see them! I just love antiques and especially antique quilts! Hope you-all have a great Valentine's Day! This is last year's table setting around the Valentine's season. I made the table runner out of a vintage quilt top and have enough to do 1 or 2 more if anyone is interested. I will take it to the AQS show next fall if I haven't sold it by then. I would love to make a whole quilt with red and white someday, so many ideas, so little time!

Snow-storm in Iowa...Working on Itty Bitty Kits

We are having a major snow-storm here in Iowa today! I took this picture this morning before the winds really got to blowing. They say we are having winds 30-35 miles per hour and could have 6 or more inches before it's all over. Another good day to stay in and quilt! My messy sewing room!
I've been cutting kits for my Itty Bitty quilts. I am planning on going to the AQS show in Des Moines next fall and a few other shows thru the year, so decided I could use these snow days to cut a few kits.

Strips for vintage Itty Bitty boy kits. I LOVE antique looking quilts and when I use the old fabrics and wash the quilts a few times they look antique! If anyone is interested in a kit they are $25.5o and the pattern is $8.50. Buy both for $32.50 plus tax. Contact me at farmersdotter@frontiernet.net if you're interested. I have kits in boy and girl colors and vintage or new fabrics. I will have these at the show in Des Moines or any other shows I do. I also take a few along when I do trunk shows.

Another view of my messy sewing room right now! That's what we get for being creative, right? Having another group retreat the 1st weekend in March, so will have to get it cleaned up before then! I have lots of other weekends available if anyone is interested! Springtime is my favorite time of year and my gardens are the prettiest then, so give me a call. Spring is just about 7 weeks away, right!! The month of May is a great time to visit Bedford, as we have Rainbow Iris Farm here to visit. It really is a sight to see!

(April showers bring) Mae Flowers!

This is my next baby quilt pattern. I hope to get it hand quilted in the next 2 weeks. I'm just lovin it! I'm planning on calling it (April showers bring) Mae Flowers. My dear mother-in-law's name was Glenna Mae and I also have some other dear friends with that middle name too, so that's the reason for the different spelling. All the flower petals are vintage fabrics, hopefully you can see that in this closer picture.

Clarinda Trunk Show

I had my 1st trunk show of the New Year at the Clarinda quilt guild and here are a few pictures.This is my Farmer's Daughter quilt that I made after choosing the name of my business. Mostly vintage with 7 feed sacks on the back and lots of polka dots! Hand-quilted by me! This is me showing a glass that I use at retreats that has polka dots on it. Just showing it in case anyone has a few more they could part with. I'll have to get a better picture of it sometime. Another picture of part of the goodies I showed the ladies. Thanks to the Clarinda ladies for having me speak!

FROSTY!!

We have had some beautiful frosty mornings here over the holidays! Hope you are all having a great New Year! I have a BIG goal to work towards this year, and that is I'm going to have a booth at the AQS show in Des Moines this fall! I have already been working to get a lot of things ready for it and hope to meet lots of you fellow bloggers there! (September 28-October 1) Tonight I am doing a trunk show in Clarinda and I'm looking forward to that, so better get busy and get everything packed! Show ya pictures from the show later!

Last minute gift idea!

Does anyone out there in blog-land have a quilting friend who is hard to buy for? How about a gift certificate from the Farmer's Dotter? I can still get you set up for any dollar amount thru email. If you're interested send me a message at farmersdotter@frontiernet.net. The gift certificate could be used on a weekend retreat or a kit or pattern.