Friday, 15 April 2016

Farmer's Wife Blocks, Bannock Recipe, Quilting Lines

I have been busy trimming those Farmer's Wife blocks. They are in three stacks presently and I think I will sort them according to main colour for the final placement. I will have to use our bed for the lay out because my 'design wall' is just not big enough. This is giving me some idea of how large the finished quilt will be. Much bigger than I had thought.


As I journeyed along with this project, I learned to allow much more seam allowance on the edges of the outer pieces.  A couple of my earliest blocks had a mere smidgen of cloth to trim and four turned out to be under sized.  How that happened, I haven't a clue. I had to play around with more fabric for them to reach the 6.5 mark. Crazy the wastage though in both fabric and thread isn't it when you do these big projects.

What do you use to mark quilting lines?

There are so many tools for marking quilts that it is hard to choose.  The special markers marketed to quilters are a bit expensive I find.  I've read some quilters use Crayola Ultra thin washable markers and love how they get a nice bright line to follow that will safely wash out later on.
 One of the blogs I follow suggested this tool; Generals Sketch and Wash graphite pencils.  A box of 12 cost me about $17 from Amazon.ca which seems like good value for the money.  You can look up the reviews; many quilters have contributed favourable ones.
I need the security of marked lines to follow so I will certainly be trying these. When I do, I'll let you know how they fare.

A story circulated on Facebook garnering a lot of 'likes'.  Something to smile about.
A woman in Quebec lost her glasses while making bannock. Blamed everyone in the house she said. And of course, we know where the glasses were found. I can't really sort out the mechanics of that! I used to make bannock when I lived in the far north. Haven't made it for years. I'm surprised it is not more popular as it is a great bread substitute and easy to make with simple ingredients. Here is a video that really simplifies the process and ends with delicious looking Bannock Buns.

   Meanwhile, I hope there is something to smile about in your day.

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