design of the times

Blue Gate Farm, our CSA, recently built a new barn to house, store and prepare their produce for local Farmer's Markets and their CSA members. They wanted to 'dress up' the barn by creating a barn quilt and held a contest to see who could produce a design that would capture the essence of their certified naturally grown farm operation.

While I have never designed a quilt block, I do quilt and love to look at patterns and completed projects. I sat down with my grid paper and began to imagine how an overflowing basket of produce would translate to a squared block. After some searching and sketching, I came up with this:




I submitted my design and didn't think much about it again until about a month later when I signed on to Facebook and saw a message from Jill, one of the owner's of BGF, telling me to look closely at their completed barn quilt design . . . . my submission, along with another, inspired their fabulous new barn art!



I was able to see the finished barn quilt in person when our family helped out at the 5th annual Farm Crawl this past weekend. It is bright and vibrant; perfectly poised on the top level of the barn that is so integral in the operation of the farm.

Being able to participate in the design of such an awshum concept (barn quilts in general) was reward enough, but BGF is never satisfied with 'just enough' . . . they always go over and beyond expectations. So, in addition to receiving credit for part of the design, I also received a generous gift basket filled with products from the farm!



Jill's famous crack pretzels, Elderberry Syrup to add to teas and sodas, Lemon Sunshine Jelly, some Pear Peach Butter and 4 handmade cards featuring photos from the farm. Major *love* happening!!

Finally, here is a collage featuring the 2 designs alongside the finished painting. I know I am biased, but I think it is the best barn quilt ever created ;)!



Now I need to take barn quilts off the brain and focus on getting these kiddos through schoolwork this morning so we can go jump in the fabulous Fall leaf piles. Do you have any piles yet?

sweetness is

Sweetness is:  a good friend calling and saying straight up (before you even say hello); "Okay, I'll just come out with it .... did Dave lose his job?  Are you guys doing okay?"  Which, by the way, he did not and yes we are okay. Dave left his job (of 12 years!) at the beginning of the year and is now employed with a company in a similar field.  This decision allowed us to decide our fate and stay where we love and are loved by many, many friends and a community we adore.

Sweetness is:   a date night with my husband.  We went to see AVATAR, upon hearing it was a 'must see' in 3D in the theaters.  I was not thrilled at first, not knowing the story line or who directed the movie.  But hey, Dave and I had not been to a movie, just the two of us, since Cast Away in 2000.  I was willing to go see anything if it meant snuggling up to my hubby while enjoying some movie theater popcorn.  Boy was I in for a surprise.  The movie was fantastic!  Impeccably done in 3D, the computer effects were amazing and the story line drew me right in.  If you see a movie in a theater this year, make it Avatar.  

Sweetness is:  getting to sleep in on a Monday and avoid the morning rush of our school days.  This is the first year our school district has observed MLK Jr. day as a holiday and I support it 100%!

Sweetness is:  Ellie having a playdate/sleepover and getting to make Snow Queen Punch

  Or, a variation based on ingredients on hand

Measuring and Pouring

Adding sugar to taste (following pink food coloring and frozen strawberries)

The best part!  I used honey to make the rims nice and sticky in order to best coat them with the blue sugar crystals.

Not quite like the photo in the book, but very very yummy indeed.

Sweetness is:  including your annoying baby brother.

craft-zine

While sipping coffee and browsing through my Google Reader this morning, I came across this image:

What IS is?

Whatever IT was, I was intrigued. I clicked in the link and found the full article here. Basically it is individual magazines folded up and hung on a wall as the backdrop for a trade show booth. Way cool.

Having a sort of ho-hum-not-very-motivated-feeling-a-little-funky-blue sort of day, I grabbed a magazine, turned on the TV and started folding.

Here are the instructions straight from CraftSylish.com. (Their directions and photos)

A pile of old magazines is all that's needed to craft this project. Experience suggests a magazine of 100 pages is sufficient. You're welcome to use magazines with more pages, but be warned, more pages means more folding.

Step 1: Begin by folding the top edge of each page down and into the binding of the magazine. Crease the page flat. Repeat for each page of the magazine. (NOTE: For demonstration purposes, I have only folded a few pages.)

Step 2: Next, fold the bottom edge of each page up and into the binding. As above, repeat this operation on all of the pages of the magazine.

NOTE: When performing step 2, we found it is best to NOT fully crease the fold. In the image to the left, notice that I have creased only from the bottom of the binding to about two-thirds of the way up toward the center "point".

By NOT fully creasing the pages in step 2, your magazine will retain a "fluted" appearance that not only adds visual interest but also provides a little "springiness" between the pages. This helps keep the finished pieces looking full and robust instead of flat and limp.

The finished piece. One hundred pages makes a piece suitable for attaching to a wall. If you wish to created a full 360-degree object, you'll need at least 200 pages in your magazine.

While the finished piece may look quite elaborate, a glimpse at its reverse side reveals just how simple the folds really are.

If one folded magazine looks cool, then two should look twice as cool. We at CraftStylish.com took this logic to the extreme in creating our Craft & Hobby Association Trade Show booth and folded 350 magazines and then attached them to a bright pink wall. We know how to get noticed!

And, here is my finished project!

POTD

These could get addicting ...... fast. I wonder how much of a fire hazard it would be to do a whole room?!