Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt: Wood Lily

no 110: Wood Lily:  So, here's the pieced Wood Lily. I haven't taken off the paper yet, but that can happen some time in the evening - lord knows it's going to take long enough to do the rest of the blocks!

Start of the Lily

A little over half way there on the Lily Block for the Farmer's Wife Quilt. It's not a lot, but every bit counts!

Wood Lily

So, in preparation for perhaps having a little sewing time next week in the afternoons, I've drawn the next Farmer's Wife Block I need to work on. Anyone who thinks I might be cheating in drawing my blocks - this will prove you wrong.  Oh well, even the blocks with small, fiddly pieces have to be made at some point or other. I do think I'll get out my old laptop and draft up a paper-piecing pattern for this one in EQ (doesn't want to install on this computer as I only have EQ5).  I'm sure it will be much easier to deal with this one by PP'ing than by cutting trapezoids with the templates... Ho hum.

Farmer's Wife, Take 2

So, using my new system of drawing a slip randomly to choose which block to make first, and using the new colour scheme of Japanese taupe (and similar style) prints and unbleached calico, I went ahead and tackled the Farmer's Wife project again today. 

No 26, Cut Glass Dish, was actually one I had done before, and though there are lots of small triangles, it's not too hard a block to do.

No 43, Garden Path, however was another story - inset seams - yikes! I may yet take this apart and put the red border on using a different technique as this really annoys me that the corners don't quite meet up perfectly. We'll see.   At least it's a start...

Farmer's Wife, redux

As those of you who read along here regularly know, I am stuck on this project.

Partly, this is because I have been short of time, which is fine - that happens.

Partly, it's because I am second guessing myself, which is less fine.

I had originally intended to try to avoid being too organised, and making all the blocks match, and worrying about them going together, etc...

So I had decided to just take fabrics from my stash, which I liked and work with them with a neutral background, like a true scrap sampler quilt.

But to be honest, I don't really like it like that! I do like most of the individual blocks, but not the whole effect.

So, after a lot of thought, I've decided that I am going to scrap these blocks and start again, but making the blocks coordinated in some way.

I intend tomorrow to have good look through my collection of larger pieces of fabric to see if there's anything there which would work well as a feature fabric, and it's possible I will find something.

Otherwise, I might combine this project with my intention to clear out some of my batik stash - batiks do tend to all go together, so it would work in terms of colour and style.

I could either use a black background (predictable, but effective), or I could keep using the unbleached cotton background I have been using so far (which would also work). Or, I suppose, white or white on white.

Maybe I'll show some options here tomorrow and ask for opinions!

I did also consider using some of my Japanese taupes for the project - and I might end up doing that. I think they would look really good with these blocks, but I wonder if I should focus on using up something I'd like to get out of my stash instead.

Then again, I wouldn't want to second guess myself again halfway through the remake and end up starting a third time!

One thing I think I might do this time around is what Julie is doing with her FWSQ - instead of working through the book in order (or doing all the easy ones first) she printed out all the numbers and is drawing them out of a hat (probably not literally a hat) to determine what order to make them in. This would be a fun way of doing the project, and also, would mean I wouldn't (probably) have to make the same 14 blocks first that I did the first time around.

Anyway. As they say, watch this space!

Farmer's Wife block no 14

Number 64: Peace and Plenty (finally, the correct size!)

Farmer's Wife block no 13

This is block no 53: Jack Knife. I did make the next block in the book today as well, but I wasn't thinking hard when I did it and made it a little too small (it's made of 16 HST units and I made them all finished size rather than unfinished size) so I'll be remaking it later.

Farmer's Wife block no 12

Number 30: End of Day

I really liked the design of this block, and got sidetracked from the next one (which has lots of little pieces) into making a scrappy quilt top with this one...not in this colourway. More on that in a day or two.

Farmer's Wife blocks 9, 10, 11

Block 9 - no 58: Mother's Dream

Block 10 - no 77: Seasons

Block 11 - no 1: Attic Windows

Farmer's Wife blocks 6, 7, 8

Block no 46: Hill & Valley

Block no 18: Century of Progress (this one couldn't readily be rotary cut, but I was able to paper piece it - yes, I will go to pretty much any length to avoid doing templates!)

block no 51: Hovering Birds

Farmer's Wife Block 5

No 34: Flock

I made another block as well, but looking back at the book, realise I've got the colouring wrong and need to do it again. Oh well, one for tomorrow.

Farmer's Wife block 4

no 79, Silver Lane.

Had enough time this afternoon to put together another Farmer's Wife block - this one was quite tricky, with some oddly shaped pieces and lots of little bits. I'm not totally happy with it - might redo it later - but it will do for the moment.

I'm doing these blocks in the order in which they appear in the narrative part of the book at the front (which is why the block numbers seem quite random), and in theory that's a good thing because if left to my own devices, I'd probably choose all the easy ones first and then be stuck with all the hard ones at the end. However, the first few have been quite complicated blocks with lots of pieces, so it will be a bit of a relief to get to the next pair, which are much simpler!

Farmer's Wife block 3

This one is no 24, Country Path - it's actually even in real life, but it was lying on the sofa, and obviously not very flat! I only had about an hour to sew today - this morning before I went to school to help set up for the fair - but I decided to do a little sewing anyway, and it was just enough time to get this block done, in between some enders and leaders.

Farmer's Wife

no 26 - Cut Glass Dish

no 54 Kitchen Woodbox

In the course of my blog hopping, I came across someone who was working with the book The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt to do a weekly quilt-a-long to make up the sampler quilt (this is a project on a scale with the Dear Jane quilt - lots of blocks, all different). This really appealed to me as a project (because I need more projects!) although unlike some of the people doing it, I don't know that I am going to try to do 2 blocks per week. For one thing, the book uses templates for the blocks, and I'm not a template kind of girl, so many of them will have to be redrawn or worked out mathematically to make them compatible with rotary cutting or paper piecing.

The blocks are 6" finished, and I have decided to do them in whatever fabric takes my fancy - I am not going to make a concerted effort to use up scraps, I am just going to browse my stash and use what I feel like using. I will, however, not buy any fabric for this project at all (except if I need more background - I am using plain, unbleached calico for the backgrounds - it's easier that way). If I happen to buy fabric for other reasons, I might use it for this, but nothing bought specially. I'm not going to worry if the fabrics "go together" from block to block (though I will try to ensure they work within the context of a single block), as they will probably be sashed anyway. In other words, a true sampler quilt.

I've also decided that I am simply going to work my way through the book in order - which actually, doesn't necessarily mean block order as the blocks are linked to a series of letters written by farmer's wives to The Farmer's Wife magazine back in 1922.

So, the first two blocks are done - no 26 Cut Glass Dish and no 54 Kitchen Woodbox. I tried to have a go at no 24 Country Path without redrafting it, but couldn't quite get the measurements right in my head, so have now redrafted it in EQ5 and put it upstairs to work on next. I know this is a big project and will take a long time to finish (I am aiming to complete at least 5 blocks per month) but I am hoping it will fill some of those gaps when I want to just sit and make a block. And who knows, it might involve a tiny bit of stash reduction as well - or more importantly, give me a chance to use some of the fabrics I buy a FQ of just beacause I like them and they are on sale, but then never do anything with!

There is also a flickr group for the project, which I might hang out with a little, just to see what others are doing, but all my deadlines for the project are going to be self-imposed - it's just something for fun.