The Farmers Wife

After all these years, I've discovered that I love sampler quilts! I think because each block is its own little project, which I find very exciting. And.. challenging.  And, the end result is so interesting and... engaging.  I recently (finally) got started on my Farmers Wife quilt, above, and I'm really excited about it.

So here's the deal.  I have this quilt retreat coming up, and I thought it might be a good idea to have most of my projects "machine ready" so to speak, to avoid having to pack my entire stash, and to make better use of my time. I find a retreat setting is not always conducive to making the best creative decisions, if you know what I mean. Sometimes it can take me an entire day to pick the fabrics for a single block!  Add to that, limited if any design wall space.

Anyway, I got the bright idea to get a head start by picking fabrics for a bunch of blocks, cut the pieces, then iron them down onto freezer paper. This way I end up with a nice tidy stack, ready to go - and sew - at the retreat. I've done this in the past, but not with the freezer paper - so I hope it all works out!

You can see what I've cut so far. I admit it looks pretty funky. I can't wait to sew them and then see how they look. No doubt I'll end up rejecting a few. I don't know how many more I will make, but I think with these I'll have enough to start auditioning setting ideas/fabric.

I had to use the templates for #18 above, a process I'm not very experienced with. But I thought I'd challenge myself, as I really really love this block! Wish me luck...

Do you recognize the Cocheco Mills blue? I lucked out and found a little bundle of eighths - twelve fabrics, browns and blues - at one of our vendor booths at our Feb quilt show. I adore these fabrics!

 Anyway, if this succeeds, I'll try more of them as there are several "templates required" blocks in that book that I really want to make. Most blocks I can manage to draft out, but the odd angles on some of these totally throw me.


Here they are, stacked up (sort of) and ready to pack.

I don't intend to make every block in the book, but rather cherry pick the ones I like the most. I'll post more as this progresses. 

Meanwhile, I've also gotten myself involved in a Farmers Wife block exchange, using blue as the main color. Here are the blocks I've made:

April's block - Star Gardener

June's block - Evening Star

 Here are the blocks I received for April, plus the ones I made.  Doesn't look like much at the moment, but I bet it will shape up into something lovely.
 

Well that's it for today!

I want you all to know how much I really enjoy reading your blogs, and I hope you enjoy my posts. I'm pretty new at this, and don't have a lot of time to devote, but I love tagging along with all the fun! 

love,
Sandy