Farmer's Wife 1930s - 3 new ladies

I had these 3 blocks partially pieced for a while now. They got pushed to the side while I did my Christmas sewing. Well they were finally finished up a few days ago.

#79 - Patience

#80 - Patricia

Patience and Patricia were pretty straight forward. The original Patience was a 9 patch but I used rectangles instead for fewer pieces. For Patricia I used larger squares to make the HSTs, and then trimmed to the correct size.

#1 - Addie

 For Addie I used the same trick as for the Granny block. First make HSTs in your chosen colors for your star points (navy and green) and then use the HSTs as easy corner triangles on your rectangles. So much easier!

The three newest blocks

I'm thinking I may end up going out of order now. Just picking blocks I like and can easily rotary cut, although I will be trying templates and paper piecing as I go along too. I really hope to have these blocks completed and in a quilt top by the end of 2016. We'll see what happens. :)

Group shot - 14/99 done so far

Farmer's Wife 1930s - playing catch up

I got 3 more blocks done last night. I still have 4 more to go if I want to catch up, but that's a big if at this point. ;) As I mentioned in my last post, there are some big changes going on so right now the priority is Christmas presents. Everything else will happen whenever I get to it. ;)

I've been using Lori's tutorials over at Bee in my Bonnet to draft some of the blocks for rotary cutting. If you have time definitely check them out, they are very helpful.

#13 - Belle

Oh Belle, you frustrating thing you. There's 3 different ways to sew this block: by the book (with Y-seams), Kerry's way and Angie's way. I chose to go with Kerry's way because I liked seeing the complete square in the middle.

If you make it this way, let me save you some trouble (and wasted fabric!): for the two large triangles in the center use a 3" square and cut it diagonally. Match up the center corners and sew from there towards the smaller triangles (there will be excess, just trim it off). Then you can match where the seams meet up (similar to an hourglass) and sew that seam.

I first used a 2-5/8" square which didn't work and ended up getting ripped out. Then I used a 2-7/8" square cut on the diagonal and while one side turned out perfect, the other was a bit short. So my advice to you is to give yourself that extra 1/8" and save your sanity. :)

#78 - Old Maid

I decided to go with the no waste flying geese method and HSTs to get Old Maid. The method I used to create the hourglass gives you two hourglass blocks, so now I have a spare I can use for another block. It's a pretty straight forward block, just be sure to press your seams open to reduce bulk.

#41 - Granny

For Granny I followed Kimberly over at Fat Quarter Shop's Instagram and used HSTs. You use two different sizes, with the smaller size used as an Easy Corner Triangle. It makes it so much simpler. She uses the same method for her Addie block (I'm going to make mine same way). Be sure to bookmark or follow her Instagram for more ideas as she seems to be doing all rotary cutting on her blocks.

I hope my tips are helpful. I will continue to write out my notes as I make my blocks.

Farmer's Wife 1930s: 8 blocks down

I'm already behind! That didn't take long did it? ;) I put off doing Belle and Old Maid simply because I'm not sure if I want to piece them the way the book shows (Y seams and all!) or if I want to piece them differently. I have the measurements for both, it's just a matter of me deciding now. Hopefully I will get them done soon so I can be caught up. But here are the other 3 ladies, for a total of 8 blocks completed.

#24 Coral

#49 Katherine

#94 Susannah

I recently put together my binder organizing my blocks. I printed off all the diagrams and the cutting instructions along with the cover page and put them into a binder. I have a little video up on my Instagram that shows me flipping through the pages.

The cover page lists my start date (with spaces for when the top is finished and then when it's quilted and bound) along with all the fabrics I'm using in this quilt.

All the block diagrams along with any notes are in sheet protectors. The colored in blocks are those that are already finished. I originally was going to have everything spiral bound, but I like the ability to take out an individual block diagram. I end up cutting fabric for 2-3 blocks at a time and I use the diagrams to sort and separate the cut pieces. But I think when I am finished piecing the top together I will get everything spiral bound and keep as a memento. Then I can use this binder for the original Farmer's Wife quilt! :)

Farmer's Wife 1930s and Fabric Finds

I got the last two blocks done yesterday. Caroline gave me more trouble than I thought, all those seams coming together made it a little bulky. But so far so good on keeping up with the sew along. I hope it continues! 5 blocks down and 94 to go. :)

#14 - Betty

#20 - Caroline

I've been sewing postage stamps together while also working on my Farmer's Wife blocks. I make it a point to sew together four-patches when I'm finished with the Farmer's Wife blocks. It's the last thing I do before turning off my machine. I added 21 new four-patches just with these 5 blocks! Maybe I'll have two quilts done next year when the sew along ends? :)

Also I started pulling fabrics for my son's twin size quilt. While digging through one of my (many) boxes of works-in-progress I found these at the bottom! A lot of these fabrics were used in my pinwheel sampler and I originally was going to use them for the Great Granny quilt. But I decided to just make pillows out of the two blocks I've done so now these will be used for my son's big boy quilt. Hooray for buried treasure! :)

Linked up at Gnome Angel

Farmer's Wife and a Birthday

Here are my Farmer's Wife 1930s blocks. I had them all cut out and ready to go last Wednesday but I didn't get around to sewing them until yesterday. A pesky little thing called my birthday got in the way. ;)

#12 Becky

#8 Aunt

#16 Bonnie

I also thought I'd share with you how I'm keeping all my fabrics organized.

I got 3 plastic shoeboxes from Walmart. The top is for completed blocks, the middle for Bella Solids and the bottom for Fig Tree.

The Bella solids are organized even further. I put all scraps into plastic bags labeled with the color name and number. I wrote the name and number on the selvage of the larger pieces and I'm cutting from the opposite end of where I wrote.

Here are the solids I have so far:
Fig Tree Cream 9900-67
Sienna 9900-194
Tan 9900-13
Fig Tree Olive 9900-69
Celery 9900-72
Mist 9900-37
Coral 9900-147
Butterscotch 9900-36
Ruby Ice 9900-169

I kept all the layer cake and charm pack tags, simply taping them to the inside of the box. I couldn't bear throwing them out! :)

Here's one more layer cake that's going to be added into this quilt, Fig Tree's newest collection Strawberry Fields Revisited! It doesn't come out until January 2016 but I was able to find a fellow Fig Tree lover on Instagram with extra. It's a birthday gift to myself. :)

Speaking of which, here is an in progress shot of my birthday gift - my own quilt ladder! My husband and son built it for me. It just needs another coat or two of stain and then it's all done! I can't wait to hang my quilts on it. :)

Linked up at Gnome Angel

Farmer's Wife revisited

I decided to revisit my Farmer's Wife goal. I never did start it. To be honest, the original intimidated me so I just collected fabric and shoved it in drawers. Out of sight, out of mind. ;)

But after reading about the Farmer's Wife 1930s book including rotary cutting instructions I decided to give it another try. And with two quilt alongs starting next month (see both buttons on the right) I figured why not start now? I'm hoping it will give me the motivation to sew every week.

I still want to make the original Farmer's Wife but that will be on the back burner for awhile until I can find enough fabric.

Since I want the original in our bedroom, I decided to use all the Fig Tree fabrics I've collected so far for my 1930s quilt. So far I have Mirabelle, Honeysweet, Farmhouse, Butterscotch & Rose, and Tapestry along with the Moda Bella solid Fig Tree Cream (9900 67). I'm thinking I may throw in a few more solids in shades of browns, yellows, greens and blues to help mix it up.

Our bedroom colors are blue, brown and cream so I decided to use only those colors from Fig Tree. Though, I prefer the older collections' shades of blue versus the more recent blueish-green. So I'm on a hunt for the older fabrics. Right now I have Fresh Cottons and Breakfast at Tiffany's with the cream solid. I'm thinking I may take a few of the precuts in those colors, as well as get some more solids. I may throw in a few other lines to even it out but I mostly want to keep it Fig Tree, as they are my favorites. :)

Here's hoping I can actually stick to it this time around. ;)

Farmer's Wife: The Plan

So I've been admiring Farmer's Wife quilts for some time now but never felt confident enough in my piecing to even think about doing it. I finally got the motivation to start on it, however I'm still not happy with my piecing skills. But this will be a learning experience for me, and since there is no set deadline there's no pressure. I'm thinking this will probably take a year or longer to complete (I'm making a queen size quilt) and I plan to make a block or two in my down time, whenever that occurs.

I decided to use use Fig Tree's fabric collections, specifically Mirabelle, Honeysweet, Tapestry and Butterscotch & Rose, plus their coordinating cream solid. I think these fabrics are so calming and since this quilt will eventually be in our bedroom, calming is a good thing. :)

I already know that I will probably paper piece (my first attempt!) a few of the more complicated blocks, and I'll probably rotary cut a few of the simpler blocks, but I still want to use the templates too. So I will definitely be stretching my amateur skills on this quilt.

We'll see how this goes, I'm hoping my piecing skills improve as I go along. Will definitely keep you posted. :)