Catch up on Farmer's Wife

Catching up is what I am up to at the moment, in blogging and patching.

Here are my Farmer's blocks I did in 2016.

Ava: A Family, Regardless

Daffodil: Snappy Though Married

Malvina: Fun for the Family

Cat: The First School Day

Priscilla: Dishes with Fairy Tales

Autumn: A Precious Half-Hour

Joy: Joy attracts Joy

Lily: Just Plain Humans

Mrs Morgan: The Little Theater solves the Problem

Mrs Brown: Seeing Folks in the Best Light

Grandmother: Solving the Grandmother Problem

Heather: Just Pass it on

Dolly: That Easy Road

Sewing projects but no progress

Thought I had better add a couple of lines to say that I am actually still patchworking, but haven't blogged any projects for some time. I have a lot of start-stop quilts going at present because I am between houses (shifting) and my stash is at house no.2 and my new projects are at house no.1!

I have the following on the go:


1.     1930's Farmers quilt-along
2.     Stag quilt with 24 crazy blocks

3.     Trellis fence with 10" blocks

4.     Diamond quilt

5.     Christmas tree applique

6.     Hearts/Nine-patch quilt

Being unfocussed at the moment is probably the reason why I am starting new projects even before the last one isn't even remotely finished. Once I settle into my new home things will turn around. My sewing room at house No.1 is empty of fabrics and looks very sad.

Continuing Farmers Blocks

Patricia. A Recipe for Keeping Young, I chose a blue Peter Rabbit fabric to go with the theme of taking nap time with baby.

Patricia

Patience. Talk about Grit! The green checked fabric is supposed to represent the water pump working hard on the farm.

Patience

Grandma. All Bravery and Brightness. All about farming and taking wings and flying away. The soft green fabric was taken from my Grandma's off cuts from making a blouse.

Grandma

Three more Farmers blocks

Aimee. The Magic Jar. New paisley fabric because I ran out of the last one. My points are pretty bad in this one, may do again, but I really liked Aimee and her angles.

Aimee

Jewel. Listen a Little. It looked good on paper! This was the first one that challenged me and many others I suspect. I liked its 3-D effect.

Jewel

Sara. Life has Loveliness to Sell. Looking through the kitchen window and seeing all the beauty outside. This is another one I might do again and tame down the conflicting fabrics.

Sara

More Farmer's blocks

Susannah. Earn Before Spending. I chose to select some football players, paying attention to the boots. The boy in this letter spent his earning on saving up for a pair of footy boots.

Susannah

Addie. Happier Than Ever Before. I quite liked this block. The family would see deer around the homestead often during their trips around the farm. The brown striped fabric indicates the fencing and the brown floral print are the wildflowers.

Addie

Margaret. Mom's a Whole Menagerie. I really loved how this block came out with its pretty fabrics. I tried to give a "rainbow of love", with a mixture of emerald, ivory, crimson, gold, silver and rose. I chose not to add the paisley fabric for this one.

Margaret

Millie. Blind Flying.  All about having faith. I decided to select soft colours and again chose not to add the paisley fabric.

Milly

A few more Farmer blocks

Old Maid. East, West, Home's Best. I added the coffee cup fabric because it was homely. Note, I'm still using the same paisley throughout. Some of the blocks didn't work very well with it, but I thought, what the heck!

Old Maid

Katherine. From ironclad shoes to Roses. This letter focussed a lot on hard work, children, sacrifice and roses. I decided some rose fabric would be best! Here they are among the green pastures.

Katherine

Granny.  Another Grandmother. The mother's faith and love for her children made me select these fabrics. For an added bonus I added another paisley...

Granny

Jenny. I learned to play. All about playing and having fun. Here, the family are having fun on the farm with the red stripes indicating fences.

Jenny

I had huge issues with Granny. I managed to mix up the templates big time and my points were way out. The above image was my third attempt. Below is one of my failed attempts.

An unusual Granny

I also had issues with Jenny by not noticing that I hadn't caught the seam with enough fabric. A lesson learnt. Use more fabric than you need.

My misplaced Jenny

By the way, I begun these blocks about December 2015, so it's a slow road.

More Farmer's blocks

Betty - A dream come true. I tried to convey "dreamy" colours. I don't think my paisley is working in this one. Can always do again. I don't usually patch with purple, but it tends to go well with green.

Betty

Caroline - When I behold the heavens. Here is my version of Heaven (the light) and Earth (the dark), mixed in with paisley!!

Caroline

Belle - Gift, fun, fellowship. Christmas time sharing the dinner table with family and neighbours.

Belle

Coral - Take time for enjoyment. My interpretation of the "blue jay bird" outside the window, spending time with Mother.

Coral

To fully enjoy the blocks/letters you will need to buy the book!

The Farmers Wife 1930's Sampler

I didn't think I would do this quilt, but once a few friends started it up and begun their blocks following a Facebook quilt-along, I was hooked! Firstly I had no idea how to build them using the templates, but once I got over that hurdle I was on my (slow) way.

My first few have the same paisley fabric in them, wanted to keep it slightly connected. I was reading the letters and trying to reflect that in my fabric choices. A lot of people have brought brand new fabrics, but I decided to use what I already had.

Becky

Bonnie

Aunt

Two projects on the go

Nothing like a little confusion on the chopping board! My Caring Hearts quilt is taking a back seat at present whilst I tackle the Farmers 1930's quilt-along.

The jumbo of projects

Deciding on what fabrics to use for my Farmers quilt was a mission at first, but once I decided that I would use a paisley fabric for my base the other fabrics slotted into place every time. I based my coordinating pieces from the Letters to the Editor in the book.

Once I got into the swing of things my chopping board became so more free of fabrics and got into the business and swing of making blocks.

Small calmness for setting out my blocks

I will have to check out the Quilt-along guidelines before I post any blocks here. Of the 99 blocks we are making I am up to number 17, and her name is Patience!

Happy sewing :)

Before you know it....

... it'll be Christmas!!

With that thought in mind, I knew I had better get back to blogging and adding to my patchwork journey. For me personally it is hard to write about exciting new projects and add shiny new photos because lately I have only been sewing two projects; one is the continuation of my Caring Hearts quilt and the other, joining my first Quilt-Along on Facebook for the Farmers Wife 1930's sampler. I didn't start the project till after the New Year and am slowly catching up to the other 6000 quilters!

Not a lot happens in between.

Whilst I find some pics on my latest projects here a few shots of my garden last Spring. Now, I'm no gardener so I can't name the plants/shrubs, but to me they look interesting and at the end of the day, if they don't need watering then that's fine with me!!

This begun flowering after a flood one year, I have no idea what it is.

My Lilac began flowering last year for the first time.

This is Scarlett O'Hara, it begins with "B" and does need water!