I started my Farmer's Wife project this week. I'm planning to do as many of the blocks as possible without using templates. I was planning to do them in the order listed in the book (alphabetically), but I changed my mind and am now working on whichever block appeals to me on the day. I struggled a bit with my fabric choices as I want this quilt to look scrappy and contain as many special fabrics as possible, but I need some limitations (rules) to guide my choices. I'm now fairly sure I'm going with the colours from Denyse Schmidt's Chicopee line, and so far I have included a piece of Chicopee in each block. The barn block drawing in the above photo is from Lori Holt's Quilty Barn Tutorial. I love her patchwork barns so much and will definitely be making one soon. Not sure yet whether it will have anything to do with the Farmer's Wife quilt though.
Block 1 Attic Windows. "The Wallpaper Out of Space".
Block 2 Autumn Tints. "September in Los Angeles".
Block 14 Butterfly at the Crossroads.
Block 31 Evening Star.
My first weeks blocks all together.
I'm planning to make 100 blocks and set them all straight with some sort of small print/textured sashing. Need to make sure I buy enough of it once I figure out what it is. I attempted Block 5 Bat Wing this morning. It did not go well. Going to redraft and have another go soon. It is still very very hot here. Which would be absolutely fantastic if we were equipped with air conditioning or a fan, but we are not, and my sewing room is a very well insulated oven.
Those are looking great! I really do want to get started on mine. I think that having to use the CD is putting me off! I haven't even tried it in the computer yet. Totally agree with you about trying to do them without templates. Does the CD tell you easily what size to cut? I wish they'd put sizes in the book, would be so much easier.
ReplyDeleteI hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the CD templates do not include the sizes. I actually haven't opened my cd, but people have said its just the templates, no dimensions.
ReplyDeleteI am drafting my blocks myself and doing the maths. I also have a handy block encyclopedia to hand to help with the proportions if I can't quite figure them out by eye. Lots of helpful hints can be found online to help too.
I'll most likely be changing some blocks slightly in order to make them easier to construct. The 'Butterfly at the Crossroads' block, for example, looks like it is divided into 5 equal parts in the book, but the maths didn't work with a 6" block, so I made my center square smaller than the others. Ultimately, It's my quilt and I'll be sewing it in a way that makes me happy, and not worrying to much about exactly replicating the traditional blocks.