Long Lost Farmer's Wife

Do you have a UFO that lurks somewhere making you feel guilty?  

My guilt-ridden long-lost project is the Farmer's Wife Sampler.  Can you believe it was the summer of 2011 when these 6" blocks were all the craze and I tried to join in the the Farmer's Wife QAL?  2011!!!

I'm not entirely sure what happened to me with these sampler blocks.  I stitched 26 of them and then stopped.  I didn't fall out of love with them at the time or anything, I think I just committed to other things with other people (swaps, Bees and such) and so making these as extra for myself got shoved aside.  I did try several times to resurrect the project but then found somewhere along the line I'd lost heart for it, packed it up on a high shelf and left it hibernating for a VERY long winter!

Last summer, I sort of decided that I didn't want to progress any further with the blocks and decided to repurpose the fabrics for my apple core quilt.  I'm glad I did it.  That decision freed me from feeling obliged to finish something just because I'd started.  Well, sort of ...

You see, while the fabrics were used up, the 26 little blocks remained unloved in their plastic storage.  I thought about throwing them away or even giving them away but wasn't just ready to make the break.  So they have waited patiently for me to make up my mind.  This week, they began to whistle "coo-ee Sa-rah",  " coo-ee", "ahem, COO-ee, Sa-rah", "oi, you, we're up here".  I couldn't ignore them any longer.  They deserved a little attention so I played around wondering what to do and ended up laying out 25 as a mini-sampler.  (The 26th block was very badly pieced anyway.)

Happy with the layout, I started to add slim sashing strips

 
followed by 2.5" borders. I think these little blocks will be happier now and they are looking pretty even if they're not quite floating my boat personally just now.

I will quilt them with a simple diagonal grid which you can see I marked up with my hera marker.  It's 38.5" square and when it's finished I think it would be a good one to donate to our Bee Blessed baby quilts pile which will eventually go to the Mother and Baby HIV Unit at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.

Oh, it does feel better to have given these blocks a new purpose and release them from their captivity!

So, what do you think you will do about your guilt-ridden UFOs?

Farmer's Wife update

The Farmer and I haven't been doing much tangoing lately.  My efforts to stay up to date aren't quite as successful as I'd like, and I'm starting to have palpitations each time I approach a block hoping that it might actually turn out the required 6.5" square!  There's not much leeway in these tinies, and sadly more of my blocks are closer to 6.25" than I'd like.  Still, trying not to sweat it and hoping a little jiggery pokery with the final blocks (one fine day) will result in an acceptable finish for these babies!

So here are 5 more blocks to show you, bringing my total altogether to 26.

Block 55 - Linoleum

Block 84 - Spool

Block 12 - Broken Sugar Bowl

Block 71 - Puss in the Corner

Block 8 - Bouquet

Farmer's Wife - a few more blocks

I think I'm resigning myself to the fact that I will always be behind with this QAL, but hey ho, who's going to arrest me?  The quilt police?

Anyway, here are my latest additions to the FW blocks, bringing me to 21 blocks in total so far. Just another 80 to go!

Block 74 - Ribbons

Block 81 - Snowball

Block 29 - Economy

Block 54 - Kitchen Woodbox

Block 56 - Maple Leaf

Block 31 - Evening Star

And who knows, maybe one of these weeks I will actually catch up!

Farmer's Wife - More blocks

I've been pulling out the stops to try and catch up with the Farmer's Wife blocks in the hope of (maybe) getting back on track by the end of August.  So here are the latest offerings-

Block 16 - Calico Puzzle

Block 20 - Churn Dash

Block 41 - Friendship Star

Block 10 - Bow Tie

Block 9 - Box

Block 21 - Contrary Wife

Block 61 - Northern Lights

Block 48 - Homeward Bound

Block 111 - Wrench

I love them all but especially the friendship star.  I think another five this month and I'll be back on track (until the next delay anyway).  Here they all are together with previously made blocks -

I'm enjoying these little blocks (all measure 6.5" unfinished) but it can be tricky on such small blocks not to lose the sizing in the seams.  I love the colours of my fabric choices for this quilt - they feel much more feminine than I've made to date - this one is definitely for me to keep!

Farmer's Wife Blocks

A few more FW blocks to join my first two:

Block 2 - Autumn Tints

Block 68 - Postage Stamp

Block 73 - Rainbow Flowers

Block 92 - Streak of Lightning

Still very much playing catch up with these little blocks, but life is throwing other stuff at us lately so these blocks need to remain a pleasure not a pressure and they have been fun to make so far.  Of this little group I think my favourite is the Streak of Lightning.

Farmer's Wife QAL - it's a start

I have finally made a start on the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt-A-Long with these two little blocks.

Block 1 - Attic Windows

Block 4 - Basket Weave

I am now beginning to desperately miss my Janome and it's quarter inch foot as the first of these blocks had to be remade twice in order to get it to the requisite 6.5" square (unfinished).  Not sure how many more I will get made and I may wait until the return of Janome just to make it more straightforward, but still it's a start.

Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long

Did you know that there are really bad people out there in the blogosphere and world of flickr?  BAD, BAD people.  People who make beautiful 6 inch sampler blocks, post lovely piccies on the blog posts and on a flickr group, who write about their enthusiasm and the addictive nature of the project.  People who are having fun sharing their plans, their achievements and the odd chuckle.  Like I said, BAD BAD people - you have been warned!

I didn't quite manage to avoid the influence of these baddies (how's that for transference of responsibility?)  and have signed up to the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along being hosted by Amanda from Fussy Cut and Angela from MsMcPorkChopQuilts.

I have flirted with sampler quilts for a while and even made a very small, tentative start on a Dear Jane, but life kind of took over and that got sidelined (maybe one day I'll get back to it).  I am delighted and so excited to see the buzz and enthusiasm for this block sampler quilt 'cos in all honestly I was getting to the point where I thought I had a nasty, dirty little secret because I love and have so wanted to try a sampler quilt. Modern quilting is fantastic but I think the sampler has been sadly neglected in this, and you only need to check out the fab blocks appearing over at the flickr group to see these are not blocks your granny would have made.  I have a bit of catch-up to play as I've come to the party late, but roll on the weekend and let me at them!

My stash selections for this QAL

It's not too late join in the fun, buy your copy of the book and sign up on the flickr group - you know you want to!

PS The more observant among you will have noted that yes, I have now signed up for 2 QALs in the space of a fortnight - next sign up is Quilter's Anonymous!  (Eeek, what am I doing?!)