I have completed 10 of the "Farmers Wife" blocks. They have proven to be a challenge. I thought the quilt along was going one block at a time in order and I'm finding that most of the quilt-along's have been going on for about a year or so and are not in order. But, I am finding that it's just fine to just join in. There's one on
Quilting Board , one on yahoo groups, and one on flicker and I have joined the yahoo and flicker groups. I found instructions for the block at
Quilters Cache - Quilt Blocks Galore but I had already put it together my way. Oh well.
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| Block 10 Bowtie |
I like way this block turned out and it way easier that many of the blocks. I more or less eyeballed it and cut 5 4 1/2 inch squares of colors I liked and cut the odd one in four and put them on one corner snowball fashion and sewed them together.
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| Block 2 Autumn Tints |
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| Block 2 Basket |
The basket was tricky but luckily I had just seen a Fons and Porter episode that showed how Marianne Fons added her handle to a basket on her quilt. She did it in a neat way and I borrowed her technique and put my own spin on it. I made a bias strip tube and turned it. You piece the entire block and then carefully undo the stitches where the handle goes thru and use coordinating thread to sew the handle down on two sides close to the edge. Mary's trick is to set the inside seam first, then the whole think lays down evenly. I then used a contrasting thread to do a blanket stitch on the machine to make the edges look nice. Mary made a bias strip and folded it in half and then sewed the raw edge down turning it to the inside and then turned it and did a blind hem. I was happy with what I did but hers was nice too. So all that time I wasted watching TV wasn't such a waste at all.
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| Block 4 Basket Weave |
The basket weave block was one I considered the color placement on for a while before I did it because I thought several of the ones I saw looked too much like a swastika for my comfort. I know it was not a Nazi symbol to start with but lets face it has acquired some overtones over the years. It was an easy block which I made harder by not thinking it through thoroughly enough before cutting and miscalculated my measurements and had to make it again. I should have just been able to cut 3 strips and cut them into four and piece them together. Oh well.
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| Block 5 Bat Wing |
This one was fairly easy to put together but I may remake it yet because the block does not have enough pop for me. I should have used two different values. I received the Barbara Brackman prints in from Hancock's of Paducka and one of them is a stripey print that might look good in this block with fussy cut blocks. Who knows.
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| Block 6 Big Dipper |
Here's another one I got over confident on and had to make twice. This block is also seen as Yankee puzzle
here in an 8 inch block. I think I'd make it with 5" squares and then cut the 3 1/2 inch hourglass squares down after finishing the 4 hourglasses. My first block attempt at this block turned out to be only 6" and I had to make it again. I am vowing to be more careful in future and more generous with my cutting. I will probably have another small quilt of 5 1/2 finished blocks by the time I am done. I love these hour glass blocks. I did not paper piece this block if I had it would have been right the first time.
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| Block 7 Birds in the Air |
This "Birds in the Air"block was a super tough block for me! All those little pieces just about killed me. I kept doing this thing where I would work on it a bit and then find an excuse to do something else. They should have named it procrastination. So I love it but it was tough.
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| Block 8 Bouquet |
I used templates for this on and made sure they were extremely accurate and the extra effort payed off. I did not get to the threshold of a mistake being so terrible I could not stand to look at it. I'm not crazy about the yellow but I don't hate it. I love the Barbara Brackman print I used for the basket pieces. It came in as I was getting ready to piece the blocks.
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| Block 9 Box |
The Box block looks more like a windmill to me but here it is I did it with one of the William Morris fabric. I did a bad job of pressing it but it's not so bad. The box quilt block is from the Kansas City Star published in the 1930’s. I found a website that had specific directions for this block
http://www.ideas-for-quilting.com/boxquiltblock.html Naturally, I found it after I finished the block I was glad to see that their instructions matched what I did Instead of trying to measure out 7/8 inch for the half square blocks they just added an inch. Way easier! They have a listing of common antique and semi antique with pictures and instructions.
