The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 61 Northern Light

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 61 Northern Light

From this photo you probably can't guess the actual size of my Farmer's Wife blocks, but I am working at 4" square.  When I made the decision to make the blocks smaller than the original size I flicked through the book and sought out the block with the smallest pieces to see if it was a viable endeavour.  When faced with this block, the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 61 Northern Light, clearly there was not going be a challenge.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 55 Linoleum

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 55 Linoleum

Her is the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 55 Linoleum - don't miss the fussy cut rectangles!  Once you start fussy cutting you can never go back and you start to look at the fabric you buy very differently.  I have enjoyed quietly getting this block together over a busy week.  It seemed like my feet did not touch the ground, but somehow this came together.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 62 Old Windmill and an English Paper Piecing tutorial

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 62 Old Windmill

I thought I would go back to basics on this post.  If you glance down the side bar you will see that I have been blogging since 2012.  Over that time I have made my Nearly Insane quilt and my Dear Jane quilt, plus a few others along the way.  Just this week I got an email asking questions about my Nearly Insane quilt and how I make my quilts.  

This is the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 62 Old Windmill.  It is English paper pieced.  Yes, I know it is just squares and triangles and some of you could do it quicker on the sewing machine, but I choose to make most of my quilts by hand and sometimes it is the only time I have to sew.  You will see that I have included a little label of its name today.  I have taken each of the Farmer's Wife blocks and drafted them into Electric Quilt 8.  This enables me to make the block at any size and in the case of this quilt, I am making the blocks at 4" instead of the original 6" - not translated well in a picture on the internet (NB: Sorry, no I can't sell / give you a copy) .  Once drafted I print out an outline drawing of my block an usually it has its name at the top of the page which I snip out to label my prepped bags of sewing.  I have scanned all my Fig Tree fabrics into Electric quilt and it is a really worthwhile task as I can test out colour combinations before I take my rotary cutter to my fabric.  I usually use my iPad to take a screenshot as a record and use it as a reference to cut out the fabric.  Once cut out, it is put  in a bag, in a bag with thread, needle and a thimble, ready for a MOMENT.

This block was done whilst watching television last evening during down time.  These days, down time is down time from quilting other people's quilts as part of my longarm quilting business, where I get to quilt some mega quilts for my customers - do take a look.  

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 62 Old Windmill

Here is a photo of the back - I do this once in a while, just for new Followers.  You will see that I have coded each piece with a letter, so I know what fabric it goes with which piece.  I tack through the paper  for basting and leave all the papers in.  Why? Until the edge pieces have something to be sewn to, they will need the paper in them. Also, I usually put no time limit on my quilts, so I will probably handle the blocks quite a lot  between now and quilting the quilt, so it keeps them square for the years between - yes, years.  When your quilts are English Paper pieced and they are pretty much dead square, it is hard to appreciate why anyone would piece otherwise - but they do.  Once I blog a block, I number it and add it to a pile.  It's slowly getting bigger.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 66 Periwinkle

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 66 Periwinkle

This little block, the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 66 Periwinkle, takes advantage of the same pretty fabric as the last one.  I don't have much of it, but it is SO versatile in a sampler quilt like the Farmer's Wife.  The pieces are mirror imaged - yes, I had to unpick one set. School girl error.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 81 Snowball

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 81 Snowball

Tonight they are predicting the first snow of the year.  It is a bit colder here in the UK, but I don't hold out much hope. So this Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 81 Snowball might be the closest I get to the white stuff for a while.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 63 Ozark Maple Leaf

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 63 Ozark Maple Leaf

I can't believe what a relief it is to have this project moving again.  I have managed to do three blocks in as many days.  This is the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 63 Ozark Maple Leaf, yes, another Maple Leaf design.

Clover Field, Ellie and Ollie, Fig Tree Fabrics

My mega prepping day highlighted a lack of versatile fabrics in my Fig Tree fabric stash.  Amongst the Moda Scrap Bag I had purchased several months ago there was one strip of this pretty fabric and I found that it worked well in lots of blocks, so I followed it up with some internet shopping from Honeybee Cloths, which arrived swiftly and beautifully wrapped - lovely to get a late Christmas present to myself.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 71 Puss in the Corner

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 71 Puss in the Corner

 This is the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 71 Puss in the Corner.  My Puss in not currently in the corner, but swiping her tail across this keyboard for my fingers to dodge.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 56 Maple Leaf

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 56 Maple Leaf

Happy New Year! 
I hope no one has been waiting on me for the next block. It seems ages since I have even picked this project up.  The main problem has been that I had completed all the Farmer's Wife blocks which I had prepped and have had absolutely no time to get more done.  Yesterday was the day and I spent a lot of time getting more ready so that I can get some blocks done in those magic moments - those times when you can be sewing whilst waiting, travelling and having some down time.

This is Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 56 Maple Leaf.  It was sitting in my project bag with just one seam waiting to be done, so a few stitches and here is the first block of 2019.