The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) 84 Block Spool

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  84 Block Spool

I think we must have all done this block at some time in our quilt life.  This is the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  84 Block Spool.  I tried to get the striped fabric in the middle to look like wound thread!

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 100 Weathervane

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 100 Weathervane

As well as being a the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 100 Weathervane, this is a traditional block which you may find elsewhere.  My local quilt group had a challenge 'WEATHER' recently and this was the only idea I came up with, but with my slow stitching, it never came to fruition. I will bank it for a future group challenge.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 105 Goose Chase

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 105 Goose Chase

Don't look too closely at this one. The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 105 Goose Chase at this stage is a bit distorted and I am relying on the sashing / neighbouring block to tame it in submission.  I often get queries about this problem with regard to English paper piecing.  As I said, I hope the neighbouring piece will bring it back, then once the paper is removed the fabric will relax a bit, and finally the wadding and the quilting will fill it out.  That's the plan, but meanwhile I will press on with the remaining blocks.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 103 Whirlwind

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 103 Whirlwind

So many of these Farmer's Wife blocks have similar names, it is easy to confuse them.  This is the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 103 Whirlwind, 102 is Whirlpool, then there is 105 Wild Goose Chase and 104 Wild Geese. I think my chart for tracking my progress is correct, but I am ready for any nasty surprises at the end! 

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 110 Wood Lily

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 110 Wood Lily

I enjoyed this Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 110 Wood Lily, mainly because it had lots of pieces in it which makes for more interesting fabric combinations and a more challenging block to piece.  In total I think there are 57 pieces in this 4.5" block.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 78 Shooting Star (front and back)

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 78 Shooting Star

For some reason this block took me ages to get together. It wasn't difficult, it just seemed to be the victim of my lack of time.  This is the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 78 Shooting Star and for a treat I have included a picture of both  the front and the back for you.  As well as the English Paper Piecing technique, it shows you how I code each piece and once done I put the block number on for reference.  I hope you are having a happy stitching day!

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 78 Shooting Star

April 2019 Farmer's Wife Progress

Farmer's Wife Quilt - Prepping English Paper Piecing

As anticipated, the Easter break gave my a small slot of time to prep the next set of Farmer's Wife blocks.  This process usually pulling every Fig Tree fabric that I have out onto a table, whilst I decide the colour combinations of each block, so I try to do it in one blco of time to minimise the disruption.  I have scanned all of them into Electric Quilt 8, so I do a lot of designing in that programme.  The good news is that I have cut out and bagged up all the remaiing blocks and they are all ready and waiting for the little moments that I have for English Paper Piecing.

Farmer's Wife Quilt - Prepping English Paper Piecing

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 95 - Temperance Tree

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 95 - Temperance Tree

Once in a while I like to remind everyone that all these Farmer's Wife blocks are constructed by hand, using the English Paper Piecing, so below is a picture of the back of this block.  Here are the 42 pieces of the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 95 - Temperance Tree block. 

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 95 - Temperance Tree

Way back in July I cut a load of blocks ready for piecing and today I realised I had made them all, so another stint of cutting is imminent.  I think I am about half way through, having reached J in the alphabet of blocks. 

Nearly Insane Quilt

Suzi the cat helping with the Nearly Insane Quilt

My Nearly Insane quilt is in the middle of its tour of the USA, having just stopped off at Santa Clara.  Lovely to hear from those of you who have been to see it and a special shout out to Molly from Suzi.  I don't think the notice on the quilt mentions that the whole affair was a joint effort.  I think that this photo is evidence of what a great help Suzi was when I spent 7 days removing the English paper pieces back in March 2015.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 44 Gentleman's Fancy

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) 
Block 44 Gentleman's Fancy

I am giving my Farmer's Wife quilt a bit of a push at the moment in order to gain a bit of momentum to get to the half way point.  I am hoping a few days away will  result in plenty of new blocks to show you. This is the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 44 Gentleman's Fancy.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) - August 2018 Update

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Quilt Blocks

It is the last Bank Holiday before Christmas, so I thought it was a good occasion to pull out all the Farmer's Wife blocks I have been English Paper Piecing to see what progress I have made.  I started the blocks back in February 2018, so this is just about a 6 month review.  As I finish and blog about each block I just add them to this pile of blocks.  The paper is still in them and so I usually write on the number for reference.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Quilt Blocks

I have made 35 blocks so far, so I seem to be averaging about 5 / 6 blocks a month.  At this speed the blocks should be done by September 2019.  This project has been languishing at the bottom of me To-Do list, so under the circumstances I think I am doing quite well.  I will admit that two blocks have already been rejected and are in line to be made in a different colourway.  Also a big issue is the final layout.  I have been playing with some ideas, but have yet to finalise a finished size. 
Thank you for reading my blog.  It is fun to share my progress with you all.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Quilt Blocks

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 23 Country Farm

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)
 Block 23 Country Farm

English Paper Piecing is an amazing technique.  I seemed to have made this block without really knowing, whilst doing this and that and TA DA - it is done!
The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 23 Country Farm, probably better known as a Sawtooth block., with just 17 pieces.

THE NEW PROJECT - La Passacaglia

I thought it was time I started a new English Paper Piecing project.  There were several candidates in the ring, but The Passacaglia by Wyllyne Hammerstein has won.  I thought this was a good project to use my stash, completely massacre it with some fussy cutting, as well as leaving the option open to buy fabric that was considered 'essential' for the project when out and about.  Naturally I was slightly influenced by Wendy's divine interpretation.  Here is my progress so far.  The colour choice seems to be infinite and I have changed my mind so many times already.

Back in the summer I purchased the book and the templates from Sew and Quilt.  There are only five shapes for the whole quilt which keeps it simple, but allows you to stroke fabric all day whilst choosing your colour combinations.  I don't have a particular colour scheme in mind, it will be dictated by my stash and therefore I expect it to grow organically.

Sew and Quilt Acrylic Templates - La Passacaglia

 So there you go. I think the most difficult challenge will be not losing the acrylic templates!

Joining up with Kathy at Slow Stitching Sunday!

Jane Pizar Quilt at Cheltenham Art Gallery, UK

Detail - Jane Pizar Quilt

Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museums

I have been on a special trip out today.  Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museums were holding an event 'Quilty Pleasures', where a group of us had the opportunity to look at some of the quilts held in their collection. It was just a short visit, but we got to see three very interesting quilts including this one, the Jane Pizar quilt, which I have also heard be called the Cheltenham Quilt.  This quilt is not on regular display and so it was a rare treat to see the staff unroll in front of our eyes.

Detail - Jane Pizar Quilt

Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museums

The quilt is understood to be made by Jane Pizar between 1850-1860 in Ireland.  Looking at the front and the back, the majority looked (IMHO) to be English Paper Pieced.  How could I see the back?  Well this quilt is not actually quilted, like many of us, Jane perhaps preferred the piecing to quilting! 

Dear Jane Quilt - Block G-7 Indianapolis



Dear Jane Quilt - Block G-7 Indianapolis

I am very pleased with this block.  It is the first time I have used my red Kim Diehl fabric.  Also I am very pleased with my striped fabric which has been fussy cut.  I am also very  pleased with the neat circle.  English Paper Piecing - ROCKS.

This block is in the centre of the Dear Jane quilt, so it had to look good.

Living in the UK, I thought I ought to check where Indianapolis was in the USA.  It is in the state of Indiana, towards the East coast.  This is the state Brenda Papdakis was living when she wrote the Dear Jane quilt book.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 21

Miniature Doll Quilt Swap - May 2015

Miniature Doll Quilt Swap - May 2015


A few weeks ago Lori at Humble Quilts put out a call for a Doll Quilt Swap. I fancied making a mini quilt.  I fancied doing a swap for the first time.  I resisted the first call, but by the second, I caved in.  So I signed up. There were a few rules, but the main one was that it should be Civil War reproduction fabrics and that it should look like it 'time travelled from days past'. 

Judie Rothermel and Jo Morton Civil War Reproduction fabrics

Once committed I went about choosing fabrics and a design for my miniature doll quilt swap.  However, it appears that I don't actually have any Civil War Reproduction fabrics (yes, I was surprised too, perhaps I should have checked first) so it meant searching online for some fabrics and waiting for them to arrive.  To add to the fun I ordered a pot luck  'Civil War bundle' from the Laughing Hedgehog.  I was really pleased with the selection they sent, which included some Jo Morton shirtings and some Judie Rothermel civil war reproduction fabrics.

English Paper Piecing - Irish Chain Quilt

 I procrastinated for as long as possible by doing a lot of online research about civil war quilts, but with the unexpected fabric search and knowing I had to send it abroad, panic set in.  I also knew I only had a few windows of opportunity to get the project done.  Finally, I ended up stitching an Irish Chain quilt, hand stitching it using English Paper Piecing.  Living in the UK, my knowledge of the American Civil War is largely based on what I learnt watching 'Gone With The Wind'.  Following through on this theme, Wikipedia informed me that the colours red and green are used symbolically throughout the original book by Margaret Mitchell.  So along with this and Scarlett's Irish descendancy, an Irish Chain seemed appropriate. 

Hand quilting - cross hatch

Conveniently, the UK government had decided to have an election early in May which gave me hours of stitching in front of the television watching the results come in through the night. Once hand pieced, I made up the quilt sandwich and I decided to hand quilt it with a cross-hatch, to add that 'days gone past' feel. Naturally this took longer than anticipated as it always does, but it was a joy to do and I am really pleased that I took the time to make this little quilt.

Mini Irish Chain Quilt - Doll Quilt Swap - 16" x 20.5"

Just to add to the panic, I noticed on the internet that several quilters taking part in the Doll Quilt Swap had already completed their quilts and had received them.  I am pleased to say that once labelled, this little quilt is now heading across the Atlantic to a recipient who is part of the swap.

Thanks Lori for organising the Doll Quilt Swap!  You will be able to see all the Doll Quilts made in the swap in a few weeks time over at Humble Quilts.

Joining up with Confessions and Crazy Mom Quilts.

 

Nearly Insane Quilt - Update #3 November

Nearly Insane Quilt - November 2014 update

It's hard to believe you can be exhausted from sitting hand stitching all day, but last night as I made the last few stitches to get my Nearly Insane quilt blocks together all I could think about was going to bed.  The construction of this has taken longer than anticipated, but as you will see from the picture all the blocks, sashing and cornerstones are together.  If you look back a few posts you may also be able to play 'spot the difference', as several of the blocks have been changed partially or completely.


English Paper Piecing - Nearly Insane Quilt

All the paper is still in and I imagine it will probably take me three months to remove all that!


Nearly Insane Quilt - November 2014 update


When I started this project I now realise I partly imagined that once I had reached this stage it would be done, but todays project is to start get the borders together and there is still quite a journey to go.

Constructing the Nearly Insane Quilt - Update #1

 

Nearly Insane Quilt - Construction

I have been working on a few different projects lately so I just wanted you all to know that the Nearly Insane Quilt has not been forgotten.  This is the progress so far in terms of putting it together. I love the look as each row gets added, but it takes a long time when you are hand sewing.  What I have done so far seems to be just a drop in the ocean for this stage.


Nearly Insane Quilt (reverse) - English Paper Piecing


I thought I would show you a picture of the back.  Yes, all the English paper pieces are still in which is allowing me to keep it dead straight and dead flat.  Until the moment when it is ready to be quilted I am really reluctant to remove the paper, the bias on this quilt is CRAZY!

The stitching on this is SO slow that I am almost a day late for Slow Stitching Sunday  but right on time for Deign Wall Monday.

Nearly Insane Quilt - Block 70

Block 70 - Nearly Insane Quilt

I feel as if I have really started the countdown towards the end of the Nearly Insane Quilt blocks now. I am even thinking that my next update will be when they are all complete!  Over the past year all this experience has helped me fine tune my design skills using tone, and I have really gained specialist knowledge about red and white fabrics on the current market!

Block 70 - red and white fabrics

For Block 70 I have managed to squeeze eight different fabrics into the 6 inch square, covering all shades from dark to light (all listed at the bottom of this post) - a real exercise in tone.  Even so, now it is finished there are still changes I would make ...

English Paper Piecing - Nearly Insane Quilt

This is another star block, all done by English paper piecing.  I will admit that if I had been doing this project on the sewing machine there is no way I would have got this far.  As you know some of the pieces are really small, and I wouldn't have been able to even handle them under the machine.  EPP has made it a very pleasant journey. It doesn't just have to be hexies!


Block 70 - Nearly Insane Quilt

NUMBER OF PIECES:  53
DIFFICULTY: 1/10
SMALLEST PIECE: Triangle 3/4" (20mm) x 9/16" (15mm) x 9/16" (15mm)
LARGEST PIECE: Triangle 3" (76mm) x 2  1/8" (53mm) x 2  1/8" (53mm)
TECHNIQUE: English Paper Piecing (EPP)
FABRICS:
Polka Party III by Holly Holderman, Lakehouse Drygoods (#03035)
Red Garden Pindot by Michael Miller Fabrics 
Spraytime (Scarlet) by Makower #2800-R06
Apple Line Red Swirl by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures  # C5710
Homeschool Mini Mono Floral Red, LB Krueger for Windham Fabrics SKU# 35182-3
Cherry Sketch Basic Collection by Timeless Treasures #C8224
White floral on red (unknown)
Days Gone By Exclusively Quilters