The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 18 A Century of Progress

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) 
Block 18 A Century of Progress

I have been away on a training course this weekend and in the pockets of down time I managed to complete a few Farmer's Wife blocks.  This one, Block 18, A Century of Progress, is looking suspiciously red and white and as if it ought to be in the Nearly Insane quilt.

Suzi the cat

And for all of those who are looking for their daily cat fix, here is Suzi the cat enjoying the February sun.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 10 Bowtie

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) 
Block 10 Bowtie

This is a simple little Bowtie block, but I love the fabric choices I have made for this one.  I think the yellow fabric is from 'California Girl' by Fig Tree quilts.
I have just noticed that my Outlook is putting all your comments into my Junk Mail folder .... silly Outlook.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) - Block 1 Attic Windows

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)
Block 1 Attic Windows

It is a week ago that I sat down to prepare for my Farmer's Wife Quilt and already I have three blocks done and several others basted ready to be stitched.  I think I like this sampler quilt just because of the speed!
This is Block 1 Attic Windows, the first block in the book.  I usually do a draw system, but I was in such a hurry last week to prep some that I just took the first few from the book to get started.  I definitely need a system to record what I doing.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) - Block 5 Bat Wing

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)
Block 5 Bat Wing

Thank you for all your responses to yesterday's post and the start of our new journey on the Farmer's Wife Sampler quilt.
Last night I managed to complete another block, Block 5 Bat Wing, and am back to feeling the rush of starting a new project. In past projects I have usually recorded the number of pieces in each block, but for most of these I think I can count them on my hands.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) - The Launch and Block 41 Friendship Star

Fabadashery - Farmer's Wife Quilt

Sewing my name onto my Dear Jane quilt last week reinforced the fact that I don't have a project on the go at the moment.  La Passacaglia has been a struggle as it is quite time / fabric intensive in the prep stage and I have just been longing for a simple project that I can just pick up and see grow easily.  So here you have it - The Farmer's Wife Sampler quilt with the fabric selection.
  
I have had The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book (1920's) for quite a while now and since then a new book has been published.  I had assumed that it was the same quilt. but having noticed some missing blocks I was already familiar with from long arm quilting a Farmer's Wife Quilt, I have literally just realised that it is a whole new quilt, different blocks based on 1930's colours.  This is a fundamental point I had not acknowledged and I am not sure how I feel about it.

To get started I had to spend a bit of time on my new Electric Quilt 8 software, designing all the 111 blocks into the package and then scanning the 65 different fabrics I plan to use.  For the record, that whole process took about 5hrs 30mins.  That time invested will pay me back as I work through all the blocks.  

Farmer's Wife 20's Quilt - 41 Friendship Star

So, here is the first completed block.  In the 1920's book Block 41 is 'Friendship Star'.  In the 1930's book it is 'Granny'.  Already my star is spinning in the opposite direction, but I guess it depends which universe you observe the star from, which will determine its direction.

For the dedicated followers of my blog, I want to warn you that I cannot promise a post for each block.  Already, I have realised that these blocks are much easier that the Nearly Insane quilt and Dear Jane, so I expect to fly through them quite quickly. Thank you to my regular supporters, your comments are always appreciated - what do you think about the new project?

Dear Jane Quilt - Recording history with embroidery

Embroidered corner block - Dear Jane quilt

Here's a little job which I have been putting off for a long time - embroidering my name on my Dear Jane quilt.  Now it is done there is nothing stopping it from being quilted.  Then all I need to do is the scallop edge ....

Pushing the boat out for Christmas

New Rotary Cutter Blade

I am actually doing some sewing today, it seems like ages since I have had the chance to sit at the machine and make quilt blocks. To celebrate I have put a new sharp blade into my rotary cutter, after all - it is Christmas!

Dear Jane Count

The Dear Jane Quilt  - counting the pieces

I have taken some time today to count my Dear Jane pieces.  As you may know, the original has her name and a count of all the pieces in the original Dear Jane quilt.  It is a job I have been putting off, thinking it would be long a tedious, but no so.  I also managed to find some rogue paper pieces along the way.  In total I have 5163 pieces in my Dear Jane quilt.  Jane Stickle had 5602.  I have clearly introduced modern day efficiencies into mine.  All I need to do now is to embroider the details onto the quilt.  Can you think of any other cryptic messages I should include?

On Ringo Lake - Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt 2017

'On Ringo Lake' Bonnie Hunter 2017 Mystery Quilt

You may have noticed that this week Bonnie Hunter has launched her 2017 Mystery Quilt - On Ringo Lake.  Will you be taking up the challenge this year?  I have done several of her quilts in the past and it has been thoroughly good fun and I have some beautiful quilts as a result. 
However, don't get too excited as I have already decided that I don't really have time to do it this year - I was just curious to see the colour scheme.  What do you think?  As usual I think I would change it around a bit as with just the four colours you could probably come up with something quite delicious.

'On Ringo Lake' Bonnie Hunter 2017 Mystery Quilt

If you are looking for a project to fill in that slow time between Christmas and New Year, I can recommend heading over to her blog to see what is in store.  I expect I will be an onlooker, but will be checking out the progress over the next few months. 

La Passacaglia - October 2017 update

La Passacaglia - October 2017 update

It has been a while since I have had my La Passacaglia out, but a few days away allowed me to resurrect my interest in it.  It doesn't look like there has been much change since you last saw it in July, but  I can assure you that there has.  The colour scheme - well there isn't an overall one, but within each rosette I am enjoying playing with colours.
I could do with a La Passacaglia day, just to sort out how many of the rosettes I intend to do and to bring on each of the circles to the next stage, but I don't see that coming until the Christmas break.