Dear Jane Quilt - West Country Quilt and Textile Show 2019, UK - Best Piecing

'Dear Jane' quilt made by Frances Meredith

My Dear Jane quilt has been out and about again, this time to the West Country Quilt and Textile Show 2019.  I am pleased to say that it won a rosette for 'Best Piecing'.  It was lovely to chat to those of you who are in the middle of your Dear Jane journey - keep going, it will be worth it!

'Dear Jane' quilt made by Frances Meredith

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 73 Rainbow Flowers visits Scotland

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 73 Rainbow Flowers visits Scotland

Following on from my last post, here is another Farmer's Wife Quilt block which was completed on my recent trip to Scotland. Here is the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 73 Rainbow Flowers visiting a remote beach on a beach in North Uist, one of the Western Isles of Scotland. It has to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in the world.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 73 Rainbow Flowers visits Scotland

I chose this block to do while travelling in the car - just 7 pieces. A nice quick win.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 85 Square Dance visits Scotland

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 85 Square Dance

Fabadashery has been on tour again and the Farmer's Wife Quilt blocks joined me as I travelled to the Western Isles of Scotland.  Here is the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 85 Square Dance at the end of the Hebridean Way at the Butt of Lewis Lighthouse.

Western Isles of Scotland - Isle of Lewis and Harris

It is a long car journey up to Scotland and the most northerly place I have ever been on the planet, but there is still further to go on a future trip.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 85 Square Dance

I only had one charm square of the centre fabric, so it had to be put to good use with a fussy cut middle and some clever use of striped fabric on the sides. 

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 104 Wild Geese

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 104 Wild Geese

After all the excitement of last week, I am back to the routine and have managed to finish a little block, the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 104 Wild Geese/  There are 29 pieces in this little block, but it seems to have taken me a while to get the together.

2017 Rainbow Scrappy Challenge

'Jane's Pinwheel' Quilt  62" x 62"

It is a long time since I linked up to the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge.  When I started this in January 2017 I was struggling to keep up.  The top was finally completed in January 2018 after a serious attack on it over the Christmas period, but since then it has been lingering around waiting for me to quilt it.  Before I had decided how I would quilt it I forced the issue by entering it into the 2019 Quilt UK, Malvern Show which is on this weekend.

'Jane's Pinwheel' Quilt  62" x 62"

So last weekend I was quilting it on my longarm quilting machine, in between my customer quilts.  I stitched in EVERY ditch and then added a simple orange peel design.  I wanted the piecing to be the focus, not the quilting.  It has made a dent into the Kim Diehl fabrics left over from my Dear Jane quilt, but there are plenty more to come out of that bag.
Linking to So Scrappy Saturday

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 109 Windows

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 109 Windows

With the stitching of the Farmer's Wife quilt up and running again I was pleased to notice that I have reached 400 Followers to this blog - welcome Barbara Woods!
This is the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 109 Windows.  It used up the last of this patterned fabric I had and now I look at the photo, it is looking slightly distorted.  No fear. It will be forced into shape when the time comes.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 59 Night and Day

 The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 59 Night and Day

Here is the first  of the blocks from the recent prep session, Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 59 Night and Day.  It reminds me of the 1952 Festival of Britain logo.  I think this is the only bit of this green I have left, so pleased to squeeze it into this block.

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 74 Ribbons

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 74 Ribbons

This is the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 74 Ribbons. I only had limited amounts of the white patterned fabrics, so some of the seams are at the limit.
I am reaching a tricky part of this quilt - I have run out of prepped blocks to do.  Let's hope the Easter break allows some time for designing and cutting.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's) Block 38 Four Winds

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 38 Four Winds

Back in the day when I was working on my Nearly Insane quilt, I had worked out that on a 6" block, 100 pieces was just about right to keep it interesting and enough of a challenge. This is the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (20's)  Block 38 Four Winds.  This block has at least 50 pieces in it  but is only 4" square. It has kept me quiet for several days.

Suzi the cat on the window sill

Meanwhile, there is no rest for the wicked.  Suzi has had to abandon the comfort of her bed for a permanent station on the window sill. The pigeons just won't let up.