Friday, January 3, 2014

Farmer's Wife Friday 1

One of the things I want to work on this year is my piecing skills. My husband got me "The Farmer's Wife" for Christmas and I've decided to make this quilt. (Next week I'll share more about the book.) Because I'm not crazy enough I also want to work on my design skills by figuring out the measurements for the blocks using only the book and "The Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns." (Jinny Beyer provides grids for most of the blocks that are a little easier for me to figure out than just a picture of the block.) 

I don't want to be left with all of the blocks I'm dreading at the end of this project so I'm following the order as they are presented with the letters. I've chosen to make this quilt in black and white (with shades of grey in blocks that require three or more colors.) I haven't seen any Farmer's Wife quilts made in black and white, but I have seen two monochromatic quilts and I've seen a couple black and white versions of the Dear Jane quilt so I'm confident this color scheme will work. My current plan is to use blue for the sashing, but I haven't bought fabric yet so that isn't set in stone. 

#26 Cut Glass Dish

#54 Kitchen Woodbox

Farmer's Wife 2/111
2:00*

*I want to keep track of how long it takes me to make this quilt. I know it will be at least a year before the top is complete, but that doesn't seem like a good answer if someone asks how long it took to make. Instead I plan to keep track of how many hours I spend cutting fabric and sewing blocks together to help my blog readers who don't quilt understand how much time is involved in this quilt and quilters contemplating this quilt can get an idea of the time investment required.

12 comments:

  1. I am on my second Farmer's Wife quilt. The Farmer's Wife class is how I got introduced to quilting. They do test your piecing skills. I just got the Jinny Beyer book yesterday. I first heard about the book in Laura Knowles 2013 BOM quilt on Craftsy. It seems very helpful.

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  2. Love the color choices. I have yet to succumb to the awesomeness that is the Farmer's Wife Quilt. Someday.

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  3. How fun this is going to be following your journey as you make different quilt blocks... hope you share them all... and what you thought of them too! I love your colors... that light grey really complements the black and white... very chic I think! lol Kathi

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  4. I applaud your decision to make this quilt - I love it but doubt I'll ever get up the nerve to make it! Your color choices are interesting, too - did you know that Kona just put out five new grays? And they're gorgeous…..

    Whoop whoop for a great start!!

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  5. I love seeing the farmer's wife blocks. I agree about piecing and size. I am try to master the scant 1/4 inch for these. I like the solid colors.

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  6. Love your black and white color scheme for this project. It is going to be unique and beautiful.

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  7. I'm going to finish mine this year! I made the mistake of starting with the 'easier' blocks and then hit a rut. Well done you for making them in order and I really like the monochrome idea. Good luck :)

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  8. The blocks look great, looking forward to seeing this progress.

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  9. I think the quilt will look great in the black and white you've chosen. I like your idea of keeping track of the hours invested. I will be interested to see what it adds up to. Enjoy!

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  10. I almost did mine in black and white too! I decided against it because I am already working on a black and white houndstooth quilt and I needed a bit of colour to play with in-between. I'm looking forward to seeing how yours comes together :)

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  11. I especially love that Cut Glass Dish block. So great!

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  12. LOL! I think it is fun that you are keeping track of time. When people ask me how long it took I just tell them about half of forever! With so many of the blocks I found it took longer to cut them than to sew them. And then there are the stinkers that had more seam ripper time than sewing time and the few that had to be done twice. Sigh......

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