The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

I've had to put aside my Farmer's Wife blocks because I got an order in that I needed to get out. It took a lot of strength to put the book back on the shelf but I did it!

And then a lovely little surprise came in the mail from Angela! 

Angela sent me her Aviary pre-cuts that she wasn't using since she thought they'd be of use in my blocks. Funnily enough, there's quite a few fabrics I've used from the Aviary line.

 

She even wrote me a card that she'd sewn little scraps onto :) Thank you Angela! It was so generous of you to gift them to me, and I promise I'll give them a good home!

And now for the 'bad' and the 'ugly'...

Block 18: Century of Progress

Block 17: Cats & Mice

I want to kill these blocks with fire. FIRE. 

I have discovered a seething hatred for the stupid itsy bitsy templates (Don't worry, I'm not giving up!). They're so annoying to cut, so annoying to sew, and the block ends up looking like I had both eyes shut while making them. Don't look too closely at them, please. Most points don't come within miles of meeting *hangs head* But these two blocks are going to stay put because I can't be stuffed to redo them!

More Farmer's Wife Blocks

I finally got round to printing the templates for my Farmer's Wife blocks. Thanks to Michelle, it was quite pain-free! She turned me on to this PDF (found here) made by lizquilts, and thanks to both Michelle and Liz, I only had to print 15 pages and lessen the paper waste. I hate wasting paper, so I'm forever grateful!

1. Block 5 Bat Wing, 2. Block 15 Buzzard's Roost, 3. Block 6 Big Dipper, 4. Block 1 Attic Windows, 5. Block 14 Butterfly at the Crossroads, 6. Block 8 Bouquet

If you'd like a closer look, you can click on any of the links to see the individual blocks, or you can go to my Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long set.

I love my rulers, and templates are not my favourite thing to use. The teeny tiny bits are the worst... irritating to cut and sew. But I think my irritation was probably due mostly to the heatwave we had to endure over the last few days.

Anyhow, I love these blocks and I love how all my blocks look on my design wall. Still don't know if I'll make all 111 blocks. Some of them don't appeal to me, and some look too tedious to even contemplate. On the other hand, if I'm going to undertake something like this, why not make them all, right? Also, I'm not sure I like the idea of them on point for when I get round to sewing them together. Meh, plenty of time to think about that one too :)

More Farmer's Wife Blocks... And A Redux

A few more blocks I made a couple days ago. I've almost exhausted the blocks that don't need templates, so wish me luck as I do battle with the printer!

1. Block 54 Kitchen Woodbox, 2. Block 48 Homeward Bound, 3. Block 73 Rainbow Flowers, 4. Block 61 Northern Lights, 5. Block 81 Snowball, 6. Block 70 Prairie Queen

If you'd like a closer look, you can click on any of the links to see the individual blocks, or you can go to my Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long set.

Also, I think I'm going to redo my Railroad block (top left corner). I LOVE the fabric and the contrast, but I think that dark pink fabric needs to be confined to making small appearances in blocks. It's one of my favourite blocks, but the dark pink just steals focus away from all the other blocks. Booooooo!

And I hope everyone who's affected by this loathsome heatwave is staying indoors and keeping cool :) The cats are insane, and still seeking out the sunny spots all over the house. Their current favourite is under the laundry racks in the kitchen. Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out how to live in the freezer and avoid death... Unfortunately without success.

Farmer's Wife Hard At 'Work'

Whoopsies. I made another nine blocks last night and today. I need to be stopped. (Please don't make me stop. I might cry.)

1. Block 41 Friendship Star, 2. Block 34 Flock, 3. Block 26 Cut Glass Dish, 4. Block 72 Railroad, 5. Block 11 Broken Dishes, 6. Block 71 Puss in the Corner, 7. Block 21 Contrary Wife, 8. Block 25 Cups & Saucers, 9. Block 20 Churn Dash

That last little guy (no. 9) is possibly my favourite so far. Then again I have a soft spot for Churn Dash quilts / blocks, so it's no surprise. And no.8 was a bit of a booboo... I accidentally reversed the two fabrics. Oh well.

If you'd like a closer look, you can click on any of the links to see the individual blocks, or you can go to my Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long set.

I Have No Willpower

I swear on all things holy that I tried my very, very best to shut down my urge to join in the Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long. But slowly, I gave in because I am a dork with absolutely no willpower. 

I bought the book and told myself I was just going to have a flick through, and start working on blocks when I was able to. HAH. That lasted all of two days. (Though that's pretty good by my standards.) 

So after I accepted my idiocy and picked out my colour theme (blues, pinks, yellows and creams), I went ahead and made a few blocks. And because I wasn't in the mood to fight with the printer (the laser printer HATES my laptop), I started with the blocks that didn't need templates.

Here are my first six:

Block 2: Autumn Tints

Block 4: Basket Weave

Block 9: Box

Block 10: Bowtie

Block 12: Broken Sugar Bowl

Block 16: Calico Puzzle

I think I'd been so taken with them because I've become more interested in traditional blocks lately. And these were so much fun to put together, especially since I rarely work with blocks so small. I don't know if I'll do all 111 blocks... I may, or I may stop when enough fun has been had :)