The Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt Sew Along - April

At the beginning of April the announcement was made that there would now only be one block released per week.  I think too many people were struggling to keep up with the sew along.  My feelings about this are mixed.  A large part of me is relieved as I was struggling to stay up to date sewing all of my blocks, let alone blogging about my progress.  However, the realisation that it was now going to take more than the initial 12-month investment to complete this quilt frustrates me.  I have already cut back on some of my commitments to try to keep up to date with this sew along and the thought of adding another 3-6 months to this project makes it feel like a never ending task - at this point in time anyway. Just my initial thoughts; who knows, it might actually be a good thing.  

Here are my Farmer's Wife blocks for April 2016:

05 April - Block 32 - Fanny

12 April - Block 97 - Tracy

19 April - Block 72 - Mrs. Smith

25 April - Block 44 - Iris

So far I have made 53 blocks and I still have 46 blocks to go.  The big decision ahead of me is: do I continue to sew these blocks as they are announced each week with the official sew along or should I forge ahead and work at my own pace?

I have now used up most of my fat quarter bundle of solids that I was using for the shades of teal.  I am also starting to think about what colour sashing I will use for this quilt - I feel that a solid white would look too stark, and a solid black would look too heavy.  My current thoughts are to use one of the paler shades of teal - such as the lighter shade shown above in block 97.  Meanwhile I have added to my black and white prints as I slowly use up my smaller scraps and I have also purchased some yardage of the darker teal shades.

The Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt Sew Along - March

Hmmmm, that annoying moment when you have written a blog post & thought you programmed it to post some time ago but you hadn't hit the right button so it didn't....  Here's a post you should've got AGES ago *hangs head in shame*

After a short break, the sew along re commenced on the 1st of March.  Here are my Farmer's Wife blocks for March 2016:

01 March - Block 88 - Rosemary

03 March - Block 66 - Mrs. Anderson

08 March - Block 43 - Hope

10 March - Block 15 - Blossom

15 March - Block 6 - April

22 March - Block 30 - Em

29 March - Block 77 - Nellie

29 March - Block 98 - Viola

The Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt Sew Along - February

Following on from my last brief post, here are my Farmer's Wife blocks from February 2016:

02 February - Block 61 - May

04 February - Block 37 - Georgia

09 February - Block 69 - Mrs. Keller

11 February - Block 23 - Charlotte

16 February - Block 11 - Bea

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we had a break in the sew along until the 1st of March.  This was a great opportunity to catch up. I must admit I am enjoying this sew along but it does take up a lot of time. 

The Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt Sew Along - January

I've really fallen behind with my blog posts this year as I have been madly scrambling to keep up with all of my sewing commitments whilst battling bad health.  I'll be honest, I have not had time to read the stories in the book that accompany each of these blocks, but here are my Farmer's Wife Blocks for January 2016:

05 January - Block 47 - Joy

07 January - Block 51 - Lily

12 January - Block 71 - Mrs. Morgan

14 January - Block 53 - Lucy

14 January - Block 67 - Mrs. Brown

19 January - Block 40 - Grandmother

21 January - Block 42 - Heather

26 January - Block 28 - Dolly

Jen Kingwell class

Back in March I had the opportunity to do a class with Jen Kingwell (of Amitie Textiles in Melbourne) which was hosted by Cotton Factory in Ballarat.  Alison from Cotton Factory had hired a local hall for the class so that we would have plenty of space to spread ourselves out as there were about 20 students enrolled (people had travelled from New South Wales, Tasmania and various parts of Victoria to participate).

 

The class was based on Jen's quilt pattern "The Circle Game". In the class we covered several techniques including; hand piecing, machine piecing, English paper Piecing (EPP), foundation piecing, and applique.  Jen also demonstrated her hand quilting techniques.

 

Jen Kingwell & myself.  Jen autographed a copy of her new book "Quilt Lovely" for me.  Squeeeeee!!!  #FanGirlMoment



Squeeeeeee!  Jen autographed a copy of her book for me. #FanGirlMoment



 

Hand piecing in class.

A view of our class room

Another view of our class room

Me with the gorgeous Jodie Carleton from Ric Rac

Jodie & Jen

Isabella Golightly - the Bilby Lady - flew down from Sydney to join our class.  I took Greeny the bilby along to catch up with his "birth" mother.

Greeny wasn't on his own, Katharine had her bilby in class as well so they got to hang out & do "Secret Bilby Business" whilst we sewed.

Sue Clark, Carlie Lincoln & Kendra Watson - friends of mine from Melbourne

 

Me & Carlie.  Carlie was my first quilting friend and kindly took me under her wing when I started out.  This is the lovely lady who encouraged me to start foundation paper piecing!

I finally got to meet my dear friend Alison White in person!

Jodie from Ric Rac brought some of her selvage art for us to admire.  This is her selvage chair & her selvage dress.  Also on display was a selvage parasol which I forgot to photograph.  Jodie has kindly talked me through the process so I am hoping to do some work with selvages later this year.

English Paper Piecing in class.

Alison from Cotton Factory caught in the act of photographing Jen Kingwell's "Midnight at the Oasis"

Jen Kingwell's "Midnight at the Oasis"

Alison from Cotton Factory holding up Jen Kingwell's original copy of the quilt "The Circle Game"

The Circle Game pattern by Jen Kingwell & her new book "Quilt Lovely"

We worked on a number of blocks during class which I will feature in upcoming blog posts.

 

Rather than drive all the way back to Bendigo after such a long day, I stayed overnight in Ballarat and spent some quality time with some of the other out-of-towners who chose to stay over.  My next blog post will be the "After Party" - I mean the after class photos...

Double Goosed Kaffe Style

 

It all started with this lovely piece of Kaffe Fassett fabric called "Purple Big Leaf" from his 2014 Fall collection.  I wanted to send a special gift to a dear friend of mine overseas but had been undecided what to make for her.  When I posted a photo of this purchase on Instagram, she commented how much she loved this print.  I knew then and there that I would use this print for her gift.  I know that my friend especially loved the teal and the purple in this print so I wanted to make a feature out of both of these colours.   I spoke to the squirrels and we selected a pattern - "Double Goosed" by Jeliquilts.

 

My friend had no idea what the squirrels & I were planning, but she did get taunted with the following photos which I tagged her in on Instagram...

 

Snowy the Squirrel cranked up the Bollywood music and danced in his Sari whilst we sewed





I couldn't work out why I had such a hard time removing the papers after I had pieced it - later I realised that I had forgotten to change my needle.  Instead of a 90/14 I was still using a 70/10.

Binding - purple & teal.

The parcel decided to take the slow boat to America, but after 4-weeks of anxious waiting (and stalking of my friend's Instagram feed) it finally arrived YAY!!!! Now that I know that she has her parcel, I can share the rest of these photos with you...

 

Completed top with border number 1 attached.

The completed mini.  I decided to use teal binding to enhance the centre circle of teal geese.

 

  

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