Farmer's Wife Quilt - The Big Assembly

I wouldn't be surprised if you thought I was ignoring my FW quilt because you know how OCD I am with block placement and all my silly rules about colors and prints etc. not touching and all that.  Some of you even (rightfully) poked fun at me and how hard a time I was going to have with the layout process of my 98 blocks.  Remember the nightmare I had with only 12 blocks?!  LOL!

Lucky for me I still have a few brain cells that operate on common sense and they made me realize it was totally, utterly and completely IMPOSSIBLE for me to lay out this quilt AND follow all my rules ... AND keep my sanity.

So.

I let all my silliness go ... (ok, maybe just most of it ...)

I really only made sure that:

• the reds were evenly distributed (100% successful)
• the blocks - which I sorted into "lights" and "darks" - weren't clumped anywhere (mostly successful ... found a few problems after the top was put together ... I just practice taking deep breaths when I notice them)
• and of course I tried to avoid any obvious color/print touching (much leniency was required in this regard)

So now let me show you how it all came together. 

It's not often a quilt looks as good or better in real life than it did in my mind when I started.  It's always still a bit of a surprise to me.  Sometimes I'm close, others are total disappointments.

But never mind.  My Farmer's Wife quilt is an unmitigated success.  For me.

Remember my pink sashing disappointment ...

because I was trying to make my quilt look like this ... ?

Well, I officially forgive that pink fabric for not cooperating because I gotta say, I'm THRILLED with how the white turned out.  I especially love how the white background blocks "float". 

The red.  Ok.  I'm not much of a red girl ... unless it's for Christmas or Valentine's Day.

However, from the very start - before I even made my first block - I pictured this quilt with red ... sparkle ... you know?  I didn't want any bold or heavy redness so I carefully used it just as little bits here and there.

For the few red (& white) only blocks I used prints that weren't dark, but had lots of white or other colors in it, like these.

(There's a reason why this block is going on the back ... )

And the red posts?  They finish at a mere 3/4" and seem to hold everything together.

When I stand back and squint my eyes to look at this quilt, I'm fascinated by the pretty, "random" geometric pattern created by the red punctuations.  (I overexposed this photo to help you see what I mean.)

Oh, and one more thing about the posts.  I wasn't wild with the finish in the book and how the outside posts were cut in half. 

That would have driven me banana nuts crazy.  So I made mine full squares.

And I am so pleased with how the light blue side-setting triangles frame the blocks without being too .. chunky.  Subtle, but effective to my eye.

Also the book only has one large border.  I wanted something a little different.  So I added an inner border the same fabric & width as my sashing.

And then I went with this happy blue dot - mostly because I have limited "Flower Sugar" yardage in my stash. 

But I wonder if I had a choice of every print in my quilt that I would have picked this one anyways.  It's perfect.  Grounding, happy, love the personality of the dots ... it's strong enough to hold up as a frame, but not too busy as to take the focus away from the intricate piecing in the blocks.

No, it's not pink. 

And no, I don't care. ;)

For width, the outer border finishes the same width as a block (4 1/2").  It always seems logical to me to repeat a dominant measurement from the body of a quilt for the border. 

I'm also going to bind it with the same border fabric.  I was originally planning either red or scrappy, but now I think both those options would be too much.  I'm just gonna keep it simple.

Now.  I'm still not sure about these blocks being stuck in the bottom corners.

I don't know why, but I assumed the signature should go in the bottom right corner .... you know ... like where you sign a letter.  That is until someone suggested placing it in the middle.  Oh that would be so nice!

And I'm not happy with the other horizontal striped blocks so symmetrically placed.  Looks ... predicable?  And maybe boring.  Not sure what I mean.  So I'm thinking about moving at least one of them. 

But I haven't yet.  Cause doing stuff like that makes me cranky. 

Sigh.

I should probably just do it.  I think I'll be unhappy if I don't.

Oh WHO AM I KIDDING?!! They are staying put.  The end. ;)

And a quick mention about this "Flock of Birds" block ... I set it so the birds are flying east ...

... 'cause remember my crazy birding sister?  She lives east of us.  So the birds are flying in her direction.

But now to the quilting decision.  I have a habit of cheaping out on things sometimes - either with the border, or the backing ... or in this case, the top-stitching.  And then I live to regret it.

I can do it myself with a cross-hatch - classic, acceptible ... but not necessarily the best option for taking this quilt to the next level of amazing, right?

I could free-motion quilt it, but my FMQ repertoire is limited at best and totally inappropriate for this quilt at worst.

So lucky for my I've let my BFF talk me into having it longarmed ... so now I'm saving my pennies.

Look Ma, NO SCORCH!

SEE?!!!!!

I KNOW!!!!! 

I feel like a magician!

"Bonnie, you are my Fairy Godmother."  And to all you other oh so very lovely people who shared remedy ideas, "Thank you from the bottom of my heart."  You guys totally rock! :)

Bonnie was the first person to leave me a comment on my scorched block crisis post last week who not only suggested there was hope for removing scorch marks (I thought they were forEVER!) but recommended I Google peroxide as a remedy.  I found this link.  As per the instructions I used hydrogen peroxide and a clean cloth.  (I used an old flannel burp cloth from when my kids were babies.  They make THE best pressing cloths!)

And an hour later my block was cured!

Well, maybe not 100% ... but I'd say a good 90 to 95%. 

I think if you look closely you might detect the slightest hint of yellow.  (I did replace the sashing strips.)  But that doesn't bother me because I have a few other "whites" in the quilt that aren't "white white" either.

And in the interest of full discosure, the peroxide made the red bleed a little.  But I was warned about that.  And quite frankly I don't care ... I'm just so happy I don't need to remake the block!!!

And now I'm MOST happy knowing that A) I HAVE THE BEST INTERNET FRIENDS EVERRRRRR and B) I learned through this ordeal that scorch marks CAN be removed - or at least faded - from fabric.  There are other remedies involving things like OxyClean, vinegar, salt, lemon, sunlight, onions (?!) ... just Google "scorched fabric remedies" and you'll come up with something!

This is me raising my glass of champagne ... or rather cup of tea, as the case may be ... (I don't drink & blog) ... to happy endings.

CHEERS!

(clink)

PS:  Just how DID we survive as a species without Google?

Borderline

Just channeling my inner Madonna with that title ... ;)

Thanks for all your sympathy yesterday.  It felt just as good as the cheesecake tasted. ;)  But as you'll see today, I chickened out and ran to the safety of white sashing ... not exactly the look I wanted, but at least I know it will look ... nice.

                           *                *               *               *

With lost motivation/inspiration, block reductions & that disappointing sashing failure my FQ quilt is really giving me a run for my money!

And my side-setting triangles for the border have proven just as difficult.  I'd always had it in my mind's eye - based on pink sashing, mind you - that the triangles would be white with flowers to make the blocks look like they were surrounded by a garden ... sorta.

Well, I think this print would have worked very well with pink sashing, but with white ... not so much.  I think it looks too ... I dunno ... bedroomy? ... I find it VERY Laura Ashley circa late 80s/early90s ... which I would normally be all over like white on rice, but it just isn't holding up here for some reason.

So I tried a few other fabrics and it was unanimous (with me and my daughters) this blue/white print was perfect. 

Not too heavy, but with enough definition to frame the blocks nicely.

But, of course, THE ONE BLOCK of NINETY EIGHT that has the EXACT fabric as the triangles is RIGHT IN THE CORNER!!! AAAGH! You can just imagine me and my OCD "Fabrics Can't Touch" thing EXPLODING ALL OVER this!

I'm starting to wonder if I should have my seam ripper surgically implanted because I've been using it WAY TOO MUCH LATELY!

(Sorry, I'll stop yelling now.)

Sashing Situation

Ok, ok, ok.  You were right.  I was wrong. 

Remember a few months ago when I showed you the fabrics I was contemplating for my FW sashing & posts?  All ya'll said the pink didn't look right.

In my defense, the color on my computer screen doesn't quite match the fabric in real life.

So stubborn me went ahead and cut like 100 sashing strips and sewed about 70 of them on ...

... because you guys I really, REALLY wanted my quilt to look like THIS!

This is the cover of one of my favorite Japanese craft books and was largely the inspiration for me choosing Flower Sugar fabric for my FW quilt in the first place.

Isn't it just the happiest quilt you've ever seen?  I mean come ON!

But then I laid my partly sashed blocks out on the floor.

And then I started to pout as my pink sashing dream faded before my very eyes.

So I sulked for a bit.

And then I did this ...

Which is why god created Tivo.

And Madmen.

And New York style cheesecake.

Farmer's Wife Favorites, Fussy Cuts & Failures

That's right.  I've got some of each.  Wanna see?

Favorites:

All time favorite:

Other all time favorite:

Honorable Mentions:

(reminds me of my wedding)

(has the most pieces ... at 64 ... )

(because I went all surreal and it.felt.GOOD!)

Fussy Cuts:

Best Fussy Cut:

I was gonna pick this one because it's SUPPOSED to be a tea cup sitting on a doily,

but my nine year old offered her opinion that this block "looks like a fancy apron worn by someone very rich who was cleaning her really big house".

(cricket chirps ...)

I know.  I don't get it either ... but I thought it was funny. 

Failures:

This is my solution to being short one block ... remove another 12!  LOL!!! 

Ah geez, I crack myself up sometimes.

But seriously, I got to thinkin' ... just because I MADE these blocks doesn't mean I have to put then IN my quilt, right?  And I simply don't love - or even really like - these blocks.  Life is too short to live with a quilt with blocks that don't make your heart smile.  (It's interesting to me how all but one of them are "heavy".)

So they're going on the back ... 'cause I don't want to WASTE them.

All right.  That was quite enough farting around with mosaic making ... now it's on to sashing and posting and rowing and side-setting triangle ... ing ...

FWQAL Last 2 Blocks

Ok.  I admit it.  This Farmer's Wife is defeated.  By one block. 

Pathetic. 

I know. 

But I am nothing if not an excellent problem solver when it comes to quilting.  So I have a solution for my insufficient # of blocks.  If it works, I'll show you.  If not, I'll tell you about it and then show you Plan B ... or C ... however many it takes to get this quilt done!

So here are my last.two.blocks.  And like the last few weeks you won't find them in the book either.

I'd been thinking for a while it might be kinda cool to include a bit of "Flower Sugar" selvedge, since all the fabrics I used are from that line (except the white).

I made the stripes deliberately askew.  Just for fun.  I also threw in a few of the color legends ... which I love.

And now for the Grand Finale Block!

I've known right from the start I was going to embroider my name etc. on an album-type block.

But I couldn't find one I liked.  So I made this one up for myself.  (I did find it a little odd there wasn't a single album block in the entire book ... I can't be the ONLY person who wants to put my name on the front of the quilt rather than hiding it on the back!)

To keep the details fine I used only 1 ply of floss with a backstitch (even though the backstitch and I aren't exactly best friends 'cause my stitches aren't terribly uniform in length and that bugs me ... it just doesn't bug me enough to stitch slower for better accuracy ... ). 

A little part of me thinks it would have been more "authentic" to use my own handwriting.  But my penmanship was ruined by 5 years of University.  (Yes, I'm so old I remember the dark ages of laboriously taking notes in class BY HAND!)  But it's awful.  I did try doing my very best writing/printing, but it just looked ... I dunno ... goofy.  So I resorted to my favorite trick of typing out text on my computer, finding a nice font, resizing it and printing it out as my embroidery template. 

And I don't mind fooling anyone from the future who sees this quilt into thinking I had amazingly feminine & delicate penmanship.  Maybe they will also (erroneously) imagine I had a personality to match.

So this is them.  All 110 of them.  All nearly 6" of them! 

Can hardly wait to put 'em all together.

I guess the pressure is really on to finish now ... since I ambitiously EMBROIDERED the year!  LOL!

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along Week 52

One year ... sorta, kinda.  TECHNICALLY, I started FW on June 29th last year, but I was 4 weeks late from the official FWQAL Flickr Group launch so ...

I feel like I should break out into what would surely be an awful rendition of Auld Lang Syne.  But I'll spare you.  You're welcome. ;)

Ok.  CHEATER ALERT!!!

No, you aren't confused ... these are NOT actual FW blocks from the book.  I got a bee in my bonnet about not being able to showcase some of the larger prints in the Flower Sugar fabric collection I'm using.  So I thought it would be good idea to fussy cut a few larger motifs and simply frame them.

Besides, I have ZERO inspiration to make any of the remaining blocks right now.

I know ... they're totally lame and uninspiring.  But I think they'll look ok in the finished quilt.  At least I'm hoping!  Either that or they'll be a lifelong reminder to me NOT to wimp out so close to the finishline.  Or if they look REALLY terrible, I'll make nicer blocks when I'm laying them all out.

Kay?

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along Week 50

No color theme ... I think the rest of my blocks will be done all higgledy piggledy.

Block #96 - Tulip

There's a very good reason I haven't made this block sooner ... I just.don't.get.it.  I admit it.  Where, exactly, is the tulip?  I mean, yes the 2 parallelograms in the middle can be interpreted as the blossom, but I don't get the rest of it. 

And the asymmetrical fabric choices in the book?

I don't get it.

I always thought I'd find a way to assign order and balance ... but I'm as surprised as you are that I ended up going all PICASSO with my version too! 

This is not like me at all.  (Although I couldn't stop myself from at least putting green along the bottom for leaves.)

And I'm even more astonished that I like my tulip! 

Block # 84 - Spool

Sigh. 

For such a simple block, it caused me a lot of anxiety. 

Until I noticed this print in my stash (that I've only used for the gingham and a few wreaths) ...

and got the idea to make my spool look like it had eyelet lace wrapped around it.

I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along Week 49

I was gonna try to make up for missing last week and post 4 blocks today ... that didn't happen.  I was lucky to get these done and photographed before the sun went down!  LOL!

And as you can see I wasn't in the mood to bother with a color theme.  I just picked whatever.

#52 Hovering Hawks

I had a bad feeling while I was cutting that these colors were too weak to go nicely together.  I was right.  At a distance, this block has virtually no definition - 'cept for the red splotches from the flowers.

Blech.

But at this point in the FWQAL, I really don't give a (insert curse word of your choice here ... anything from mild to severe will work ... tee hee).

#94 Tall Pine Tree

You know me and my literality (is that even a word?)  This is supposed to be a tree.  I guess ... if you were on LSD or something ... (I got that reference from an episode of Mad Men a few weeks ago ... I've never actually tried it ... just sayin'.)

Can you tell I've hit that legendary mile 18 of a marathon and am having a hard time being excited about FW right now?  I think I have only 11 more blocks to make ... feels like a million to me ... (wheeze, cough, sputter)

Also, I hate math.  If this is Week 49 and I've made 2 blocks / week I should have 98 made with 13 to go.  But I counted my blocks twice and I have 100. 

??? 

Whatever.  I don't care.

;)

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along - Oops

I'm so sorry you guys.  I haven't got any new FW blocks today.  I'm very sad.  This is the FIRST Monday I've missed since I started last July.  I'll try to get them done in a few days. 

Instead, I thought I'd show you what my FW project looks like behind the scenes.

Remember I showed you how I organize my FW fabrics,

this picture from my Sewing Room Makeover,

and my confession that my room farted after the pictures were taken?

Well, here is partial evidence of said wind-breaking.

And I had to remove an equal amount of mess that was sitting on top of my FW fabrics just to take this picture.

Pitiful.