Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along - Week 7

FWQAL Week 7


Hi! My name is Jennifer, and I'm a Farmer's Wife-aholic! I've done 22 blocks in 8 days (not counting the last one, which I'm going to redo), so I'm caught up & then some. Maybe it's time to ease up a bit and get back to my myriad other projects, but this is such a fun project! Anyway, here's the skinny on this week's blocks.

#7 - Birds in the Air


FWQAL 007 - Birds in Air


Paper-pieced the first quadrant (top left), then I thought I'd give the next a try using templates (bottom right). It came out OK, but a little wonky, so I did the final 2 paper-pieced as well.

FWQAL 081 - Snowball


Rotary cut, with help from Marti Mitchell's templates. The top & bottom rows are one rectangle with corners cut off (rather than 2 HSTs plus a square) to keep from chopping up the fabric pattern too much.

#8 - Bouquet


FWQAL 008 - Bouquet


Used the templates for this, and it went together quite easily. I'm also happy with the fabric combo on this one.

#11 - Broken Dishes


FWQAL 011 - Broken Dishes


I made the HSTs using Jean Korte's free HST PDF paper pattern, then just sewed them into rows. Worked quite nicely, and definitely quicker than templates or even making 8 individual squares' worth of HSTs. The only problem was that the colors had me craving raspberry-lime sherbet.

#12 - Broken Sugar Bowl


FWQAL 012 - Broken Sugar Bowl


Rotary cut, with HSTs speed-pieced. This was kind of a PITA, and I'm not sure why. I seemed to just keep making mistakes all the way through the process. In fact, the center square is 90° off, but I only noticed it when I was done, and I just didn't have the will to take it apart & fix it. The block still looks OK, I think.

#20 - Churn Dash


FWQAL 020 - Churn Dash


I needed something quick & easy after the previous block, so I chose this one. Rotary cut, speed-pieced HSTs. Phew!

#69 - Practical Orchard


FWQAL 069 - Practical Orchard


Rotary cut, speed-pieced QST. I love making QSTs this way, seems like a miracle every time one comes together. The lighter yellow is actually the reverse side of the fabric, which preserved almost all of the pattern's detail, while toning the color down a couple of notches, which made for better contrast with the other yellow.

#13 - Buckwheat


FWQAL 013 - Buckwheat


Paper-pieced, with a pattern drafted by me using Anita Grossman Solomon's technique. I wasn't sure if the 3 colors had enough value difference to make the block work, but I'm happy with the finished block.

#41 - Friendship Star


FWQAL 041 - Friendship Star


Again, I wanted something I could whip off quickly. Rotary cut, speed-pieced HSTs.

#21 - Contrary Wife


FWQAL 021 - Contrary Wife


Another quickie (I'm terribly afraid that I'm going to run out of easy blocks to do, and be left with only the hard ones.) You know the drill: rotary cut, speed-pieced HSTs.

#14 - Butterfly at the Crossroads


FWQAL 014 - Butterfly at the Crossroads


I actually used the templates on this one, and it came out OK, but for other blocks like this, I think I'm going to paper-piece.

#68 - Postage Stamp


FWQAL 068 - Postage Stamp


I've been saving up 1½" square scraps from my other blocks. I had been thinking about paper-piecing it using Terrie Sandelin's miniature technique, but I decided to throw caution to the wind and just sewed the pieces up into the block. It probably would have been more accurate if I'd paper-pieced it, but this way was definitely quicker.

#15 - Buzzard's Roost


FWQAL 015 - Buzzard's Roost


I used the "no-waste flying geese" method for most of this block. Not 100% happy with it -- I think the points could have been better. I probably would have done just as well just going with the templates.

#17 - Cats & Mice (1st try)


FWQAL 017 - Cats & Mice (1st try)


I'm including this one for, I don't know, journalistic accuracy? I paper-pieced this, but I didn't draft the pattern correctly, and the points don't match well enough. Definitely going to be redoing this one. The color combo's nice, at least.

Whew!


The Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt Quilt-Along

3 comments:

  1. Love your blocks but especially Sugar Bowl and Butterfly at the Crossroads.

    It is rather addicting isnt it. Even though it is a large project, it is filled with mini accomplishments.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 22 blocks in 8 days is pretty darned impressive considering they all use different fabrics and cut-out pieces!

    ReplyDelete
  3. WOW! way to go! love the blocks!

    ReplyDelete