Farmer's Wife Quilt - Update 1

It's been a while since I updated the status of this project.  My original post is dated 2/10/2015 so maybe "a while" is a relative term.  I did choose the accurate title for that post - "My Intentional UFO" - it still holds true today!  You can see that post here.

I decided that in 2018 I was ready for a project that I could work on for an extended period of time as my schedule allowed, and had no deadlines or pressure to finish.  I wanted something that I would enjoy doing and that would teach me new quilting techniques or refresh ones I had not done in a while.  The project chosen in 2015 was still a good choice in 2018.  As indicated in my original post, I already purchased the book for The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt and started choosing blocks and fabrics that I would use so I just picked up from where that project left off.

I did decide against using the 30s fabrics as originally chosen though.  I eventually chose the "Simply Harvest" line of fabrics by Marcus fabrics.  I will also use some Moda Marble solids with this fabrics to add a bit of variety since there are 111 blocks in this project.

My original post may have mentioned that I joined a Face Book page called Farmer's Wife Quilt Revival Class 2018. It was started by Karen Walker.  The purpose of the page is to provide a way to make this sampler quilt using rotary cutter techniques.  It has been a wealth of information, support and inspiration.  Karen has created 12 classes for this sampler quilt which explain a variety of techniques to make the blocks.  The classes are available for purchase and I have found them extremely helpful.  

So, I have completed 8 blocks so far.  I am a bit off my original schedule of 2 blocks per week but I had several projects to complete and my blog was getting a much needed makeover!  I didn't want to add anything to the older blog while it was undergoing the revisions.  My new blog now has a separate page where I can list all the blocks and the order in which I will hope to make them.  You can see this new page in my navigation bar.  Here are my first 8 blocks.

 

Taking pictures really helps to point out mistakes!  My broken dishes block had an oops in the bottom left corner!  I quickly fixed this before it was sewn together!   

 Now, it's ready to sew!  I love the design boards that I used to move my blocks from cutting board to sewing machine to ironing board.  I learned to make these from a tutorial I saw on the Fat Quarter Shop YouTube page. They are very easy to make and make the blocks in progress very portable!  

I hope to have several blocks cut in the next 2 weeks.  Watch for the next update!  

Sailing the Seas for Batiks

One of the exciting events that occurred in April of 2017 was a 12 day cruise of the Caribbean.  I had no way of doing anything quilty other than reading a few quilting magazines by the pool on our beautiful ship.  We did schedule several excursions to the nearby islands so I was hoping I could find some fabrics to bring home.

The last island we visited was St. Kitts.  I knew I had a good chance of finding some fabric there, especially batiks.  To my surprise, one of the two locations this excursion would take us to was a batik factory!  The bad news was the stop was only 20 minutes long!  The bus pulled up to the side of the road where we could see several clothes lines covered with large sheets of batik fabrics drying in the beautiful sunshine!

Inside the building was a room where several fabrics were being made with wax and a variety of inks in a rainbow of colors.  I watched some of the process but I kept my eye on the clock to make sure I left enough time to shop.  And shop I did!  My wonderful husband said "get what you want".  He's a keeper!

After shopping and picking out a 3 yard length of beautiful fabric, we left the building to see some of the flower filled grounds.  Then it was time to get back on the bus!

I was also able to purchase some batik fabric from a shop in Antigua which was imported from India.  Of course I could not resist a good sale so I bought 2 yards there.

This picture was taken in front of a 400 year old tree.  It made me feel very young!

This was our chariot for the day.  The driver knew lots of wonderful stories about the island.  No one was left behind today, even if they took more than 20 minutes!

These are the treasures I bought on the cruise.  The blue fabric was purchased in Antigua and the large leaf fabric was purchased in St. Kitts.  I hope both places survived the devastating hurricanes that hit the islands recently.  I am not sure how the fabrics will be used but I am sure I will find the perfect pattern for them which will bring back lots of good memories of my island shop-hop!

My New Blog

Happy New Year!  Happy New Blog!

It's been a while since I posted but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy!  I have been quilting but I have also been travelling, enjoying the summer with my grandkids and ....... planning an update to my blog design.  I loved my original blog but it was time to give it an update so it worked more efficiently for me.  I decided to use a blog designer this time so for my birthday in November, I started the process.

I wanted a way to share my quilting activities but also a way to keep all my quilting "lists" in one place.  So now I have a place to journal, to track my PIGs, WIPs, UFOs and maintain a wish list.  It  will take some time to get all of that info into the blog but I do have several quilt projects to share which I will do shortly.   There is also a separate page to organize my special projects.
I am very excited to get started!

The design process went incredibly well.  I worked with Rebekah Louise Designs to pick a color scheme, font type, font color, pictures, icons and layout.  Everything I chose was added to a Pinterest board for her to see.  I would highly recommend her to anyone thinking of a setting up a new blog or updating one they already use. There is a link in the footer at the bottom of the page to reach her.

Well, enough for now.  I need to spend some time to add my recent quilting projects and share them with you.  I do have something to share with you now though, a new quilting term that I learned while exploring other blogs for ideas - NIPs.  I have lots of these - New in Package!