I'm using bright scrappy fabrics to take part in an informal Farmer's Wife Quilt Along - want to join me?

The following is a list of all the block tutorials for Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt Sew-along. Click a link to see the tutorial. Tutorials are listed in numerical and alphabetical order as per the book: Addie – Click here for tutorial Aimee – Click here for tutorial Alice – Click here for tutorial Ann...

I'm using bright scrappy fabrics to take part in an informal Farmer's Wife Quilt Along - want to join me?

I'm participating in the 2015 Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler quilt sew along with GnomeAngel - here's the Betty block.

Starting The Farmers Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt by Laurie Aaron Hird.

Learn to make the 99 Blocks in Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt with Angie Wilson of GnomeAngel.com. Great project for learning new quilting skills.

Like most other quilters, I have a million UFOs and WIPs. I have a "dream" list a mile long. And, I have baggies of adorable fabric pulls...

The biggest quilting event of the year is just about to kick off! And I am super pumped that I have been invited to be one of the official guest bloggers for this awesome quilt-along! This is the book that we will be quilting along to: The Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt by Laurie Aaron Hird. This quilt along is being hosted by Gnome Angel in conjunction with Fat Quarter Shop and From Marti Michell. A super-impressive list of bloggers have been asked to join the party, you can see them all here. As we make our final preparations to start the sew-along, I am absolutely flabbergasted by the sheer number of quilters from all around the world getting ready to take on this challenge. The official Facebook group for the quilt-along has over 3300 members already. It's mind boggling to try to imagine all the quilts that will be made during the course of this QAL! My preparations are complete, and here's my fabric pull. Yes, I do have a rather large collection of repro 30s fabrics as you can see (I actually have quite a bit more in my stash, but was embarrassed to show all of it in case you think I am a fabric obsessed nutter my husband reads this post). Ever since I started to quilt I wanted to make a Farmer's Wife sampler quilt with repro 30s fabrics, so they seemed like the obvious choice for this quilt along. I did briefly consider using Tilda (another obsession of mine) but my heart pulled me back to the repro 30s fabrics. I hope you like my fabric choices and will visit soon to see my blocks. I want the overall effect of the quilt to be quite muted so I may mix in more low volume fabrics along the way too - we shall see. Here is a list of some of the fabrics I will be using for my quilt. Some of these are out of print and may be hard to find but most are still available as bundles at Fat Quarter Shop and other fabric stores. 30s Playtime by Chloe's Closet for Moda Old New 30's by Atsuko Matsuyama for Lecien Aunt Grace by Judie Rothermel for Marcus Brothers Fabrics Pretty Posies by Darlene Zimmerman for Robert Kaufman Fabrics 30's Minis by Erin Turner for Penny Rose Fabrics Hope Chest by Erin Turner for Penny Rose Fabrics Everything But the Kitchen Sink by Yuko Hasegawa for RJR Fabrics Walk in The Park by Maywood Studio Storybook Vacation by Whistler Studio for Windham Fabrics Spring Showers by Kaye England for Wilmington Prints Retro 30s Child Smile by Lecien and many many more! One of the reasons this sew-along is so exciting is not only the awesome blocks but also the opportunity to practice new techniques that you may not have used before, as the book has so much scope! You can machine piece all the blocks, or hand-piece them all, or foundation piece them, or use a mix of techniques (which is what I am going to do). I will rotary cut and machine piece the simple blocks, for the ones with more tricky maths I will use my templates by Marti Michell. I will also foundation paper piece and EPP hand-piece some blocks. I am really looking forward to mixing and matching all the different techniques in this quilt along. Lots of quilty sewing practice! Important Links For those intending to sew along with us, here are some key links for you: Official sew-along page: Click here to visit the official sew-along page at Gnome Angel Facebook group: Join the Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt Facebook Group by clicking here. FAQs: You can find answers to common questions here. Book: The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: Inspiring Letters from Farm Women of the Great Depression and 99 Quilt Blocks That Honor Them by Laurie Aaron Hird for Fons & Porter/F+W, order it here. From Marti Michell Perfect Patchwork Templates: Find information about the templates and a list of templates that you can use to make the blocks by clicking here. Techniques: Brush up (or learn!) some of the quilting techniques we will be using by following the You Tube links below. English Paper Piecing : Sue Daley's English Paper Piecing school Foundation Paper Piecing: Sew Easy: Paper Foundation Piecing by Fons and Porter Using Marti Michell templates: Introductory video on Perfect Patchwork Templates I will be sharing my progress on Instagram, with only periodic updates here on the blog, so if you want to see my blocks as soon as I have made them make sure you are following my IG feed. Please use the hashtag #FQS1930FarmersWife for your Instagram photos so we can see your progress too. Two sleeps to go before we start! Are you ready?

I have so far completed around 62 blocks of the Farmer’s wife quilt sampler. More information about how I am making this quilt. View all the blocks I have done so far. Mother’s Dream Night an…

I'm using bright scrappy fabrics to take part in an informal Farmer's Wife Quilt Along - want to join me?

Here are the From Marti Michell template conversions for the Peony block: The Double Aster Block Double Aster is a classic design credited to Nancy Cabot. In Jinny Beyer's book The Quilter's Album of Patchwork Blocks, Nancy Cabot is said to have presented this block, which she called Double Windmill, in her Chicago Tribune column of October 26, 1936, and attributed it to an old Pennsylvania Dutch pattern pieced in Philadelphia as early as 1800. Nancy Cabot was on a roll -- 2 weeks later, she added 2 triangles to each quarter-block and the new block became Double Aster. She "fertilized" Double Aster with 8 more triangles and a dozen squares and created a new block called Peony and Forget Me Nots, very close to block #76 Peony. I fell in love with Double Aster in the late 1990s, when I used it in this sampler quilt. (Sorry this is only one section of the quilt. The blocks are 16 inches, it is a big quilt!) Wherever the quilt was displayed, Double Aster was always the block that attracted people. At that time, we developed a Double Aster class plan that we made available to stores. It was great for learning about the triangles in Sets A and B because the block has 4 different sized triangles. I had made 8-1/2, 12 and 16 inch Double Aster blocks, but not a 6 inch block. When I first saw Peony in the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book, I thought it wa Double Aster and assumed it looked different because it was so small. Then I realized Peony had more stuff going on at the edges, which seemed to clutter the design. That settled my decision to make Double Aster for my quilt and share it with you. By the way, it was only after I decided that I compared the number of pieces. Double Aster has only 37 pieces, compared to 57 for Peony -- wouldn't you rather cut, sew and press 37 pieces than 57? A Double Aster for our Mystery Quilt Made with Set A, this is also a perfect block for our 8-1/2 inch mystery quilt. (Click the images for a larger view.) Bonus Sizes Double Aster is also a perfect block to demonstrate the versatility of the templates. You're using From Marti Michell templates to make 6-inch blocks, but our basic sets (A through D) can make up to 4 sizes each of hundreds of block designs. If you own Set A, you can make Double Aster in 3 sizes (6, 8-1/2 and 12 inches, finished). And you get 3 more sizes with Set B (8, 11-1/4, and 16 inches). What's the 2+2 triangles in the 12-inch block? It's triangle template A-2 doing a template trick! You can cut any triangle twice as big using this trick! (It's great for Flying Geese units, too -- cut the 2 small triangles with the triangle template, then use this template trick to cut the center triangle!) See 31 sizes of Flying Geese in More Bang for the Buck! My Double Aster Block Click on the image for a larger view. Click the link below to download the Chart for cutting and making Peony: From Marti Michell Chart #74 Visit these other Farmer's Wife Sew Along blogs, too, for sewing tutorials and other info about the Peony block: http://gnomeangel.com http://www.talesofcloth.com/ The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: Inspiring Letters from Farm Women of the Great Depression and 99 Quilt Blocks That Honor Them by Laurie Aaron Hird for Fons & Porter/F+W.

The biggest quilting event of the year is just about to kick off! And I am super pumped that I have been invited to be one of the offic...

Well, 2020 didn’t quite go to plan, did it? With the introduction of COVID-19 to the human race our global...

We are on week eight for the Very Kerry Berry so the blocks for this week are: Block 15 – Blossom. I paper-pieced this using 2½” scrap squares for the blossom on the tree. My journal notes in the book read “a lot of work but easy enough”. I really love the scrappy look. Block 15- Blossom Block 16 – Bonnie. This is a simple patchwork block that has already been covered on week one of the Gnome Angel sew-along. Block 16 - Bonnie For the Gnome Angel sew-along there were three blocks this week: Block 1 – Addie. This was the very first paper-pieced block for the Very Kerry Berry sew-along at the end of September so an easy start to my week. Block 1 - Addie Block 57 – Margaret. I patched this block using half-square-triangles. Notes read “Pretty block”. I love this block and really enjoyed making it. Block 57 - Margaret. Block 62 – Milly. Another half-square-triangles block but by the end of the block I was a littled tired of making them. Notes read “All those points and seams!”. Block 62 - Milly I have been making more blocks as part of my Block-a-Day project and you can see them all on my Farmer’s Wife page. They are also on my Farmer’s Wife Pinterest board. I am in the throws of joining the blocks made so far and I have decided to set half straight and half on-point. The inspiration for this is Lolly Quiltz who has a really good way of setting the blocks. Lolly cuts the sashing bigger than needed and you trim your blocks to size - this is perfect if some of your blocks are not quite 6½" or they are not square. I’m still having fun and am loving both sew-alongs. The tutorials are brilliant and the community for both is so helpful. Until next time...................

Participating in the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt sew along with GnomeAngel. Here's my version of the Bonnie quilt block.

Farmer's Wife Block 4 - Ann (Patchsmith style) Are you joining in the 1930s Farmer’s Wife sew-alongs? There are two – one has already started over at Very Kerry Berry (Instagram #fw1930sqal and Flickr Group). Kerry has an errata sheet which is really helpful and also lists fabric cutting measurements for paper-piecing one block a week. The other sew-along is about to start on the 28th of this month and is being hosted by the Fat Quarter Shop, Gnome Angel and Marti Mitchell (Instagram #fqs1930farmerswife). I am joining in with both sew-alongs and thought I would share my reflections on the first four blocks made ........ Block 1 - Addie. Paper-pieced. "Looks simple but split points are tricky to match up". Block 1 - Addie (Patchsmith style) Block 2 - Aimee. "Patched – measures 6½”". Had trouble matching center points but it is to size so I am happy with it. Besides it looks pretty. Block 2 - Aimee (Patchsmith style) Block 3 – Alice. Paper-pieced. "Took 2-3 hours but turned out lovely and to size." Tips: Block J3 should be marked J2 and vice versa. Block K3 should be marked K2 and vice versa. I changed the order of joining the pieces by stitching E, I and H together before joining O to I. Likewise I joined D, F and G together before joining P to G. Block 3 - Alice (Patchsmith style) Block 4 – Ann. "Tried patching – dreadful due to small points. Will paper-piece". So I paper-pieced and it came out to size and very pretty in Riley Blake's Bloom and Bliss fabrics. Block 4 - Ann (Patchsmith style) I am joining the blocks together, on point, as I go along because I know what I am like – the blocks will stay in a drawer for far too long if I don’t sash-as-I-go. I should’ve said that Very Kerry Berry is working through the book from Block 1 through to Block 99 with two blocks a week whilst Gnome Angel/Fat Quarter Shop are also making two blocks a week but will be starting with simpler blocks and progressing gradually to the more difficult blocks. Either way, it is very good fun so I hope you get a chance to join in. You can see all the blocks I have made to date over on my Farmer's Wife 1930s Pinterest board. Until next time ........................

Block 25 of the Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt is Crystal. I’m still smarting from the whooping that was Prudence) two I...

Time for another four blocks from the 1930s Farmer’s Wife quilt ..... Block 59 – Mary. I thought ...

I'm participating in the 2015 Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler quilt sew along with GnomeAngel - here's the Betty block.

Learn to make the 99 Blocks in Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt with Angie Wilson of GnomeAngel.com. Great project for learning new quilting skills.

The day has finally come where I can share the news I’ve been sitting on since May… Starting Monday 28th September Fat...

Are you having problems working out which fabrics to use for your Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt, let me take the guess work out of it for you.

Block 95 of the Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt is Sylvia. After last week’s block (yes, I’m looking at you Prudence)...

Block 5 of the Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt is Anne. I have loved this block from afar since we started...

The following is a list of all the block tutorials for Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt Sew-along. Click a link to see the tutorial. Tutorials are listed in numerical and alphabetical order as per the book: Addie – Click here for tutorial Aimee – Click here for tutorial Alice – Click here for tutorial Ann...

I consider myself a traditional patchworker who uses contemporary fabrics and templates. If this was pre-1980 I’d be that person at sit and stitch that would be using cereal boxes or template plastic to make my own templates for cutting out the shapes used in my patchwork block. But this is the 2020’s and so...

The following is a list of all the block tutorials for Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt Sew-along. Click a link to see the tutorial. Tutorials are listed in numerical and alphabetical order as per the book: Addie – Click here for tutorial Aimee – Click here for tutorial Alice – Click here for tutorial Ann...

Warning: This post is very eye candy (image) heavy which means it might be a little slow to load. I...

Learn to make the 99 Blocks in Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt with Angie Wilson of GnomeAngel.com. Great project for learning new quilting skills.

Block 85 of the Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt is Primrose. After last week’s speedy block this one is a bit...

Learn to make the 99 Blocks in Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt with Angie Wilson of GnomeAngel.com. Great project for learning new quilting skills.

Here are the From Marti Michell template conversions for the Peony block: The Double Aster Block Double Aster is a classic design credited to Nancy Cabot. In Jinny Beyer's book The Quilter's Album of Patchwork Blocks, Nancy Cabot is said to have presented this block, which she called Double Windmill, in her Chicago Tribune column of October 26, 1936, and attributed it to an old Pennsylvania Dutch pattern pieced in Philadelphia as early as 1800. Nancy Cabot was on a roll -- 2 weeks later, she added 2 triangles to each quarter-block and the new block became Double Aster. She "fertilized" Double Aster with 8 more triangles and a dozen squares and created a new block called Peony and Forget Me Nots, very close to block #76 Peony. I fell in love with Double Aster in the late 1990s, when I used it in this sampler quilt. (Sorry this is only one section of the quilt. The blocks are 16 inches, it is a big quilt!) Wherever the quilt was displayed, Double Aster was always the block that attracted people. At that time, we developed a Double Aster class plan that we made available to stores. It was great for learning about the triangles in Sets A and B because the block has 4 different sized triangles. I had made 8-1/2, 12 and 16 inch Double Aster blocks, but not a 6 inch block. When I first saw Peony in the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book, I thought it wa Double Aster and assumed it looked different because it was so small. Then I realized Peony had more stuff going on at the edges, which seemed to clutter the design. That settled my decision to make Double Aster for my quilt and share it with you. By the way, it was only after I decided that I compared the number of pieces. Double Aster has only 37 pieces, compared to 57 for Peony -- wouldn't you rather cut, sew and press 37 pieces than 57? A Double Aster for our Mystery Quilt Made with Set A, this is also a perfect block for our 8-1/2 inch mystery quilt. (Click the images for a larger view.) Bonus Sizes Double Aster is also a perfect block to demonstrate the versatility of the templates. You're using From Marti Michell templates to make 6-inch blocks, but our basic sets (A through D) can make up to 4 sizes each of hundreds of block designs. If you own Set A, you can make Double Aster in 3 sizes (6, 8-1/2 and 12 inches, finished). And you get 3 more sizes with Set B (8, 11-1/4, and 16 inches). What's the 2+2 triangles in the 12-inch block? It's triangle template A-2 doing a template trick! You can cut any triangle twice as big using this trick! (It's great for Flying Geese units, too -- cut the 2 small triangles with the triangle template, then use this template trick to cut the center triangle!) See 31 sizes of Flying Geese in More Bang for the Buck! My Double Aster Block Click on the image for a larger view. Click the link below to download the Chart for cutting and making Peony: From Marti Michell Chart #74 Visit these other Farmer's Wife Sew Along blogs, too, for sewing tutorials and other info about the Peony block: http://gnomeangel.com http://www.talesofcloth.com/ The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: Inspiring Letters from Farm Women of the Great Depression and 99 Quilt Blocks That Honor Them by Laurie Aaron Hird for Fons & Porter/F+W.

I'm using bright scrappy fabrics to take part in an informal Farmer's Wife Quilt Along - want to join me?

Sewing the Marcella quilt block from the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt Sew Along. Tips to make your Marcella block come together easily.

Thank you for purchasing The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt by Laurie Aaron Hird. Please click on the link below to download ready-to-print PDFs with the materials needed to create the blocks and quilts in this book.

Block 20 - Caroline Well the Farmer’s Wife 1930s sew-along over at Gnome Angel got over to a chaotic start due to there being over 4000 participants – WOWEE! But all is settling down now with two blocks every week. The order of the blocks for each sew-along is different so I shall post the blocks I have made for both sew-alongs this past fortnight. Below you will find a picture together with the journal notes for each block. Block 5 - Anne. Paper-pieced. “Made slight error in fabric placement but block is still pretty.” Farmer's Wife Block 5 - Anne Block 6 - April. Paper-pieced. “A lot of work. Important to have pieces marked with colour as it is easy to get muddled.” Tip: If paper-piecing you can combine E4 and E5 into one piece and F3 and F4 into one piece. Farmer's Wife Block 6 - April Block 7 – Augusta–the-First. Paper-pieced. “6¼” finished which is disappointing as it was a lot of work.“ Farmer's Wife Block 7 - Augusta-the-First. I remade this block using Very Kerry Berry’s wonderful tips and the paper-pieced Augusta-the-second turned out to the correct size of 6½" ...... Farmer's Wife Block 7 - Augusta-the-Second Block 8 - Aunt. Patchwork. "Easy patchwork block." Farmer's Wife Block 8 - Aunt Block 12 - Becky. Patchwork. “Easy – very easy. Great stash buster.” Farmer's Wife Block 12 - Becky Block 14 - Betty. Patchwork. “Quick and easy patchwork using half-square triangles”. Farmer's Wife Block 14 - Betty Block 16 - Bonnie. Patchwork. “Easy to patch.” Farmer's Wife Block 16 - Bonnie Block 20 - Caroline. Patchwork. “Easy patchwork using half-square-triangles. Very pretty – love it.” If you want to patch this block with easy half-square-triangles then this tutorial from Elven Garden will show you how. Farmer's Wife Block 20 - Caroline Now the sew-alongs are settling down I shall post each week showing the four blocks made that week from both groups. If you want to have a gander of my blocks so far you can pop over to my Pinterest board . Until next time ........

Starting The Farmers Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt by Laurie Aaron Hird.

Block 74 of the Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt is Mrs Thomas. I foundation paper pieced this version, but if you’d like to use templates to make it then you’re in luck as Marti Michell has done an

Participating in the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt sew along with GnomeAngel. Here's my version of the Bonnie quilt block.

Block 85 of the Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt is Primrose. After last week’s speedy block this one is a bit...

This week’s block is number 30 Em from the Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt. I found it a surprising block...

You know how they say that Helen of Troy had a face that launched a thousand ships, well Charlotte (Block...

Ava is Block 10 of Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt and it’s a nice change to not have to worry...