Posts tagged: Farmer’s Wife Quilt

I’m Jumping In: EPP

… and possibly divorcing the Farmer, but more on that after I explain the EPP.

I’m really trying to get more involved in the local quilting community, and meet more local people. When the LQS announced that they are going to have a monthly sit-and-sew focusing on English Paper Piecing, I decided that it is a great way to do that, as well as try EPP, as I’ve been wanting to do lately, all in the cold winter months.

So I am, starting today.

It’s not something we have to pay for, but we are required to get one of two books and must work on an EPP project while we are there. The two books they specified are English Paper Piecing: Fresh New Quilts from Bloom Creek and Lucy Boston: Patchwork of the Crosses.

I bought English Paper Piecing, as it was the one in stock (and was cheaper, and struck me as a more general-purpose book, and “of the Crosses” didn’t seem my style, etc.), but I’m rather disappointed. For a book titled as a specific technique, one would think more than a few pages would be dedicated to that specific technique. But, that’s all there is. And, most of the projects in the book simply combine small bits of EPP with other techniques (mostly machine piecing and applique). I don’t have an alternative to recommend, but frankly, if you’re looking for a beginning EPP book, I don’t think this is the right one unless you’re particularly drawn to one of the projects.

Meanwhile, I looked up Lucy Boston. She was a rather interesting lady! Somehow, I made it through childhood having never read her books (a point I plan on remedying post haste). But, her patchworks are very interesting as well, so I think the second book may join my library eventually (although I have doubts that it is a great resource on EPP too). There’s a coffee table-style book about her as well (Patchworks of Lucy Boston), which I wish my local library system had, but alas.

As to my statement about divorcing the Farmer—I haven’t even opened the box in which my Farmer’s Wife project lives for over a year, yet I truly love the fabrics I was using. So, I think I’m going to shift them to this EPP project and plan a way to use the Farmer’s Wife blocks I did complete (perhaps minus a few I wasn’t happy with, plus a couple more if I feel motivated) in the EPP quilt. They could make an interesting border or a patchwork medallion—but most of all, they will get out of the box and into a quilt top someday.

These are the fabrics I started with for FWQAL

I think it’s a good compromise. An amicable split, if you will. Here the blocks are again, looking bright and happy last August before I put them away.

Now I just need to sort out the type of EPP project I want to make before the first event. I better get brainstorming!

Do you have a favorite EPP book?

FWQAL Week 6—Blocks #1, 29, 84

Posted in Quilting

My date with the farmer came a bit early last week: I sewed these three blocks early Friday afternoon. But then on Saturday, we left home at 6:30am to travel down to NYC for the day (5-hours each way for a combined car/train trip) to visit dear friends and see Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty at the Met. If you can make it there by this Sunday, Aug. 7, I highly recommend seeing the exhibit. It was wonderful and worth the 2-hour line, in my estimation. I’d never been to the Met, but now look forward to returning to view more of their permanent collections someday. I don’t plan on another day trip down though—it was a bit brutal. But anyway, we did that, arrived at home just a few minutes shy of midnight, and I proceeded to laze around doing nothing more than light cleaning and binge reading for the next two days. So, finally, here are my week 6 blocks.

FWQAL Week 5—Blocks #11, 103, 109

Posted in Quilting

I think these are my three least favorite FWQAL blocks thus far, at least of the ones I’ve completed. Well, no, Wrench from Week 3 is my least favorite, but I’m not a huge fan of any of these. Also, I hope that our porch gets finished soon (starting week three without railings…) so that I can get some good photos of all of them together soon. This phone-camera-in-the-house thing isn’t working for me.

FWQAL Week 4—Blocks #21, 71

Posted in Quilting

I’m a little off schedule this week (or, last, technically speaking). We had plans Friday night, which is when I’ve been working on these, and then Saturday was a race day for Carl, so we traveled and were otherwise busy. But Sunday was a sew-together with the Utica Modern Quilt Guild, so I packed up my things and drove over. I was woefully over-packed. Going in, I had hoped to finish a few blocks for FWQAL and get work done on other projects, but only had time for 2.4 blocks.

Quilting Projects As Yet Unfinished

Posted in Quilting

I’m working on a bucket list for quilting, more for my sanity to get it down on paper and out of my brain than for public consumption. The #1 item is to finish the myriad projects I’m already working on. Some are whiling away in boxes, some I am actively working on. It’s gotten a little out of control; I have eight!

They are:

FWQAL Week 3—Blocks #20, 69, 111

Posted in Quilting

Looking back, I should have waited on making either Wrench or Churn Dash and used a different color scheme for one, since they’re essentially the same block. But, they’re done. And a third—Practical Orchard—for good measure.

FWQAL Week 2—Blocks #41, 48, 73

Posted in Quilting

“In for a penny, in for a pound” seems apt for my current participation. I wasn’t going to start for a while, but then I needed a break last week, and found myself doing another set of three last night. These were all simple enough to finish without diving into the templates, so I have some notes to share on measurements.

FWQAL Week 1—Blocks #2, 4, 92

Posted in Quilting

I’m already four weeks behind the group, and wasn’t planning on starting for another couple yet, but I needed a change from another project that is making me tear my hair out. Here is my week one. For these three blocks, I didn’t use templates. They were easy enough to figure out the size of the squares and rectangles. Plus, they can easily be simplified so that you aren’t working with as many small pieces (and are potentially able to sew them faster). I’ve added my notes about simplifying the cutting and piecing, including some of the measurements, but you’ll have to get the book for clarification on anything I left out.

The Farmer’s Wife Quilt-Along Intro

Posted in Quilting

Blogland is abuzz with talk about the latest Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt QAL, started by Angela of {fussy cut} and Amanda of msmcporkchopquilts. Not only is the Flickr group busy, busy, but Twitter is constantly updating with tweets tagged #FWQAL.

Essentially, everyone is trying to do two blocks a week, in any order, out of The Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt by Laurie Aaron Hird.

Right now, in the parlance of the group, I am merely dating the farmer.

Farmer’s Wife QAL Buttons

Posted in Learning

The Farmer’s Wife QAL discussion has lead to a few questions about how to add a button to your blog.

Here’s the code for the four buttons members have created so far (in no particular order):

Copy the provided code and add it to your site! If you have questions about how to do that, leave a comment with the type of blog you have or email me at rae@raevenfea.com and I’ll help you if I can.