Farmer's Wife Quilt progress

Two (plus?) years after getting The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt, I've finally started it.  I did a couple of blocks a while ago, and they sat on my design wall, but then these last two weeks I finally recovered from Christmas sewing, and the book called to me. 

I've made 18 blocks so far.  And just yesterday I finally found some repro-feel yellows and neutrals to help me get a few more blocks going. 

I've been trying to stay true to the original block colors, but I want this quilt to go in our bedroom, so on some of the wilder-colored blocks I have been substituting in more reds and browns.

Here's an EQ6 drawing that shows the blocks where they go in the quilt.  They aren't all rotated properly, but I realized I need to start keeping track of colors and fabrics and make sure the lights and darks are spaced evenly throughout the quilt.  I also added an extra row to make the quilt larger (in between a queen and king), but I'm following the original layout and adding extra blocks to the last row.

So far I've enjoyed working on the blocks - I don't mind the templates at all, but most of the ones I've done so far have just been rotary cut (easy math).  I did print out templates for several blocks on freezer paper today so they are ready to go.  Martha Pullen has free downloads of the templates by block rather than by template.

This isn't going to be a dedicated project (I have some curtains to finish and a baby quilt to get quilted), but for the moment I'm enjoying focusing on it. 

Here are the blocks individually (I cropped them so they'd appear as finished).

#111 - Wrench

 #34 - Flock

 #21 - Contrary Wife

 The log cabin is one of the extras I came up with and added.

 #11 - Broken Dishes

 #70 - Prairie Queen

 #69 - Practical Orchard

 #4 - Basket Weave

 #41 - Friendship Star

 #73 - Rainbow Flowers

 #76 - Sawtooth (this one is rotated funny)

 #61 0 Northern Lights

 #18 - Century of Progress

 #27 - Darting Birds (I trimmed the body of the birds a little funny, but I wasn't about to redo it).

 #1 - Attic Windows - also rotated funny

 #3 - Basket

 #14 - Butterfly at the Crossroads

 #2 - Autumn Tints

Sorry

I'm sorry I've been gone so long.  Here's the deal - it's not something we are keeping a secret, but we haven't made a big deal of it either - we bought a house.  In the summer of 2010.  Near my family.  We spent several months working on it during the weekends (painting and such).  The hubs is still finishing up school, so Sam and I have been living up at the new house since February, and we see hubs on the weekends.  It's not ideal by any means, but it's what we've had to do for right now.  Hopefully soon, hubs will be all finished, and we'll all be together again, but until then, I am DIYing by myself, with no internet and no satellite/cable at the new house.  So that's why I dropped off the face of the earth this summer . . . and why posts will be very infrequent for a few more months.  But don't worry, I am not quitting blogging; it's just a hiatus while I deal with bigger things in life.

With all that said, here are some projects I finished in 2011 - this summer and fall.

DIY welcome mat - spray paint and painters tape made a plain mat custom.

Sam's Bed - from the Ana White Farmhouse Toddler Bed plans (and made him a Thomas and Friends sheet from fabric he saw at the quilt shop)

A cutie skirt for a cousin - from the Riley Blake "It's a Cinch" Skirt tutorial

Drop cloth picture frame mat for a revamped Goodwill frame

In October I finally found a spot for my tobacco basket (don't mind the rest of the room; there are big changes coming there)

We celebrated Sam's second birthday with a loose Cars theme

I built some shelves to house Sam's toy baskets (Ana White - Grace's Shelves), but I used 1x4s and 1x3s for the sides and a project panel for the top instead of MDF or plywood.

I made a knock-off of Pottery Barn's Dinosaur Artwork for Sam's room - I'll have to do an easy tutorial for that one later.

Made several pillows, but forgot to take pictures of half of them

Copied a Pinterest idea and made an ornament wreath

Baby Quilt #1 - Ruby's quilt.  For quilting I just followed the designs in the fabric.  This is one I had the fabric and idea for a long time ago and was just waiting on the right time.

Baby Quilt #2 - a Swoon baby quilt.  The quilting is double crosshatching on the diagonal, and it's perfect for this quilt.

Our Stocking Hanger - made from pallet boards.  I absolutely love how this turned out.

Barbie clothes - I used patterns, but the fit was all over the board.  It seems no two Barbies are the same measurements anymore.

American Girl/18" doll clothes - It's amazing how much easier these are to make when compared to Barbie clothes.  I made the sweater from a thrift store sweater, just laid out the pattern pieces and made sure to zig-zag all the edges well.

And enjoyed Christmas.

I just yesterday picked my clamshell quilt back up after a lengthy break and have started on the 12th row.

Now I'm ready for the New Year.  I have plans to be super thrifty and tight and work on finishing up all the half-done and neglected projects lurking around my house - quilting, crafting, decor, and others.  I'm currently working on refinishing our stairs, which had carpet on them until last fall, and have just been waiting since then for their makeover.

I'm hoping for wonderful things in 2012!