The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt

Hooray!  After 11 months of piecing (on and off, not every day) and 50 hours of quilting (spread over three months), my Farmer’s Wife quilt is finished!

Behold.

Do you know how hard it is to photograph a quilt this big?  Bad wind!

Signature at the bottom.

I.love.

Stats:

128 blocks (111 from The Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt book + 17 from Barbara Brackman’s website)

Approximately 93” x 103”

3 boxes of basting pins

50 hours of quilting

39.5 bobbins of quilting thread
Quilted with Juki TL2010Q

Began: January 2012

Completed: July 21, 2014

After marking the entire quilt with Crayola washable markers in varying colors, there were only two blocks with this yellow fabric that didn't get it all out.  And I'm sure a little spot attention will get it all the way out.  There are other blocks with the same fabric that had no issues, and plenty of other blocks with the blue marker.

 I frickin' love the feather border.  It was worth the marking and the work.

To be honest, after all the work, finishing the quilt was a bit anticlimactic.  I just put the last stitch in and put her in the washer.  Weird.  I guess sometimes a mammoth project will do that to you.  It was almost relief that it was done, but I did enjoy almost every part of this quilt.  **It probably doesn’t help that I entered the quilt in our county fair and am considering entering it in the state fair, so I haven’t actually put it on our bed yet.**

Each block is quilted differently.

I loved piecing the top because the blocks were all different – I never got bored.  I loved marking and basting once I finally decided to quilt it myself.  I loved the actual quilting because I couldn’t believe I was actually free motion quilting a queen/king sized quilt on my domestic machine and it looked decent!  And I love that I can look at this quilt on my bed every day as a reminder that I am awesome. 

And that’s not bragging.  The quilting (and even the piecing) is nowhere near perfect, but it is the best I have done to date.  I am going to be proud of that.  I tend to be self-deprecating and uncomfortable with praise, but I think we quilters need to remind ourselves that we have a special craft.  Not everyone can or wants to do this.  We are awesome for making quilts.  

**She won first place in her class at the county fair!  Admittedly there weren't many quilts, but I was proud to get a blue.  Now to decide on entering the state fair.  Possibly submit to a "real" quilt show???**

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Farmer's Wife Friday - 7.18.14

This will hopefully be the last Farmer's Wife Friday before the reveal of the finished quilt.  Right now I'm in the hate stage, but I'm so close.  The feathers never end...

Stats:
- Bobbins used in quilting: on #37
- Hours if quilting: 48
- Blocks quilted: 128
- Left to quilt: finishing the border

Farmer's Wife Friday - 7.4.14

Getting close to the end of Farmer's Wife Friday posts!

Stats:
- Bobbins used in quilting: on number 30
- Hours of quilting: 39.75
- Blocks quilted: 112
- Blocks left to quilt: 16 (plus setting triangles and border)

And some of the pretty blocks from this week.

Farmer's Wife Friday - 6.27.14

Farmer's Wife Friday is back!

I've been back at it on and off this month.  I really want to enter this quilt in the fair in August, but this time of year is busy with gardening and outdoor activities and trying to spray paint all the things while the weather is nice.  I'm feeling my mojo now, though!

Two corners done!

Current stats:
- Bobbins Used in Quilting: I'm currently on #26  
- Hours of Quilting: 35.75 so far
- Hours of Stitch Ripping: probably an hour so far
  (half an hour the other night with a few minutes more tonight)
- Blocks Quilted: 98 (plus lots of setting triangles)
- Blocks to Go: 30 (plus setting triangles and border)  

And just a little peek at my practice - I stuck some extra border scraps on the overflow backing and batting.  That was my first attempt at feathers; I draw them better than I quilt them.  My hearts and swirls are better.

Farmer's Wife Friday - 3.21.14

Progress was really sad this week because I came down with strep throat on Sunday morning.  I hadn't had that in 20(ish) years since I was a kid.  I swear it hurt worse and lasted longer than I remember.  Today (day 6) I finally feel almost normal again with just a slight tickle and soreness, so that Z-pak seems to have worked.  I think everyone at work (and in my family) is ready for some spring weather and spring cleaning.  We had about 1/3 of my office out sick this week, and it's been a nasty winter for sickness with my family.  Just one more possible snow storm (fingers crossed!).

Stats:

- Bobbins Used in Quilting: I'm currently on #19

- Hours of Quilting: 28.25 so far (yes, just one hour of quilting this week)
- Blocks Quilted: 76 (plus four setting triangles)
- Blocks to Go: 52 (plus setting triangles and border)  

I have just been feeling bogged down, and as much as I want to finish this quilt and have it on my bed, I am feeling so inspired by kids clothes and Easter outfits right now.  So I have been thinking about taking a mini-break from the Farmer's Wife and getting some of these other things out of my system.  Before I did that though, I knew I needed to see how far I'd come, so I dragged the quilt outside this afternoon after work and took these shots.  THIS is what I've been trying to show you, but the sunlight is sooo much better than my basement sewing dungeon.  

It's funny, I see all the flaws when I'm doing the quilting (if you were a fly on the wall you'd hear the odd groan and curse escape), but in the sun, it looks gorgeous.  Sorry for all the pictures, but I kind of amazed myself this afternoon.  

I'm so close to having a corner done!

The back is so awesome!

As good as it was for me to see how far I've come and to be re-inspired on this one, I still think I need to take a break for a bit.  Not for long, but for a couple weeks maybe until I get irritated with garments and such.  It's how I roll.  

This weekend I'll be cleaning up my cluttered cutting table and piles and trying to get some things sorted.  The hubby is away this weekend, so the mama will play in her sewing room every minute the kiddos don't need me!

Farmer's Wife Friday - 3.15.14

It's another Farmer's Wife Friday.  I did better this week but am in the plodding stage.  I'm not in the first euphoric love but not in the hate stage yet.  I have to force myself to start, but once I do I enjoy the quilting. 

Here are the stats as of today:

• Bobbins Used in Quilting: I'm currently on #18
  
• Hours of Quilting: 27.25 so far
• Blocks Quilted: 71 (plus three setting triangles)
• Blocks to Go: 57 (plus setting triangles and border) 

The colors are all whacked, but my camera battery died, so these are from my phone. 

 

 

 

 

Farmer's Wife Friday - 3.7.14

My second Farmer's Wife Friday update.

I busted tail last weekend and made great progress - from 30 blocks to 54 in a couple of days.  But then I burned out.  I don't have a very ergonomic setup for my machine right now, and all the quilting on the queen/king size quilt made my shoulders and back sore for a few days.  Plus, I've just been tired after work this week, so I've been lazy.

Thursday I managed to quilt one and a half blocks, but any more progress was stifled by Grey's Anatomy (my one TV show I watch).  I'll pick back up this weekend!

On to the stats:

• Bobbins Used in Quilting: I'm currently on #14
  
• Hours of Quilting: 22 so far
• Blocks Quilted: 55 (plus 1/2)
• Blocks to Go: 73 (plus the border)

Farmer's Wife Friday - 2.28.14

Welcome to a new feature on my blog.  I’ve decided I will post my updates on the Farmer’s Wife quilt each Friday until it’s finished.  Here is the quilted portion:

And some stats:

Bobbins Used in Quilting: I wound 10 to start with, and I'm on #8

Hours of Quilting: around 15 so far (should be pretty close)

Blocks Quilted: 30

Blocks to Go: 98 (plus the border)

Things I have learned so far:

• Don’t test the Juki.  She will win.  I’m not sure how this happened, but she sewed right through a basting pin, no problem. 

• I’m not sure my Juki likes FMQ directly sideways.  Any sort of angle to a line helps.  And probably improved hand/foot speed coordination as well.
• I agree with Leah Day that I need to alter my FMQ foot.  I can’t freaking SEE with the metal across the front.  Must fix that before I do another quilt.  On the other hand, my foot doesn’t really hop that much, so that’s not an issue for me.
• I need a tiny light for the back side/under the arm of my machine.  The light in front is crazy good but then there’s a black hole behind.
• Stitch in the ditch is killing me with my FMQ foot.  Alas, the tiny pieces in the blocks render it way too difficult to use my walking foot, not to mention I’d have to swap out feet like 20 times in each block.  The positive, I’m sure to get better by the end of this project!
• My mantra: Leah Day’s advice that washing and drying the quilt will cure 90% of quilting mistakes.  I’m not sure I’d have two blocks finished if I picked out each mistake I’ve made.  “Ain’t nobody got time fo dat!"

And some of my favorite blocks so far, although they’ll be even prettier once it’s finished and laundered.

The quilting is definitely not perfect, but I’m happy. 

Quilting the Farmer's Wife

OMG I'm actually quilting my Farmer's Wife quilt!  I can't believe it!  When I finished the top, I knew it needed special quilting.  I mean, I spent 11 months piecing it - it's kind of a big deal.

I knew I couldn't do it justice, so I was waiting to take it to a long arm quilter.  I just kept holding back - I knew to get it quilted the way I wanted it would cost a lot, and after all that piecing I just couldtn't do an all over pattern on it.

Now that I have my Juki, I feel better able to handle the bulk of a queen/king sized quilt.  It would not have worked on my old Viking.  I spent a lot of time looking at gorgeous quilting, doodling, and marking the quilt top.

Look at the first block!  I quilted that!  It's probably not that complex to some people, but it's the most detailed work I've done.

I pre-wound 10 bobbins before I started quilting.  I went through one in four blocks.  This quilt is going to take a lot of thread. Gracious.

I'm just concentrating on making each block good.  I can't worry about how big the quilt is or I'll flake out for another year. 

Six done today . . . 115 to go!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!