Saturday, November 19, 2011

Movin’ to the country…

I am officially a farmer’s wife!  Well I’m actually married to a businessman, but I have finally made my first two blocks from the book. 

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I stole the color scheme from Kerri’s blog Lovely Little Handmades.  She is the owner of the shop Sew Deerly Loved on Etsy, where I purchased all the beautiful fabric I am be using for this quilt (and where I’ve bought other beautiful fabric before).   I love the red and aqua combo.

I was really afraid of starting this quilt.  I had no idea where to start, and I certainly didn’t understand how to use the templates.  Since I have EQ7 (and kind of know how to use it), I thought I’d buy the CD so I could easily print all the rotary cutting directions.  They may be available online, but this just seemed easiest to me.  So I contacted Laurie, the writer of the book, and she was the nicest person ever!!!!  I had seen a few places that the CD was not compatible with the newer version of EQ7, but that’s not true.  There were easy to follow directions on The Farmer’s Wife blog.  I downloaded all the blocks and got started printing out the rotary cutting directions last night.

I tried to pick easier blocks to start out with.  Some of the blocks I will not be able to make by rotary cutting and machine piecing, but hopefully I will be up to the challenge of trying templates or paper piecing after making the less complicated blocks.  Also, I didn’t need to pin for any of these blocks!!!  I just nested the seams and sewed.  These are the best blocks I have ever made.  They were a little over 6.5 inches so I just trimmed them up when I was done.

This one is #73 Rainbow Flowers:

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This one is #2 Autumn Tints:

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And another nice thing about Laurie, I also bought the new Pony Club book from her as a birthday present to my mom and she very sweetly inscribed the book.  My mom is not a quilter, but she owned a pony and cart when she was a little girl, so I think she’ll enjoy reading the letters.oc pictures 2168

Thank you, Laurie!

5 comments:

  1. Congrats on becoming a farmer's wife. I'm on the brink, but haven't made the move yet. As soon as Christmas is over....

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  2. Love your blocks and your fabrics!

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  3. Ack you made me regret my decision yestserday... I was THIS close to buying the book but I decided to buy 5001 quilt blocks or whatever it's called instead. I'm sure I'll love that when it arrives though and really I don't have the time for the quilt along... I just wanted a good block reference tool.

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  4. Jamie, good for you. Your blocks look great. I think this book is a lot of fun. Love the fabric you chose.

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  5. I admired your blocks. They are so exact! I am looking foreward to seeing your farmer´s wife blocks and your experience with those patterns! I am still pondering whether I "need" this book or not and am still not sure if I´d like to work with templates.

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Some days the only adult I talk to is my husband...help him keep his sanity by leaving a comment so I have another adult to talk sewing with:) I will make sure to reply!