Farmer's Wife!

One of the very first quilting blogs that I started reading was Hey Porkchop, so her Farmer's Wife blocks were the first quilting inspiration I had. I was fixated on getting that book so I could make beautiful traditional blocks with my modern taste in fabrics! I got it on sale a month or so ago and I've been slowly working on the blocks. I'm taking my time, to be sure of my fabric choices and so I don't feel stressed about the massive number of blocks. I probably won't make all of them, but as many as I find aesthetically pleasing, haha! By the way, I do recommend this book if you have an interest in American history and traditional quilt blocks - I've vastly enjoyed reading the letters as much as I've enjoyed putting together the blocks. The only frustration I had is that the CD that it comes with only has one template per pdf; a massive waste of paper. Someone compiled them to only take up 15 pages, which I've uploaded for your convenience here. It's a hard pdf to get a hold of, so I figure the more uploads floating around, the better ♥ Anyway, here's my progress so far (more Instagram pics...I hope you don't mind!):

Block 1, Attic Windows:

This. Block. Now, as you have probably gleaned, there is a story behind this...first I cut the Turtle Bay fabric reversed (I wanted the scenes to "match", so you can see the rain on the upper left and the boy with the umbrella on the lower right), so instead of re-cutting I decided to mirror the block. Simple, right? Well, I didn't realize that the quadrilaterals would need to be mirrored as well. Hence, one of them was mis-cut (because I accidentally did mirror one of them when I was tracing...), and of course since I was using a charm square that I have no others of, and no other fabric would do, apparently, I re-sewed the charm square together to re-cut the quadrilateral. Then I proceeded to cut it wrong, AGAIN. Thus a repeat of the process. I finally have it coming together when for some reason, the triangles don't align with the middle of the block at. All. AT ALL. You can see, I lost a bit more than a 1/4 inch off the sides! I haven't had the heart to fix it yet, but I'll just hand stitch a little flap there so it has its seam allowance. The thing is that I love these fabrics and the layout, I just wish construction went less...messy.





Block 2, Autumn Tints:

I love this one! I like the interplay of the vine windows with the birds in cages, almost like a matching theme. It's also my first time trying to really fussy cut, I like how it turned out! I didn't want them to be perfectly centered or anything, I like the different angles and views that I managed to cut. I was afraid to use the solids at first, they seemed too bold, but I do like how it's a bold negative space.

Block 4, Basket Weave:

I keep this block up on my design wall constantly, just to be able to look at it. The pink is a Marmalade charm square, the gray is a Windsor Lane charm square, and the bunting is a cutie fabric I picked up from Joann's. Such a simple design, I made this so fast! I have to imagine a basket weave quilt top would come together in record time. Hmm...

Any thoughts? I'm never sure if I should be 100% confident in my fabric choices, I second-guess myself a lot! So, quilty fabric opinions will never amiss ♥