Me? A Farmer's Wife?

Nope.  Our community garden is built on a Superfund site and our neighbours city chickens were hit by a car.  But my bookshelf is full of books on tiny homesteads, food preserving, and raising Alpacas.  So, when a friend suggested that I join the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along, being hosted by Angela and Amanda, I was intrigued.

I said yes. Blindly. While at lunch. Without looking up the book on my phone.

She warned me that the quilt and book don't look like something we'd normally pick up. But I admit that I still fought off a small curl in the corner of my lip when I finally saw the cover on Amazon. Yes, I judge books by their covers.  I shouldn't.  But I do.  I'm working on it.

The wonderful thing about quilting (or almost any hobby) is doing your own thing. Learn the history and tradition then do it your way.  The Farmer's Wife quilt is very traditional but that doesn't mean that you have to use traditional fabrics or colours. So far 92 people are in the quilt along and, in the end, there will be 92 different interpretations of the quilt.  Some will look like the original, some will be solids, many will use modern fabrics and you know that at least one person will come out with some sort of eye-popping version that no-one imaged possible.  All be great!

I'm impulsive - no Vegas for me. So I purchased the kindle version of the book.  Be warned that the digital version does not come with templates. Don't worry, the math is simple.  I downloaded the book and read most of the letters, which I highly recommend. Perused the blocks. Imagined the blocks in my fabrics. A couple hours later, I was really excited to get started! I certainly have enough projects on the go but this quilt along is pressure-free and only requires you to make two 6" blocks per week. The labour intensity varies by block so you can choose based on your available time. 

My plan of attack is to choose my fabrics when I choose the block.  No surprise there since scrappy is at the heart of my sewing.  I don't want the FW to compete with my Japanese + and x quilt so this one won't be too bold or busy. But that's about as much as I know right now.  Here's what I made for week 1 (last week, I think). 

Block #31 - Evening Star.  Ok, so I'm a little slow and didn't grasp that it's called evening star because it should have a very dark background.
Fabric - the green polka dot is by Lecien and currently one of my most favourite fabrics in my stash. I have no idea who makes the cherries. I received a small piece with a fabric order from Japan.

Block #21 - The Contrary Wife
Fabric - The pink text is a Suzuko Koseki print, the yellow woodgrain is Aviary2, and the tiles are from Denyse Schmidt's line at Joann's. 

I hope you decide to join. If you do, be sure to join the group.