I have 76 Farmer's Wife blocks in black and batik. Two weeks ago I bought a few more batiks and I have just 35 blocks left to stitch. I have been through the book looking at the blocks that are left. I've been very careful and not left all of the difficult ones to last, though there are a few scary ones left. There are also some dead simple ones, thank goodness.
But I have left some of the blocks I really don't like. Why make blocks I don't like? Very early on I decided not to do blocks #3 Basket and #35 Flower Basket because the appliqued handles were the only curved lines on the quilt and I don't think they're in keeping. I've now found another 6 blocks that I won't be doing: #33 Farmer's Puzzle (I think it looks a bit like a Swastika); #42 Fruit Basket; #45 Grape Basket; #67 Pine Tree; #91 Strawberry Basket; and #95 Temperance Tree. Can you spot the pattern - I don't like basket blocks..... I'm also not sure about #88 Star of Hope, because there is an awful lot of "background"...I'll make it and see if I'm happy with it...
But to keep up to 111 finished blocks, I found some alternatives and started drafting them. I've already made a mini Swoon block as one replacement. I managed to fit in some sewing over the weekend and this is my replacement for block #42 Fruit Basket. It's called Woven Four Patch and comes from a book called 100 Traditional and Contemporary Quilt Blocks.
Yesterday I prepared another 6 blocks - cutting the fabric and drawing out the foundation patterns for a few of the awkward blocks all ready to stitch.I am really enjoying these little blocks. Last summer Mum found some fabrics she liked for a quilt for their spare bed. We've looked at a lot of patterns but we've settled on another Farmer's Wife quilt. It won't need the full 111 blocks because Mum would like a piano keys border. Here are the fabrics. I will have to be careful to get the right contrast, but I think it will be beautifully subtle after my batik version.We're using the yellowy creams as background and then I'll fussy cut the other fabrics as there is a lot of variety of colour within the fabrics. I won't be starting this quilt just yet though.
Comments
I'm impressed that your are going to do another one! It is going to look so different!