Farmer's Wife Quilt - The Big Assembly
July 16, 2012 I wouldn't be surprised if you thought I was ignoring my FW quilt because you know how OCD I am with block placement and all my silly rules about colors and prints etc. not touching and all that. Some of you even (rightfully) poked fun at me and how hard a time I was going to have with the layout process of my 98 blocks. Remember the nightmare I had with only 12 blocks?! LOL!
Lucky for me I still have a few brain cells that operate on common sense and they made me realize it was totally, utterly and completely IMPOSSIBLE for me to lay out this quilt AND follow all my rules ... AND keep my sanity.
So.
I let all my silliness go ... (ok, maybe just most of it ...)
I really only made sure that:
- the reds were evenly distributed (100% successful)
- the blocks - which I sorted into "lights" and "darks" - weren't clumped anywhere (mostly successful ... found a few problems after the top was put together ... I just practice taking deep breaths when I notice them)
- and of course I tried to avoid any obvious color/print touching (much leniency was required in this regard)
So now let me show you how it all came together.
It's not often a quilt looks as good or better in real life than it did in my mind when I started. It's always still a bit of a surprise to me. Sometimes I'm close, others are total disappointments.
But never mind. My Farmer's Wife quilt is an unmitigated success. For me.
Remember my pink sashing disappointment ...
because I was trying to make my quilt look like this ... ?
Well, I officially forgive that pink fabric for not cooperating because I gotta say, I'm THRILLED with how the white turned out. I especially love how the white background blocks "float".
The red. Ok. I'm not much of a red girl ... unless it's for Christmas or Valentine's Day.
However, from the very start - before I even made my first block - I pictured this quilt with red ... sparkle ... you know? I didn't want any bold or heavy redness so I carefully used it just as little bits here and there.
For the few red (& white) only blocks I used prints that weren't dark, but had lots of white or other colors in it, like these.
(There's a reason why this block is going on the back ... )
And the red posts? They finish at a mere 3/4" and seem to hold everything together.
When I stand back and squint my eyes to look at this quilt, I'm fascinated by the pretty, "random" geometric pattern created by the red punctuations. (I overexposed this photo to help you see what I mean.)
Oh, and one more thing about the posts. I wasn't wild with the finish in the book and how the outside posts were cut in half.
That would have driven me banana nuts crazy. So I made mine full squares.
And I am so pleased with how the light blue side-setting triangles frame the blocks without being too .. chunky. Subtle, but effective to my eye.
Also the book only has one large border. I wanted something a little different. So I added an inner border the same fabric & width as my sashing.
And then I went with this happy blue dot - mostly because I have limited "Flower Sugar" yardage in my stash.
But I wonder if I had a choice of every print in my quilt that I would have picked this one anyways. It's perfect. Grounding, happy, love the personality of the dots ... it's strong enough to hold up as a frame, but not too busy as to take the focus away from the intricate piecing in the blocks.
No, it's not pink.
And no, I don't care. ;)
For width, the outer border finishes the same width as a block (4 1/2"). It always seems logical to me to repeat a dominant measurement from the body of a quilt for the border.
I'm also going to bind it with the same border fabric. I was originally planning either red or scrappy, but now I think both those options would be too much. I'm just gonna keep it simple.
Now. I'm still not sure about these blocks being stuck in the bottom corners.
I don't know why, but I assumed the signature should go in the bottom right corner .... you know ... like where you sign a letter. That is until someone suggested placing it in the middle. Oh that would be so nice!
And I'm not happy with the other horizontal striped blocks so symmetrically placed. Looks ... predicable? And maybe boring. Not sure what I mean. So I'm thinking about moving at least one of them.
But I haven't yet. Cause doing stuff like that makes me cranky.
Sigh.
I should probably just do it. I think I'll be unhappy if I don't.
Oh WHO AM I KIDDING?!! They are staying put. The end. ;)
And a quick mention about this "Flock of Birds" block ... I set it so the birds are flying east ...
... 'cause remember my crazy birding sister? She lives east of us. So the birds are flying in her direction.
But now to the quilting decision. I have a habit of cheaping out on things sometimes - either with the border, or the backing ... or in this case, the top-stitching. And then I live to regret it.
I can do it myself with a cross-hatch - classic, acceptible ... but not necessarily the best option for taking this quilt to the next level of amazing, right?
I could free-motion quilt it, but my FMQ repertoire is limited at best and totally inappropriate for this quilt at worst.
So lucky for my I've let my BFF talk me into having it longarmed ... so now I'm saving my pennies.
Reader Comments (86)
Beautiful! You should be very proud. Can't wait to see it quilted.
This has turned out totally beautiful!!! I love the red sparkle-ly posts with the white sashing...the whole quilt just pops with these additions. You should be so proud! i can't wait to see what it looks like with the quilting done. :)
Oh Kristyne! This turned out just gorgeous!!! I think you did an awesome job - love, love, love the colors in each block, the shashing, and the lovely blue outer border. What a fantastic quilt! Can't wait to see the final quilting and binding. As I've said before, you are one seriously talented lady!!!
Wow, wow, wow! Way to go! Worth all of the headache along the way, heh???
Oh my! This came out awesome! Now you have inspired me to start mine!
breathtakingly beautiful!
This turned out sooooo ahhh-mazing! I sure hope to see it in person one day!
It's lovely! Thank you for sharing. I like having the signature block at the bottom right -- to me it feels like the period at the end of a sentence.
Ok. Pulling out the name I gave you months ago....the quilting rock-star! This is the MOST beautiful FWQ that I have seen ever. EVER!!! I am so glad the pink sashing failed......the white with red posts is perfect. Absolutely perfect. I will never attempt a FWQ because I would want it to look just like yours, and of course it wouldn't resemble it one bit.
In other words, I love it!
Breathtaking. What an accomplishment! Everything came together perfectly and you now have an heirloom quilt. Now, I need to get back to my neglected FW blocks and finish mine too!
Looks absolutely beau-t-ful! Great work, the blue ihelps pull the whole thing together.Great work, I hope you have the biggest smile on your face for getting it done and looking so good, pat yourself on the back, you deserve it.
Wow!!!
If this is what you achieve when you break the 'rules', well ~ wow!!! :)
V xxxxxxxxxxx
Oh my goodness - YES - now that I see it all together - long arm is THE way to go - it is just gorgeous!!!!! I just L*O*V*E this quilt - you have done a fabulous job!!!!!!! I love this signature block too!!! And the pops of red all over are just perfect!!!! I love the white sashing, too, and how you framed the blocks on the diagonal and I love how you didn't cut off the squares at the ends of the rows... and I just love it all! This is a masterpiece! Thank you so much for showing all of this to us!!! What are the finished dimensions of the quilt - just curious with the smaller blocks! Oh I cannot wait to see how it is quilted!
It turned out beautiful! It will be worth having it long arm quilted if you don't feel up to the job of FMQ. You've put too much work into it, to be less than thrilled with the final quilting. Love your choice of border and I think that the signature block was a really nice touch.
It's amazing, truly amazing! You did an awesome job and this is quite an accomplishment - way to go!
Wow, it is so beautiful!! A quilt that you will treasure!! Great job!! xo Heather
Wow. Is is stunning. I would definitely have it professionally quilted but you have to figure out HOW you want it quilted. Lots of deicisions there.
Anyway, it is just beautiful. I'm so glad you finished it. You rock! ;p
I LOVE IT!!! This is the most beautiful FW-Quilt ever! Love the red squares, the white blocks, the blue border ... and don't get me started on the blocks themselves! Girl, you're amazing, talented and genius and this quilt shows all of it!
And about your decision for a longarm quilter: I think the quilter should pay YOU for let her quilt this masterpiece;-) Hildy
ps - I just cannot stop looking at these beautiful pics! I am excited to see how you put the back together with the extra blocks you have! You know... you are going to need to make a second one so each daughter can have one some day! I would fight my own flesh and blood for this quilt! LOL
Wow! This is gorgeous! Love the colours!
The colors are gorgeous! Step back and pat yourself on the back. Don't change a thing.
I like your top MORE THAN your original model on the cover of that Japanese magazine! And rules are meant to be broken, right? Glad to see you allowed yourself some freedom when putting the blocks together. Great finish... congratulations!
Ohhhhhh, so beautiful! Truly inspiring. I have the book, and this is on my "quilt bucket list". Someday. . . . .
Your quilt top is really wonderful!
I think you have a lot of skills to free-motion it yourself!
It turned out wonderfully!!!