.: Farmer's Wife Friday - week 1 :.

Welcome to the first week of the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt Sew-Along (try saying that three times fast!).  This is a year-long sew-along using Laurie Aaron Hird's The Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt book, which is being coordinated (incredibly well!) by Angie from GnomeAngel.

The Farmer's Wife 1930s sew-along has a Facebook group of over 3,800 members from all over the world and 30 guest bloggers.  It's sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop.  An early highlight for me is being very late to the quilting party in 'discovering' the wonderful Marti Michell and her team - through their blog, You Tube videos and presence in the Facebook group, they are providing such generous and thoughtful support for us all, not to mention amazingly excellent block templates to use for many of the blocks.

This sew-along is a marathon, not a sprint - the book has 99 blocks and we are sewing two blocks each week for a year, starting with the easier blocks and working our way up to the more challenging blocks.  For this first week however, we have sewn not two but THREE blocks! 

The blocks for this week have been Becky, Bonnie and Aunt.  Angie has shared tutorials for all three blocks (click here for Becky, Bonnie and Aunt).  The first guest bloggers to share their tutorials have been Lucy (sharing her English Paper Piecing tutorial for Becky and Bonnie), Melissa (sharing her paper-template, rotary cutting and machine sewing tutorial for Becky and Bonnie) and Jodi (sharing her English Paper Piecing tutorial for Aunt).  All this week's bloggers' blocks are gorgeous - click through if you'd like some guidance in sewing the blocks, or just to read about their process. 

I have started on a high - I have sewn all three blocks.  Whether or not this pace will continue, I cannot say.  My sneaking suspicion is that I will sew one of the two blocks each week, including of course, all four of my guest-blogger blocks.  Here are my week 1 blocks, and the little stories behind them - I like to have a bit of meaning in everything I sew, even if it makes sense only to me - it makes the process much more fun, personal and memorable.  And I figure it's always good to make yourself smile while you sew!

Our first block was number 12, Becky - that's Becky welcoming us all to the sew-along with her cheery Hello's.  The fabric mix, starting with the chair on the left and moving clockwise, is Heather Ross (the chair and Becky), Alison Glass, Tula Pink, Ayumi Takahashi, Lizzy House and Erin McMorris (thank you Rachel for reminding me that Erin is the Hello-designer!).

Next up was block number 16, Bonnie.  I started with the Kerchief girls, spied the tiger, and so immediately thought of the lovely children's book my girls used to love, 'The Tiger Who Came To Tea'.  The fabric mix, starting with the tiger and moving clockwise, is Alexia Abegg, Pam Kitty Morning, Lecien Minny Muu lovebirds (though I call them budgies, not lovebirds!) and Kei Kerchief girls. 

And last for this week was block number 8, Aunt.  I started with the Melody Miller apple, as it was such a great fit for the centre square, then spied the Alexia Abegg pandas, and thought the Cotton + Steel blender would work perfectly with them both.  There's actually no particular story for this block - I don't have any Aunty Apples, Aunty Pandas or even any aunts who are renown for wearing spots! 

It's not too late to join the sew-along if you would like to - it may be tricky to find the book, such is the huge popularity of this sew-along - but don't be deterred, we have heard there are many copies on back-order, so more should be available soon.  And of course, all the block tutorials will remain on Angie's and the guest bloggers' blogs for you to refer back to whenever you need them.

This is the book you will need - The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: Inspiring Letters from Farm Women of the Great Depression and 99 Quilt Blocks That Honor Them by Laurie Aaron Hird for Fons & Porter.

And remember that Angie has all the sew-along info on her blog - including a great FAQ post that tells you everything you need to know.   She will post a weekly wrap-up each Sunday, which will be a great way to see what's been happening - and it will be a linky party too, for anyone to link up their Farmer's Wife posts and share their blocks. 

See you next Friday for more Farmer's Wife-ing - though I'll be back in the meantime to share a few other little sewn goodies with you.  Happy long weekend to you!  xoxo cat