Farmer's Wife Friday: An Orchard in Bloom

The letter this week was from a farmer's wife in Ingham County, Michigan. As with many of the other farmer's wives, she is thrilled with being a farmer's wife, regardless of the work involved. She mentions how she and her husband are partners in everything. "We talk over our prospects and expenditures together." And like the other wives, she values the beauty of nature. "Can you think of anything in city life that compares with an orchard in bloom? ...just a glance out of doors now and then while I'm about my work, makes me feel all chirpy inside, like a robin sounds!"

I'm a city girl. But here in Fresno, we are surrounded by orchards: peach, plum, almond. The blossoms are spectacular: white, pale pink, bright pink. You can follow a trail called the Blossom Trail that takes you up into the foothills, passing orchard after orchard. It's breathtaking, so I understand what the writer is talking about.

Both of the blocks this week had names referring to trees.

It is September. In some parts of the country, the leaves will soon be changing colors. Here in Fresno that doesn't occur until early to mid November, and then again, we have a spectacular fall. Most people think of the "fall colors" as happening in the east, but this is what it looks like in my neighborhood in fall:

#56 Maple Leaf. I found a shot cotton that had both green and rusty brown. It seemed to be the perfect choice.

The second block this week is #69, Practical Orchard. So I "picked" apple green (sorry--couldn't resist that little word choice). And then I sewed the triangles together incorrectly. Again. I did this a couple of weeks ago. *sigh*

It was faster to cut more fabric (again--that was my solution a couple of weeks ago too...) and then sewed the triangles together properly.

I really like the block. It is simple but striking. It is just a 9-patch with a fancy center. I'll definitely use this block again soon.

Here they are together:

M

My progress so far:

Be sure to see what fabric Carla chose for these two blocks. As always, she has interesting thoughts on the letter as well.

(Note: I don't know why there is that weird green background in a couple of sentences. Tried to fix it. Couldn't. Oh, well...)
 
Have a wonderful weekend.