Friday, January 20, 2012

Farmer's Wife Friday: The Brightest and Happiest Place on Earth

My sewing room was not the brightest and happiest place on earth this week. At least not when it came to the Farmer's Wife blocks.

Rather than give a little synopsis of a farmer's wife letter today, I'm going to share an email I received this week from a good friend:

"I want to know why everything I sew I have to unsew. It seems that it's really tough this week. Maybe I should just go back to bed with the covers over my head."

She sent a picture of what she was working on, and I sent back a sympathetic email, and went on with my week. I started working on a project I was really enjoying, but knew I needed to do the blocks for Farmer's Wife Friday. Feeling glad that there were only two blocks this week rather than four, I never learn my lesson and start earlier in the week waited until Thursday night. What a mistake.

#37, Flower Pot. This had some wonky pieces, but didn't really go as poorly as anticipated. I pressed it into submission carefully did some pressing, and in the scheme of the whole quilt, it will be good enough.

#43, Garden Path. At first glance, my thought was that there were a lot of pieces, but cutting would be the most time-consuming aspect. Other than that, the actual piecing should be fairly straight forward. Major error in judgment. Lots of little pieces. Y-seams that weren't really obvious in the "exploded" diagram. There is just no energy to start over, or try to fix this block. So there you have it. I went to the Yahoo group to find the paper piecing template. I'll give that a shot. Next week. We'll see what the farmer's wife from Grady County, Oklahoma, has to say, along with the farmer's wife from Canadian County, Oklahoma. I figure they won't mind sharing since they are both from the same state.

In the meantime, I'm not going to give it another thought. Because I'm on my way to a quilt show, Road2California. I have always wanted to attend but it just never worked out. I'll take lots of pictures.

Have a wonderful and productive weekend. I'm sure the farmer's wives and I will get along great next week! But I'm kind of curious--do you ever have weeks where all you do is undo
and redo?


15 comments:

05 08
http://thankfullga447 said... #

There are days when I say to myself, how did I get into this hobby. I take a deep breath and start all over again.

Katy Cameron said... #

Have fun on the road to California and forget those pesky farmers wives for a while ;o)

Mama Pea said... #

So, you are actually human after all! What a relief! :-) I have those days, too. Like ga447, I have those days where I wonder if this is the hobby for me, because I sure can't seem to make things work out and I get really frustrated. Paper piecing sounds like a good idea on that last one! Have fun at Road2California! I can't wait to hear about it.

Cindy Sharp said... #

Those are the days when I put down the quilting and look for something else to do....like folding laundry. Some days are not meant to be sew days.

Needled Mom said... #

That is a challenging block.

Have a great time at Road.

Terriaw said... #

Both blocks looks quite challenging. But they turned out fabulously! I feel like once they're done, the nuisances and mistakes tend to fade away. Just imagine how great these will look mixed in with the rest of your blocks. When I have those moments where nothing is going together correctly, I completely step away from my sewing room for a couple days.

Have fun at the quilt show!

Heather said... #

I made the Flower Garden Path block for the Summer Sampler Quilt along and it was challenging. Have you seen the tutorial by Kate of Swim, Bike, Quilt? I don't know if it would help but here's the link... http://www.swimbikequilt.com/2011/07/summer-sampler-series-flower-garden.html

Mrs Flying Blind... said... #

Y seams - they can go on my 1013 list!!

Jennifer said... #

Leave those wives in the dust and have fun this weekend!

And BTW, I still think both blocks look great.

Jennifer :)

CitricSugar said... #

Your colour choices!! :-D Love them.

Jackie's Stitches said... #

Y seams hate me and honestly, I'm not really fond of them either!

I never wonder if quilting is for me, because I know it is BUT not all aspects are fun. And some I avoid! :) You did a great job and maybe you'll feel differently about it later.

FlourishingPalms said... #

You poor dear. I'm sorry for you to have had a rough go with these blocks, especially Garden Path. Still, they're pretty. Enjoy yourself at Road2California. Yes, take pictures, but do take care that it's permissible to post them to your blog. Our annual Des Moines, Iowa, AQS show doesn't allow that.

felicity said... #

Set them aside on your "done" pile and move on. In the end they'll look beautiful in the finished quilt.

annieB said... #

Love the colours you're using. I too have had to un sew a few. I printed the block from the cd and used a nifty notions ruler to cut the pieces. no y seams. Have a great time in calif

Terri said... #

I love that your doing all solids, that just rocks my socks!