The Farmer's Wife Quilt

Sometimes I am waaaay behind the curve when it comes to current trends.   Apparently, I have been hiding in a hole because every quilter I talk to knows about The Farmer's Wife Quilt book.   About a year ago, I saw the book in my favorite quilt store....but it had already been out in the stores for several years. 

An interesting part of the book is a compilation of letters written by farm wives who entered a contest back in 1922.   The popular magazine, The Farmer's Wife, offered several cash prizes for the best answers to this question:  "If you had a daughter of marriageable age, would you, in light of your own experience, want her to marry a farmer?".   Over seven thousand readers responded and 94 percent of farm wives stated that they would, indeed, want their daughter to marry a farmer.

The Farmer's Wife Quilt book not only has included the best answers to this question but it also has 111 six-inch quilt blocks with instructions  for piecing the blocks on an accompanying CD.   The blocks in the book are a treasure trove of quilting history and aptly capture the time period of the 1920's.    Originally, when the book caught my eye I bought it for my friend, Barb, a fellow quilter who lives on 22 acres in northern Alabama and is "farming" her little slice of heaven on earth.   It wasn't until 4 months ago that I broke down and bought a copy of the book for myself.

The colors of the blocks in the book are more primitive and darker in tone, ie: browns, greyed blues and creams.   My color choices tend to be more vibrant so I decided to break into my stash of 1930's fabrics with the reds, pinks, teals and soft greens.    I'm so glad I choose those fabrics to make my quilt.   Because there are so many different blocks, my goal is to try and make 2 blocks per week for the next year so that maybe I will have all the blocks necessary to complete a quilt by next Spring.  

So for the next year, my challenge to myself is to try and sew and then post on this blog the 2 blocks I've made for that week.   Here goes:
Block 1 is called Attic Windows and is on the left and block 2 is Autumn Tints and is on the right.

As you can see, these are not your Grandma's browns and blues......these are happy colors!!!   I hope you'll enjoy following along as I attempt to make all 111 blocks.

See you next week,
Debbie