New Quilting Project: Farmer's Wife Quilt-a-long - Week 1

On Saturday morning, I went to my very first Quilt Guild meeting. It turned out to be more uneventful than I thought it would be, but I did come away with some great inspiration.

One of the ladies there mentioned a quilt-a-long based on The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. The quilt-a-long was started by Fussy Cut & MsMcPorkChopQuilts & has been going on for almost 4 weeks now. People all over the world are participating & share their progress on blogs & in the flickr group made just for this project.

The inspiration for this quilt was based on letters written in 1922 answering the question:

"If you had a daughter of marriageable age, would you, in the light of your own experience, want her to marry a farmer?"

When this question was posed to readers of The Farmer's Wife magazine, it was during a time in history when World War I had recently ended, jazz, flappers & booze were gaining in popularity, & women had just received the right to vote. There were a lot of social & political changes going on in the nation. With all these changes, the answer to the question was in the affirmative by 94% - these hardworking women would want their daughters to marry farmers for a number of reasons.

For each letter shared in this quilting book, the author has assigned 2+ quilt blocks to go with it. There are a total of 111 - 6 inch blocks (this is pretty small for those who aren't very familiar with quilting), & the goal is to sew 2 blocks a week & have the quilt finished in about a year. When I started looking at all the amazing blocks people were making, I couldn't resist & had to buy the book. I got it yesterday & sewed my first two blocks today while Will napped. I can already tell I'm going to love this project. There is so much variety in it, & it's such a great way to expand my quilting skills (or lack thereof).

 Getting Started:

I didn't realize how small the pieces were going to end up being.

I mean really, really tiny!

My first block ended up having 51 pieces in it - if I could make it through that one, then the other ones shouldn't be nearly as intimidating.

My first two blocks:

(going in order of the letters written in the book)

Reason why your daughter should marry a farmer:

"living in God's open air"

#26 - Cut Glass Dish

My Grandma Aileen had these tacky, but awesome green glasses that I loved drinking from. I couldn't resist throwing a similar shade of green into the block to remind me of her.

#54 - Kitchen Woodbox

I am loving how these are turning out so far, & I'm really shocked that they're actually the right size once all sewn up. Thank goodness.

2 down, 109 to go