Farmers Wife - #12 Becky

I really had to do some house work before starting, so didn't get to my emails until after 8 - but that's ok, I'm not on a deadline.  
 First block is #12 Becky - tutorial from GnomeAngel

I used the rotary cutting method and machine pieced, making three blocks in total. 

The first block I used Christmas left overs from 'special presents' that I have been working on. I just guessed the measurements as I haven't looked at the CD that came with the book yet. I did make a mistake, forgetting to add the 1/4" seam allowance on some pieces, so had to add a strip to make it 6 1/2" sq.

The second and third blocks I used Downton Abbey Collection, in two different colour tones. One pink/rose tones above, and the other in purple/blue tones.

Each block was inspired by letters written by 'Farmers Wives'. Angie from GnomeAngel wrote about her thoughts on each letter included with the blocks. I thought that was a great idea, so I'll attempt to give my own thoughts of some of the letters.

My thoughts on #12Becky letter: Quit Merely Existing by Emancipated, 1934.

Emancipated talks about living life to the fullest and her reasons for saying that.

Everyone has a different story but no matter what one's story is, it is important to remember to have a balance in one's life. It is easy to get bogged down and so busy that one forgets about what is important. With me it was work. Life was 6 days (and nights) working with only Saturday to myself, and I usually did sewing. Recently I had even given up Saturday's with the constant increasing and demanding workload. It only took 'the last straw' - you know the one that broke the camels back - to make me realise that life is short, it could end tomorrow. I needed to refocus on what I wanted, not what everyone else wanted of me. Family and friends are important as is having a balance in life. I didn't have that balance, it became all work, and as a consequence I didn't have time for family and friends. Life should not be all work and no play. 

I took time out and did 'me' stuff - reading, painting, family tree, photography, and yes, got back to sewing. It took many months to start sewing again, I just couldn't focus on what sewing I wanted to do. This quilt along is just what I needed. As Emancipated says

'live a glorious, full life'.   

Happy Sewing 

Allison

One more sleep.....

Thank you for your comments and personal messages, yesterday's post was good for me. It is great to be getting back to 'normal' ... what ever normal is!!!

I can't promise that I'll write each day, in fact I'm fairly sure I wont, maybe once a week will be the goal..... watch this space 

Today I sorted some fabric for Farmer's Wife Quilt Along.

It starts tomorrow at 7.30am, so one more sleep! I will have to do the housework after the blocks tomorrow, instead of before - but that's OK!

A FB friend in New Zealand asked if I was doing the Farmers Wife Quilt Along, I knew nothing about it, so she invited me to the FB quilt along page. To do the quilt along one needs a book - I tried to source it at libraries, no good, so I enquired at some book stores. There didn't appear to be any available but one store offered to order it in for me at a cost of approximately $49 Australian. I checked online and found I could order it via Amazon for $17 US plus $11 postage. $28 US converted to $37 AUS, so I ordered it. It arrived a few weeks later.

The book is written by Laurie Aaron Herd, and is a collection of letters from farmer's wives to a newspaper/magazine, during the 1930's. The 99 quilt blocks were inspired by these letters.

Here are all the details for the Farmers Wife 1930 sampler quilt.

I have a few 1920's and 1930's replica fabrics, but thought I may use some from the Downton Abbey Collection by Andover Fabrics (38 FQ) that I purchased a few years ago. 

 

I might also do some blocks in Christmas fabric for a Christmas quilt in 2016.

Happy Sewing

Allison