What it is...
The biggest source of shame and anxiety in my large Work In Progress pile, is, of course, my pile of Farmer's Wife Quilt Along blocks. I appear to have started this in July of 2011, with great gusto, as usual. It actually kept up some momentum for a while and I left you at the point where I had gotten to about 70 blocks made and was "hoping to finish it up in early summer." Of last year.
So what went so wrong? Well, I started realizing that I knew hardly anything about precision piecing (or cutting) when I began this QAL. Meaning a lot of my early blocks are not quite the right size, or at least the points would be lost in the seam allowances when I join them. As my piecing got better I made some really accurate blocks and then when I switched to foundation paper piecing, they are pretty much perfect.
This unsettling fact about the earlier blocks being a bit wonky discouraged me from making any more and left me confused about what to do with the many hours and beautiful fabric I poured into these blocks. Then I saw Monica Solorio Snow's Farmer's Wife Quilt and decided I could do something less conventional with my blocks.
At the moment I am thinking something Tetris inspired. The bottom 2/3 of the quilt will be filled up with blocks, sashed in white, in neat rows and the top portion will feature the blocks tumbling down into the rows. I have almost all of the bottom rows sashed and am awaiting a delivery of more bella white solid. We'll see how the more unstructured top portion turns out, this is surely a task I could use a design wall for!
So here's to embracing it for what it is, a great learning experience, a showcase of some of my favorite fabrics and maybe even a display of a few darn accurately pieced blocks!
So what went so wrong? Well, I started realizing that I knew hardly anything about precision piecing (or cutting) when I began this QAL. Meaning a lot of my early blocks are not quite the right size, or at least the points would be lost in the seam allowances when I join them. As my piecing got better I made some really accurate blocks and then when I switched to foundation paper piecing, they are pretty much perfect.
This unsettling fact about the earlier blocks being a bit wonky discouraged me from making any more and left me confused about what to do with the many hours and beautiful fabric I poured into these blocks. Then I saw Monica Solorio Snow's Farmer's Wife Quilt and decided I could do something less conventional with my blocks.
At the moment I am thinking something Tetris inspired. The bottom 2/3 of the quilt will be filled up with blocks, sashed in white, in neat rows and the top portion will feature the blocks tumbling down into the rows. I have almost all of the bottom rows sashed and am awaiting a delivery of more bella white solid. We'll see how the more unstructured top portion turns out, this is surely a task I could use a design wall for!
So here's to embracing it for what it is, a great learning experience, a showcase of some of my favorite fabrics and maybe even a display of a few darn accurately pieced blocks!
Such a great idea! Can't wait to see the finish!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to see it all finished.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great. Now you have a showcase of your progress as a piecer. It'd be fun to have that in the label and some day maybe your great grandkids will be able to look back and see your perserverence. It'll be a good example :)
ReplyDelete