The Farmers Wife

In September two years ago, my husband I traveled through San Juan Bautista CA. We used to live there and always stop on our way through. There is a restaurant called Dona Esther that has the best Mexican food I've ever tasted. Just down the street is a quilt store that is such fun. Of course I visit it whenever we are there, too. On this trip I bought a few things - okay, maybe more than a few. One of the things was a book called "The Farmer's Wife." It has 111block patterns on it, as well as a story about how they all come together.

The blocks all measure 6 inch square. Not too bad, I thought. I will make a block a week. In less than two years I'll have this quilt done and ready to be quilted. I came home and started the first one in the book. It is called Cut Glass Dish. It took me three days to finish this block. Three days!

So a year and a half has gone by and no other blocks are done. I keep that block pinned on the wall near my sewing machine to encourage me to get the book out and start on the next block. At this pace I will not live long enough to make 111 blocks!

Today out it came. I printed the templates, made the plastic templates, cut the fabric and actually sewed the second of my 111 blocks. Now only 109 left to do.

This one was easy. It is called Kitchen Woodbox.

Maybe I will try another one tomorrow. Or next week. We will see.

The one on the left is the Kitchen Woodbox. The one on the right is the one that gave me so much grief. It is the Cut Glass Dish. Those half square triangles are what gave me the problem. They are very small. The block barely came out at 6 inches. The one today I had room to spare.

I am excited to try another one now. Oh oh. The next one is called Country Path. It has a lot of small squares in it, too. At least they aren't half square triangles.

Keep tuned. I will post more blocks as I do them.

Keep on Quilting