Fourth Sunday in April

"Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near."

Philippians 4:5

Farmer's Wife Friday--The Joy of Achievement

The title of today's letter from a farm wife in Fulton County, Ohio Is The Joy of Achievement.

I'm certain that she was not thinking of quilt block assembly when she penned those words in her letter, but I find that they fittingly described my thoughts as I finished up the piecing of today's two 6.5 inch blocks. Let's just say that there were a fair number of tiny pieces floating around my sewing room! Whew, I'm glad to get those behind me....especially the one called Spider Legs. When I see a spider (There are many here in the country!) I've been known to shriek. I tried not to shriek when I saw the wobble around the edge of my block. I used paper-piecing to make this one, and it still came out a little off! Oh well, I'm sure that it will work out fine with the addition of sashing.

Spider Legs-Block #82

This wife believes that marriage to "a young farmer, educated, industrious, honest, congenial" is highly desirable, suggesting that if one "seeks your daughter's hand, straightway procure a minister, give them your blessing and be assured of their happiness."
She didn't add the word 'quickly', but it was inferred, I thought!

Wedding Ring-Block #101

Mrs. Farmer obviously loves her life, even admitting to forgetting that "there were times when the toil seemed hard and the years seemed long". Now, there is rejoicing  "in the New Day for the farmer and his wife. The future is brighter, the opportunity for service greater year by year." Going on to mention many advantages blooming in the farm community, the wife ends her letter: "countless other elements of progress are enriching farm life and assuring us that so far as these things may influence life, satisfaction for herself and service to others await the girl who would make the farm her home."

Be sure to stop by Cindy's blog, my Farmer's Wife blogging partner, to view her blocks in all solid fabrics and read her lively comments. She's had a lot of "Joy of Achievement" lately!

Bleachers Unveiled!

A few months back, I had a ball testing out a pattern for a new quilt design that I can finally tell you about. The design is actually by, none other than that fabulous machine quilter, Angela Walters! Shea Henderson published the pattern under her Empty Bobbin line and  it is now available for sale. Here's a picture of my version in grey/natural/gold. The professional photo is by Sarah Sorrell.

Be sure to visit Shea's blog today for more views of this clever quilt and find out where to purchase the pattern. This design is a fun one to put together and would work really well as a "manly quilt" if you are looking for an idea. There's lots of room for some creative quilting  in the negative spaces. Shea has 3 other new patterns on the market that you won't want to miss, as well! 

Third Sunday in April

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

for I am gentle and humble in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden light."

Matthew 11: 28-30

Farmer's Wife Friday-- The Role of Helpmeet

Today's farmer's wife, from Allegheny County, PA, is someone that I would have enjoyed having as a friend. Her positive attitude and wisdom probably rubbed off on everyone she met. I love being around people like that, don't you! 

 Right off the bat she, like others, expounds on the pluses of being fulfilled vocationally as the wife and helpmeet of a farmer. She goes on to describe how labor-saving devices, books, magazines, music, country amusements, refreshments, good food and many social advantages, etc. are available to those living in the country.

 Basket-Block #3

This wife doesn't gloss over the fact that her life is often burdensome. But, she says, "This can be helped by the spirit in which [work] is done and by putting some of the element of play into it. If some task is to be done, attempt it, believing it to be a recreation and notice the difference in our outlook." Isn't that a great way to look at many things we must do?

 I loved this thought as well: "Too often we forget that work is a blessing God has given us; that He meant each of us to be producers-not to be content with doing less than our share." Wow.. If this lady were around today, I might even suggest that she run for president!

 Shooting Star-Block #78

Her thoughts on making the best of things agree with me too: "Life is what we make it and the busy person is always a happy one." Making the Shooting Star block certainly kept me busy, I'll say that! Even paper-piecing it took several hours and I was very happy to have it completed!

 In her experience, the hard work of the farm is well worth it, and she has lived such a happy life that she would not want to live anywhere else. I actually think that this lady would have been happy even if she lived on the moon, though. Seriously. Love it!

Marathon Sewing

The KC Modern Quilt Guild's recent retreat was a marathon of sewing....I love it so! We began on Friday afternoon and kept sewing until Sunday around 2 p.m., with a few breaks for eating and sleeping...some more than others! I managed to get quite a bit accomplished, which is nice since I haven't sewn a stitch in the 10 days since! 

Here's a taste of the Batman quilt that I started for one of my grandsons. I'm surprising myself as to how much I'm liking the way it is falling together! Somehow it reminds me of comic book pages....

Besides sewing up a couple more Farmer's Wife blocks, I also stitched together my recent leader/ender blocks into a pretty lap quilt top for charity. I'd really like to get it quilted by next week, if I can, so that it can travel to Nepal with my son for a child there.

My quickest and most fun project was making this jelly roll quilt as a "test" top for the 
1600 Inch Race that my other quilt guild, The Blue Valley Quilters, is having at their Day Retreat in May. I used two strips each of all 20 new Flea Market Fancy fabrics to create this simple top...

Because you don't preplan the fabric placement, the colors appear very randomly across the quilt top. It probably took me around 2 hours from start to finish to make this quilt top. It will be fun to see how fast the actual "race" is finished when we have it next month. 

Stop by tomorrow to see my Farmer's Wife blocks. See you then!

KCMQG Retreat 2012

You know that I was excited about the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild retreat in Lawrence, Kansas, when you learn that I talked my husband into celebrating our 39th wedding anniversary a day late just so that I could attend! Here we all are showing off a tiny portion of our projects. Wasn't it nice of the Spring Hill Suites to provide such a modern backdrop for our group photo! ( I love the age range displayed here!)

 Saturday morning found me leading a small class in creating our own Quick Response Code (QR code) quilts. Two of the gals had even made a real code for themselves via the Internet to recreate in fabric. One thing that we all learned : bigger pieces sure makes life easier!

 Here's our guild president, Shea Henderson, sewing up a storm along side her mom, Mary.

 Tammy, aka Marmalade Fabrics, worked hard all weekend on her guild challenge project. It is going to be so awesome!

 This wonderful lady was my table mate for the weekend. It was so much fun to chat and sew with Patty by my side until the wee hours of the morning!

 Jamie brought along blocks that she started during a Denyse Schmidt workshop last fall. The colorful carpet added to the fascination of her project as she laid it out.

 Shea and Marilyn, who was my roommate for the weekend, showed off the largest and smallest of blocks being worked on.

 I could stare at these liberated blocks made by Tracy for hours. Another modern carpet provided a fun backdrop!

 Marilyn brought along her many, many hexagons. She's making two different quilts using the one inch hexies...this gorgeous one is all Kaffe Fassett fabrics.Be still my heart!

 Show and tell was a highlight of our last morning together. Here's Patty's finished top (She's hiding back there someplace) using fabrics by Mr. Amy Butler, Parson Grey.

 Sharon was one of the retreat organizers. (What a fantastic job they did!) She managed to finish this cute baby quilt top despite all the extra duties she was busy with. Aren't the colors wonderful!

 Our workspace  and lighting were fantastic. The large screen scrolled quilts from the Modern Quilt Guild flickr site. College basketball fans enjoyed the fact that we were sewing away while the KU Jayhawks (from Lawrence) were playing the first game of the Final Four.
When KU managed to win by one point, the town of Lawrence erupted with fireworks right outside our hotel and many of the quilters helped  celebrate with a quick trip to Mass. Street.

 Tomorrow I'll show you the projects that I worked on during the retreat. Thanks for stopping by and for your thoughtful comments to yesterday's post. Quilters are the best!