Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt Sew-Along

The biggest quilting event of the year is just about to kick off! And I am super pumped that I have been invited to be one of the official guest bloggers for this awesome quilt-along!

This is the book that we will be quilting along to: The Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt by Laurie Aaron Hird. This quilt along is being hosted by Gnome Angel in conjunction with Fat Quarter Shop and From Marti Michell. A super-impressive list of bloggers have been asked to join the party, you can see them all here.

As we make our final preparations to start the sew-along, I am absolutely flabbergasted by the sheer number of quilters from all around the world getting ready to take on this challenge. The official Facebook group for the quilt-along has over 3300 members already. It's mind boggling to try to imagine all the quilts that will be made during the course of this QAL!

My preparations are complete, and here's my fabric pull. Yes, I do have a rather large collection of repro 30s fabrics as you can see (I actually have quite a bit more in my stash, but was embarrassed to show all of it in case you think I am a fabric obsessed nutter my husband reads this post).

Ever since I started to quilt I wanted to make a Farmer's Wife sampler quilt with repro 30s fabrics, so they seemed like the obvious choice for this quilt along. I did briefly consider using Tilda (another obsession of mine) but my heart pulled me back to the repro 30s fabrics. I hope you like my fabric choices and will visit soon to see my blocks. I want the overall effect of the quilt to be quite muted so I may mix in more low volume fabrics along the way too - we shall see.

Here is a list of some of the fabrics I will be using for my quilt. Some of these are out of print and may be hard to find but most are still available as bundles at Fat Quarter Shop and other fabric stores.

30s Playtime by Chloe's Closet for Moda
Old New 30's by Atsuko Matsuyama for Lecien
Aunt Grace by Judie Rothermel for Marcus Brothers Fabrics
Pretty Posies by Darlene Zimmerman for Robert Kaufman Fabrics
30's Minis by Erin Turner for Penny Rose Fabrics
Hope Chest by Erin Turner for Penny Rose Fabrics
Everything But the Kitchen Sink by Yuko Hasegawa for RJR Fabrics
Walk in The Park by Maywood Studio
Storybook Vacation by Whistler Studio for Windham Fabrics
Spring Showers by Kaye England for Wilmington Prints
Retro 30s Child Smile by Lecien
and many many more!

One of the reasons this sew-along is so exciting is not only the awesome blocks but also the opportunity to practice new techniques that you may not have used before, as the book has so much scope! You can machine piece all the blocks, or hand-piece them all, or foundation piece them, or use a mix of techniques (which is what I am going to do). I will rotary cut and machine piece the simple blocks, for the ones with more tricky maths I will use my templates by Marti Michell. I will also foundation paper piece and EPP hand-piece some blocks. I am really looking forward to mixing and matching all the different techniques in this quilt along. Lots of quilty sewing practice!

Important Links

For those intending to sew along with us, here are some key links for you:

Official sew-along page: Click here to visit the official sew-along page at Gnome Angel

Facebook group:  Join the Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt Facebook Group by clicking here.

FAQs: You can find answers to common questions here.

Book: The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: Inspiring Letters from Farm Women of the Great Depression and 99 Quilt Blocks That Honor Them by Laurie Aaron Hird for Fons & Porter/F+W, order it here.

From Marti Michell Perfect Patchwork Templates: Find information about the templates and a list of templates that you can use to make the blocks by clicking here.

Techniques: Brush up (or learn!) some of the quilting techniques we will be using by following the You Tube links below.

   English Paper Piecing : Sue Daley's English Paper Piecing school
 
   Foundation Paper Piecing: Sew Easy: Paper Foundation Piecing by Fons and Porter
   

   Using Marti Michell templates: Introductory video on Perfect Patchwork Templates

I will be sharing my progress on Instagram, with only periodic updates here on the blog, so if you want to see my blocks as soon as I have made them make sure you are following my IG feed. Please use the hashtag #FQS1930FarmersWife for your Instagram photos so we can see your progress too.

Two sleeps to go before we start! Are you ready?