Farmer’s wife: Flower Basket

© 2012 by Heike Scharmann

An empty flower basket. Okay.

Let’s say there might be flowers in it. Or a piece of cheese and a bottle of wine. Or some sewing stuff, maybe a piece of appliqué waiting to be done.

I had some problems with the basket’s handle. First, I did as described in Laurie Hird’s book: I cut a strip of fabric on the bias and appliquéd it in place. But that did not work. The inside curve was all bumpy. Maybe it would have worked on a six inch block, but not on my small scale. I dumped the whole piece.

Then I cut the handle in its final shape, appliquéd it on the half square triangle, and pieced the block. But now it looks as if I had forgotten to add a seam allowance. The handle is too short. So I ripped it off again.

Finally, I cut a larger handle, in a form that suited me best. I opened the seams only at two points to let in my new handle, and there you are:

Flower Basket

© 2012 by Heike Scharmann

.

Farmer’s wife: Flower Garden Path

Let’s not talk about seams that do not meet. Let’s have a look at the pattern itself. It’s a very nice one with much to look at. I see blue and white flower beds, and a straight trail through them, meeting at one point and diverging again. I see the flower beds in a terraced form, not plain. The plants are flowing in cascades down on the railway-like path. I see a beautiful, not too well kept garden.

Flower Garden Path

© 2012 by Heike Scharmann

.

Farmer’s wife: Flower Pot

I am getting to the point of my Farmer’s Wife project where I cannot help but hear the faint echo of a countdown. Of course, this countdown started right away with me sewing the first block—Wrench. But with only 36 blocks to go, I am beginning to seriously think about what will be when I have finished the last block.

Before I started, I decided on some basics. I wanted to do all 111 blocks. I wanted to set the blocks on point. I wanted the quilt in a turquoise/green colour scheme. And I wanted the sashing strips in grey and the cornerstones in white.

Now, that I am getting closer to the end, my brain automatically starts to plan the missing details. When looking for some white print in my favourite quilt store today, I caught my eyes wandering to a piece of grey fabric. Would this grey go with my Farmer’s Wife turquois? Would it be enough? Could I not buy it even if it didn’t?

Okay, this last question convinced me not to buy it just on spec. Though I have not yet calculated how many yards I will need for my reduced size, I am pretty sure that this piece was to small. And I am resolved to buy this grey fabric only when having some of the blocks with me to see if the colour really works well.

Flower Pot

© 2012 by Heike Scharmann

.

Farmer’s wife: Four Winds

Four Winds, again, is a block entirely made of squares and half square triangles. But it turned out to be one of the most difficult Farmer’s Wife blocks I’ve done so far. As you can see, only few seams match, plus many are very wonky instead of very straight.

Four Winds

© 2012 by Heike Scharmann

Apparently, there is a limit to how small patchwork pieces can be, and maybe this limit is reached here.

I am thinking about kicking this block out and redoing it. But then, I am seriously asking myself if this one block should really annoy anyone among the 110 other blocks? I know, this does not sound very ambitious. But maybe if you look at it in a larger context, it will be quite alright.

.