Hello happy people!
Today I'm excited to share with you my finished Farmer's Wife Quilt!
It's been away for a while...being hand quilted by a group of ladies in Provo, UT that use their proceeds to buy supplies for patients at the State Hospital. It was gone for about 8 months. I got it back mid November-ish and finished binding it over the holidays!
It really meant a lot to me to have this hand quilted. I wanted it to have that antique feel and because I know myself and know that realistically I would never actually do it I decided to hire these ladies! I'm so happy that the money went to a good cause and the money was well worth it (a fraction of the cost of what it would be to have it custom, machine quilted - it was $200 for those of you dying to know :).
They quilted in the ditch around each piece and they even quilted the dashed lines on my border fabric - which initially they said they wouldn't be able to do. I was thrilled when I picked it up and realized I wouldn't have to do any more quilting myself! Whew! Big sigh of relief :)
Some people have asked how much fabric they would need to make something like this and that's really hard to answer since it's so scrappy. I just started off with a dozen or so fat quarters and then added more when I needed some variety. Scraps are perfect for this project since you only need a little bit for each block. Below are some rough numbers for everything besides the blocks - since I did do my sashing a little different than the Farmer's Wife book instructed.
Finished Quilt Size: 79" x 100"
Finished Block Size: 6"
Number of Blocks: 83
Fabric Requirements
(I've included a little extra in the yardage to allow for
shrinkage and squaring up. WOF = width of fabric).
Number of Sashing Strips: 192 total
(You will need 2 yards of 42" wide fabric.
Cut 6 1/2" x WOF strips, subcut into 2" x 6 1 /2" rectangles).
Sashing Squares: 110 total
I did white with a red print for the 82 center squares and
solid white for the 28 outside edge squares (the white outside edge squares are eventually trimmed off - creating triangles - before sewing on the inner border fabric).
(You will need 1/3 yard of white with red print fabric and
1/4 yard of solid white).
Inner Border: 8 strips
(You will need 1/2 yard.
Cut 2" x WOF strips).
Outer Border: 8 strips
(You will need 1 3/4 yards.
Cut 6 1/2" x WOF strips).
Binding: 9 strips
(You will need 3/4 yard.
Cut 2 1/2" x WOF strips).
Backing: 7 1/2 yards
(cut into 3 pieces, 42" x 90" each)
I hope that answers some questions for those of you just getting started!
Here's a few more pictures of mine...
My backing is just a vintage-y red and cream print.
I love it. And although you may not see me using too much red for the next little while, this is one of my greatest finished quilts. I hope my grandmother (Gigi) will be proud :)
Happy quilting!
~ Amber
PS. You can click on the Farmer's Wife label on my sidebar for more posts related to this topic.
