Me? A Farmer's Wife?

Yesterday I succumbed to the urge to make a sampler quilt. I've had the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (by Laurie Aaron Hird) since December, but I've been debating the whole while about whether or not I would actually give the blocks a go.

The tiny templates (which print ONE to a page) and lack of rotary measurements were a big deterrent, initially. But somehow my frustration only made me more determined to start sewing. So I ended up just figuring out the math and making first one, then two of the itsy bitsy 6.5 inch blocks. And it was so much fun! I made two more today and hope to make at least another before bedtime. I started out with some simple blocks - which tend to be the ones I prefer anyway.

I love 19th century/civil war repro fabrics but, to be honest, the quilt featured in the book wasn't my taste at all. I'm more of a Dear Jane girl! I knew from the start I would be doing something different with my fabric choices. So far I really like the outcome - can't wait to choose a background color.

Amanda is one of my very favorite quilty bloggers (and a founder of the very popular FWSQ group on Flickr), and I was so inspired by all her cute fussy cut blocks that I decided to go in a similar direction with my FWSQ. I just want it to be fun and cheery and spring-like - I'm really in the mood to play with bright jewel-tone colors while I dream of warmer weather! So far that's as defined as the color palette has gotten. As you can see, every block is really different.  But cute, I think!