Well, I've made three blocks so far,but they are all too small. I was super careful with measuring, starching, sewing on the line etc. ( which I think made them smaller, I think maybe I should forget about sewing on the line, because the line has a width - left, center, and right ) I think I'll just use my basic 1/4 inch foot - it usually always comes out good with that.

The CD, when downloaded, reads that the file was at 123%. I re-adjusted it to 100%, printed out the templates but the blocks are a bit tiny. What is your experience with this? I think I'll re-do a simple one , maybe rail fence, and see if 123% works better.

Have any others begun this journey???

Thanks for the link Debbie. It's interesting to see all of the blocks together like that. But I don't think that they would seem as jumbled once the sashing and cornerstones are in place. On that particular one I would imagine she will go for a pale coloured sashing. I think it's really great. But I am a scrapper at heart! Still contemplating.....

Thanks for the link, Debbie! It makes me think that if I do this, I'll want some sort of loose color scheme, or sashings maybe. All those colors jumbled make my head spin.

http://fussycut.blogspot.ca/p/shop.html Just found this link in my search and thought it might be helpful. I am only 28 weeks behind!

crocus999 wrote:
I am thinking of doing it from my scraps and it might end up a mishmash as I have not done anything like this before. I am feeling completely out of my element with this but it should be fun and definitely a learning experience. I will definitely be machine piecing. I am currently doing a stitchery BOM and figure at the rate I am going it will take me six or seven years! I don't think I have ever made a six inch block either! This should be a challenge.

Thanks for the encouragement, Michelle, but have you noticed that I don't have the same 'qualifications' listed under my name as you do.

I am sew simple.

Why not? Granny woulda ! if she coulda !

Yup, I pre-wash.
Well, there are enough blocks that I can try by hand and by machine and see which works out best. Maybe some of both, depending.

Terrie....I generally use some starch as I am a pre-washer. And it will sew great either by machine or hand.
Helps stop stretching ,easier to mark, less fray and crisper folds to name a few...
I sewed a long time without the ability to change out the hole size, so You will do just fine!
Even now, with a very wide hole, I seldom change over ! Using a small gauge needle and finer thread is
helpful. And going slowly.... And practice !

Deb - what are you thinking? Are you going for it too? Hand or Machine? Summer's almost here...
Is it easy to hand stitch through starched fabric?

I do not have the option of a single hole plate. Would it work if I put duck tape or masking tape over most of the existing hole? Doesn't seem a very good idea.

I could just go out and buy a new machine...NOT!

Yes Michelle....easily done up by machine...I do love the six in. size in order to keep quilts a little
smaller. I just wanted to practice my hand skills....and feeling a little "historical" these days !
Don't know about Terrie, tho....

Not to dissuade you from hand piecing but I machine pieced a sampler quilt last year that is very similar to the Farmers Wife Quilt. A gal in our guild drafted 56 or so 6" traditional blocks in EQ7 that we used as our BOM. Many of them are the same as the ones in the FW quilt. We paper pieced the most complex ones and had no trouble at all with any of the blocks. Yes, some of the individual patches are small, but I used Best Press before cutting and no steam when pressing and that worked great. I also pieced all my blocks on my Featherweight which has a single hole plate. I'd recommend using the single hole (Strait stitch only!) plate on your machine, rather than the standard wider plate. I didn't have any tiny pieces get 'eaten'.

There are some itsy-bitsy pieces that I think would get caught under my presser foot - I'm leaning toward hand piecing - maybe one or two a week.

Hhummmm? Well, go to site...find online catalog on the left side, go there..find Legacy Patterns
( it's the first one )go there and it is the 3rd pattern listed. Handwork Pillow... Hope that helps....

Rosemary....that is sort of the shape. I place a point toward me and the sloped sides are under my forearms.
Everyone would suit themselves I'm sure ! And the amt. of stuffing would vary, too. Mine is stuffed pretty firmly.
I used batting scrap and poly stuffing. It basically is two sqs sewn corner to straight sides
so there is some clipping and pinning involved. The top is 2 layers, quilted in a lg grid ...bottom is plain. Pocket
is a sq. folded and top stitched.

Very comfortable to use...for me anyway...surgery and "arther" on both hands can be a trouble some days !

Terrie, I am doing a Civil War sampler ( 2 blocks a month) at LQS..Babara Brackman...and have chosen to do it by
hand in 6" size. So doing Farmers Wife at the same time might be a good thing ! Should be able
to do a couple a week ! It was designed for hand piecing...tho you can do by machine.