Planning for the Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sew Along

A little exciting news: I’m one of the bloggers involved in the Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sew Along with Angie from Gnome Angel with Marti Michell and Fat Quarter Shop.

This is going to be HUGE!

We are going to spend a year creating all 99 blocks from Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt book so it is a BIG project. It all starts on September 28th 2015 but before then I’m thinking about how I’m going to manage such a big project. I thought I’d share some of my ideas – and I hope you’ll share yours with me too.

Some tips for getting organised:

• Choose fabric you LOVE. You’re going to be working with this fabric over  long period of time so you don’t want to be getting sick of it after the second month.
• Think about where you will keep your fabric and the scraps you create as you go along. I’m going to pick up a plastic crate with a lid for my fabric so that I can keep it together but separate from my other projects. This will also keep it dust free.
• Watch for sales to buy your thread in bulk – you will obviously need a lot!
• Consider how you will protect your book. I’m planning to at least cover mine in contact (clear adhesive plastic) like I would with my kid’s school books. Some quilters are talking about getting their books spiral bound so that it will open up flat which sounds clever too. (Here in Australia Officeworks is a great place for that.)
• Think about printing the patterns. The book comes with a CD containing all the patterns that you can print out. Will you print them each week as you go along, or perhaps print the lot in one hit, or perhaps get a printing store to print them for you? I’ll be looking into whether it will be cheaper (and easier) to have them printed at a store.
• Once you have them printed, where will you store them? I love Ms Midge’s plan to store them in a zippered ring binder with plastic sleeves so that she can slip the finished blocks in with the patterns as she makes them.
• Do you need any new tools? I haven’t quite decided yet what method I’m going to use to make these quilt blocks, but some of the methods could require new tools. If you plan to use templates, then the Marti Michell templates are recommended. Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts has suggested that a Clover seam presser and clips would be helpful and I already have those, but she also has a good basic list of tools here.
• Sign up to the Facebook group and emails so you get all the information. (Details and links in Angie’s post.) You also might want to follow the various bloggers on social media to get to know them. See the list here and the extra list here.
• Join in the community and make some friends. The Facebook group already has over 2000 members and there is a special thread for groups that want to meet up to stitch together. Grab the chance to get to know some other quilters. Look for this hashtag: #FQS1930FarmersWife

eBook also available: Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt