Farmer's Wife Quilt Along meets Modern Solids

A few months ago I was invited by Andrea of KnittyBitties to participate in a collaboration project called Farmer's Wife for the Home.

If you've been around quilting-blog-world you'll remember the popular inception of the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along by Angela and Amanda last fall.  And it was so much fun to see the variety of quilt-block creations out of classic quilt-block patterns.  At the time my plate was full and I just knew I couldn't add one more project, but I loved seeing all the creative inspirational eye-candy floating around flickr and blogs.

Well, KnittyBitties Andrea had a brilliant idea for those of you out there like me: mini creations using the The Farmer's Wife blocks, thus joining in the FWQA fun, without the serious, long-term commitment of making all 111 blocks.  To add to the fun, she invited a few of us to play along and to only use the fabric she sent us: A Kona Solids colored charm pack and some yardage of gray and neutral off-white Kona Solids (generously donated by Robert Kaufman fabrics.)

I love all those pretty solids and used them to create monochromatic (for the most part anyway) blocks from The Farmer's Wife collection. I don't think I ever would have tried it with out this challenge, and I think the results are fantastic! Isn't it amazing how the vibrant solids give those very traditional quilt blocks a modern twist?

I decided to make them into a mini-quilt/table-topper using this Table Topper tutorial. I substituted the Farmer's Wife blocks for the 9-patch blocks in that tutorial.

Not wanting to let any of that fantastic color go to waste (in true Farmer's Wife fashion), I used up the rest on the back and the binding.  And I think I like the back equally as much as the front.

The quilting is super simple, straight line quilting. Not perfect at all - I just eyeballed it as I went, so there's a little bit of imperfection going on. Pretty much all I'm capable of, but it kind of adds to the modernity (good word, eh?) of the quilt.

Be sure to check out the rest of the inspiration as part of this collaboration. You can see the other posts and projects here:

Monday, September 10th - Erin of Two More Seconds

Tuesday, September 11th - Kerri of Lovely Little Handmades

Wednesday, September 12th - Jodi of Pleasant Home

Thursday, September 13th - Jody of Everyday Beatiful

Friday, September 14th - Amy of Diary of a Quilter

Saturday, September 15th -Andrea of Knitty Bitties

And believe it or not, all of the projects for this collaboration are going to be given away, including mine. Yes way. To enter, Andrea has set up a snazzy Rafflecopter entry system that can give you lots of chances to be entered to win one of these projects or a bundle of your own Kona Solid goodness. All entries go through the Rafflecopter system. If you're feeling a little baffled by Rafflecopter, here is a quick video to show you how it works. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

But the best take away from all of this - for me anyway - is the reminder to step out of your comfort zone once in a while - you might be pleasantly surprised by the results.