WIP Wednesday #10: Getting serious with the Farmer

I avoided a LOT of lesson-planning this week by cranking out 6 Farmer's Wife quilt blocks.  This is block #31 - Evening Star.

#32 - Farmer's Daughter.  This is another one of those based on a 5x5 grid. Take 6" finished block size and divide by 5 and you get a base unit of 1 1/4" (scant), so depending on whether you want a square or a HST you add either 1/2" or 7/8". 

#33 - Farmer's Puzzle.  This is another one where I think I came up with a simpler way to piece it, but I had to draw it out on graph paper first.  Fabric choice on this one reminds me of an aerial view of a farmer's fields with woodlots in between.  So for cutting, I cut 8 green rectangles, 1 3/4"x3".  The brown triangles actually start as 16 squares cut 1 3/4".  Then I used the fast-45 technique to join the squares to each end of the rectangle - you just have to make sure half the rectangles are oriented in one direction and half in another.  Then the center cross pieces are 2 rectangles 3"x1 1/2", and one long one cut 6 1/2" x 1 1/2".

#34 - Flock.  As bird-themed blocks go, this was relatively easy.

#35 - Flower Basket.  I just think the polka dots with the gingham background makes this one of the cutest blocks ever.  I did a machine applique for the handle, so it really did not take long at all.

#36 - Flower Garden Path.  The piecing was tricky for this one but it worked out okay.  I'm not sure about the fabrics, even though I needed more red.  It will probably even out when all the blocks are together. Most of the pieces were based on either a 1" or 2" finished measurement: the chevrons were from strips cut 1 1/4" (scant) wide.

Progress was made on machine quilting my mother-in-law's Japanese Lanterns, but I have no photo for that.

In knitting, I started another pair of Stashbuster Spirals, this time for Secundus.  This is what's seeing me through inservice.  I really like this pattern, and I really like using up those odd little balls of leftover yarn that have been sitting around for years.

I'll be linking this post up to Freshly Pieced for the weekly party, so check out what others have been up to.