It’s Friday! And you know what that means. Or rather, what it’s supposed to mean and very rarely does. It’s Farmer’s Wife Friday. *horn blast*
Part of the allure of the Farmer’s Wife 1930’s sew-along is reading the letters that go along with each block. Angie, who is running the sew-along over at the Gnome Angel blog, has also designed .pdf files of journal sheets to go with each block. There is a space on the sheet to record, “What I’m Grateful For Today.” So, while it’s nice to have the journal sheets to keep track of block details, it’s even nicer to have them to help practice gratitude. For instance, I’m grateful I wasn’t actually carried off by mosquitos while photographing today’s blocks.
That’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, I admit. I have a lot to be grateful for. A solid house, a good job, and general relative health for me and mine. And, a new puppy.
Meet Pete. He’s a Friese Stabyhoun. I’ll let you go google the breed. He’s a sweetie, and likes to sleep by my feet when he’s all worn out. When he’s awake, he’s very busy. Since my girls are often equally busy, we loaded them all up on Sunday and drove out to a county park called Eastmanville Farm. It’s the site of the former Ottawa County Poor Farm. While most of the old buildings are gone, the 1928 barn has been restored.
It’s a very nice park, with lots of hiking and equestrian trails. The perfect place to walk some energy off puppy and kids. We took the loop around to the historic cemetery.
Only four of the graves had retained their markers, but 60 more were located with ground-penetrating radar. Each now sports a concrete marker, and the cemetery has been rededicated.
Poor farms, despite the name, were not necessarily home only to the poor. Anyone who couldn’t live independently and had no one to care for them might end up at one. Some of the residents of this one came of their own volition – to include a judge and a veterinarian. My own great-grandfather, by the account of my father, had a deathly fear of ending up at one. Possibly out of fear of being forgotten entirely, I’m not sure.
It was an interesting trip, and a bit of a nostalgic walk around the grounds – rolling gravel paths that skirted around ponds, not unlike the old homestead I posted pictures of a few weeks back. And it encouraged us to slow down, take stock – and be grateful. I’m even grateful I got a little time to sew. That’s going to be in short supply for a while, as one of my co-workers has given notice and I’ll be working on my normal day off until we can find a replacement. Ah, well. For now, I introduce you to this week’s “girls”.
The first is “Bea.”
The light blue here is really more of a periwinkle. At least I got all the plaid going in the same direction.
Then there is “Carol.”
Yay, me, for fussy cutting? I have to say, it’s something that makes me cringe a little, because I don’t know quite how to go about it. And it wastes even more fabric than plain paper piecing. But it does look cute.
The next one is “Carrie.” I’m not sure I’m REALLY that fond of this one, but I’m hoping it will help with overall color balance in the finished quilt.
Things are not as precise as I would like, but lining up those center seams was just a bear.
The last one I finished this week is “Anne.” She’s sort of a hot mess.
The seams on this one ended up not nesting the way thhey should have. And the center is just a bit of a train wreck. However, there are something like 99 blocks in the book and I need 90 for the layout I have in mind. This one may end up on the discard pile.
Then again, maybe it’s not so noticeable from a little distance.
For the moment, I have a lot to be grateful for. And even working more means more money to put into the fund for the new house, whether we buy or build. I have the opportunity to go to Sew Pro next weekend, and I’m pretty excited about THAT. Will I see any of you there?