Completion

I'm hoping that "completion" will be a running theme this summer. And bringing big projects to completion is worth a bit of struggle.

My writing partner and I are inches away from getting our fully copy-edited manuscript to its next step (typesetting, yippee! must note that we do have a couple of weeks of detailed work to do first); I am waiting to here about some image reproduction permissions and then I can finalize small changes to a journal article (also about to be typeset); I just finished a book review that had been hanging over my head for a few months...AND oh yes, I have JUST FINISHED ALL 111 BLOCKS IN THE FARMER'S WIFE SAMPLER QUILT!

Yippee!!

I was two blocks from completion last week, but put myself on temporary hold while taking care of some of the writing tasks mentioned above -- and also in order to give Melinda a chance to near completion of her own set of blocks (Melinda is actually making an additional 10, ambitious woman that she is!).

Yesterday I was back at the sewing machine, my 1947 Featherweight to be exact, not to work on the FW quilt but happily working away on the bear paw blocks for my king-sized Father's Day quilt (no pictures yet because my father deserves a little bit of a surprise); I have 24 of 30 blocks done. That feels good.

And then last night I read on flickr that Melinda was just 1.5 blocks away from being done -- so I kicked back into gear and gathered the template pieces for my remaining two FW blocks: numbers 104, Wild Geese, and 110, Wood Lily.

I cut the pieces this morning, put 'em together -- still using the Featherweight because it is so fun to use for piecing and my new little fabric guide had been giving me such good 1/4" seam results on the bear paw blocks (cue ominous music) AND.... pppfffffsssssssss...failure.

Both blocks measured at an exact 7" square.

Huh?????!!!!!!?????

What a way to wrap up this challenging, year-long project! With 60+ pieces in many of the Farmer's Wife blocks, the most miniscule inaccuracy in a seam can add up to a big problem.  I had faced this several times before, had discovered exactly which set of templates worked for me, and exactly which setting on my Janome produced exactly the right seam width...and yet here I was once again.  Apparently I hadn't learned my lesson, even after 109 blocks.

So I filed away the cute but oversized blocks, and remade them.

And now, ta da!  I can introduce to the world my final two Farmer's Wife blocks.

Block 104, Wild Geese

Block 110, Wood Lily

As I wrote on flickr, it seems appropriate that this particular project should end with some bumps: I learned a tremendous amount in making all of these traditional blocks (and using templates for the very first time!), but it was a steep climb at points. To quote the fitness DVDs that have recently (and of necessity) become part of my daily life, the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt kicked my butt, from start to finish.