Week 11 ? That's a little more than 1/5th along the way for this journey.

I belong to the yahoo group that is doing the FWS. The paper piecing patterns are now available on their site. Apparently the publisher gave the rights to sell the pp patterns to someone else and left Laurie out of the mix. Consequently the pp patterns are now on the yahoo site for all.

I emailed Laurie and asked her if she will make the announcement here. She does gives an explanation of what happened.

I've already made some copies of the blocks to pp myself. Anne

Just looked at the photos. It seems a few of us chose the same colors for #22. I think that's the first time this has happened. I know you're all tired of me whining about doing scrappy but what I do is look at the title of the block for color suggestions. Corn & Beans (#22) said yellow and green to me. Is this how you choose colors when you do scrappy?

I try to but when looking and choosing the fabric if it pulls me--I'll use it-OR- if I find I need more of a certain color I'll use it instead.

Corn and Beans looks great in green, yellow and white. Definitely my fave version of it.

I did mine with a lavender background though. I knew I would hate a 6" C&B. 10, 12 and 16" C&B are fine but the 6" just annoys me. Silly since I'm not bothered by Jane Stickle's insane blocks at all.

I just wasn't in the mood for templates. I paperpieced mine. I'll post it if passes inspection later tonight.

Loving Contrary Wife in comparison. It was my fave block when I read the book on a plane trip. Got me through some turbulence. Don't really care for the Contrary Husband block but I guess they're not meant to be together. You should really only have one contrary spouse per marriage.

Corn & beans reminded me of the farm: the planting, raising and harvest of them. Not a bean novelty print to be found in the Midwest; had to go with "coffee beans" and they are NOT a farming crop here. I agree yellow and green are the colors to do the blocks with...

But wait, anytime you harvest corn and beans, incoming blackbirds or chicken flock to the scene.

I couldn't figure out how to access the pp. Not very computer savy. Do you think they will be available on this board? I'm so far behind (but not down and out) that the time is not a factor. Some blocks are great with the rotary instructions and a huge thank you for doing that, but some would be good candidates for pp. Thanks.

Ok, after a few errors and timed out on editing first attempt, the pictures are now posted. Guess I am still learning how to do simple things on this board, e.i., posting and how it works. After the fiftyth or so block on the fwsq, I just might learn a few things if I can remember them. Appreciate everyone's patience.

Love all the blocks. And the lovely quilts these blocks will make.

Jan, you are too funny. Yes, that is pretty much how I choose the fabric for each block. I have enjoyed your scrappy blocks. Glad you are sticking with it even tho is is hard for you to not plan out teh colors.

The Yahoo Group is a great resource and anyone can join.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/farmerswifesampler/
The piecing pdfs are in the File section under "Foundation Patterns."

They're doing their blocks in a different order but the pix are fun.

I'm trying to avoid making hideous looking blocks, but at the same time, use some of the hideous fabric I've somehow acquired over the years. I often try to mimic Laurie's blocks because I'm pretty bad about getting color values/contrast right. When we first started FWS, I divided a lot of fabrics into sets of colors that I thought would go well together. If a block requires 5 colors, for example, I look through my sets of 5, hoping to find one that works well for that block.

I get a lot of surprises. Sometimes the "perfect" colors are definitely NOT and sometimes, the "iffey" ones end up making a stunning block. I am learning a lot, though, so I'm grateful for that.

Thanks for the site. I actually found it!! Go me!!

Just be aware that the pages can get cut off sometimes. You'll need to be on your toes.

Anyone who hasn't purchased the book should *not* use the paper piecing patterns from the FW Quilt yahoo group. That's really important. The author made a wonderful book and should be rewarded for it. Buy her next book, too. :0)

I agree everyone should, at least, buy the Farmers wife book to do the quilt. I also purchased the disk from Electric Quilt to do the blocks and love it. Installed it with my EQ7 stuff, and can go back and print the block as many times as I need to paper piece or templates.

In case you cannot tell, I like the unique, different approachs to individualize my fabrics in my blocks. And love the variety of the blocks I see on this site. I do an outline of the block printing to "tack" each complete block to, add it to the protective shield and put it into a large 2 1/2 notebook in order as we are making them on this site. IF I have a problem, I will ask the knowledgable friendly folks on this site...some one will know the answer. I have been very impressed with their knowledge and friendly attitude on THIS site. Thanks to those who ask the questions and thanks to those who answer.

I do not know if I am going to use the contrary husband or contrary wife block in the final block arrangement; other blocks have also been duplicated to make the final decision later. It's hard to tell who is the most contrary in our marriage, but it is a true partnership of equal faults and good points that seem to blend well.

I haven't been able to get on the site for a few days and enjoyed reading everyone's comments! I used similar colors as others have done. Regarding the pping blocks on another site...that's soo odd. I have EQ, so it's not a problem for me, but I know having patterns will be helpful for many people! There are just some blocks that are so designed as to have pping be a blessing for sure!

I'm trying to use up scraps - I use the smallest pieces in my stash up, and move up to the pieces that are almost as large as a FQ. Only when I absolutely needed some cream/light did I cut into a larger piece. As I do this, the "leftovers" get divvied into either the 1 1/2" square basket for another quilt, or into my smaller-than-1.5" scrap box for a crumb quilt.

I've been making my own pp. lol

Kind of wish I were using scraps but I'm taking the scraps from this project and using them for stuffing.

I've heard of a lot of people using scraps for stuffing, but I remind myself that even my scraps are $9 a yard. Only the teensiest pieces go unused. I'm doing my best to NOT go fabric shopping - but it's an addiction!

Yes, indeed. I try to keep my stash down to works in progress only. I'm not doing too badly at it.

The stuffing's only for butts! :0D Scraps add weight and sturdiness. In other areas, I use wool or cotton.

I could relate to this comment for sure! If any of you are familiar with Bonnie Hunter who has several published books using scraps, she makes the comment that our scraps are expensive!!!! Pookie Ookie, I do think that when I get my scrap pile down to the iddy biddy pieces, using them as stuffing would make me feel better than tossing them in the garbage...(which is what I recently did...shame on me)but next time, I'll use them all so I've wasted nothing...thanks! I need to seperate them further into sizes as well as colors.

Finished Block 21. My machine is just smoking. On to 22.