~“Let’s buy a little farm and get married,” said my husband-to-be.
This is just one snippet from hundreds of letters sent to The Farmer’s Wife Magazine between the years of 1930-1939. The column they were printed in was titled “Letters From our Farm Women”. It was a forum to share their life stories and offer encouragement to others during the difficult days of the Depression. To honor these farm women, 99 classic quilt blocks were selected that included a woman’s name or title. The blocks are called Fanny, Grandmother, Addie, Peony, Old Maid, and ninety-four others. In our Block of the Month class we will be making these blocks by paper piecing, or template method if you prefer. The blocks turn out perfect! And they are soooo cute. We will be using 1930’s reproduction fabrics as our template so that our quilts will be legit! We will also be talking about subjects that were important to these frugal, hardworking, and creative women; such as bread baking, canning, jam making, stain treatment and laundry, homemade ice cream, aprons, pincushions, dishtowels, and of course quilts! There will be tips and tricks for piecing, particularly paper piecing, quilting and sewing gadgets, quilt care, and tons of ideas and patterns for scrap busting, including selvage projects and small scrap piecing. You don’t want to miss this if you’re a fan of 30’s fabrics or even if you just want to learn something and make some new friends. We will meet the 2nd Thursday of each month beginning in August and the class goes for a year. You will need to purchase the book, and we will have it available for you to buy with a 10% discount if you are enrolled. The kits will be approximately $27.50 per month and will include ALL the fabric needed to make your darling quilt blocks. Call the store and sign up or come in and see us, because it is going to be soooooo fun!