The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt: 55 Letters and the 111 Blocks They Inspired

I bought this book to take part in an online quilt-along. I think it's fabulous. Being a quilter it's the sort of book I'd have loved as a present. The first section shows each block made up along side the letters from The Farmer's Wife. The second half show's each block and the templates that you need, plus the number of each type of your chosen fabric you will need in order to assemble the block. All the templates come on a CD which is in an envelope in the back of the book.Quilter's used to working out maths so they can rotary cut the blocks will find there are no measurements included in the book or CD. Another negative is each template prints out one per page. Not one block per page, one individual template. It prints out in the middle of the page so unless you can do some fancy cutting and pasting you will need to use one sheet of paper per template - even if the template is tiny!Having pointed out the negatives with the way this works I have found the templates are working for me and quilters that want to do the project by hand (as the original quilt was done) will find the templates ideal for English Paper type piecing.All in all a lovely quilting book with something for modern and traditional quilters of all experiences. Oh and the paper in the book has slightly faded edges and an olde worlde feel. Along with the letters this makes this book far more than just a how to book!

I'm enjoying browsing through the blocks and reading some of the letters,and noting that whilst the wives all seem to want their daughters to marry farmers, their reasons are quite varied, most happy to accept the inventions of the day which made their lives easier such as the telephone, car, lighting, running water etc, but all desiring to keep their family life and values firmly rooted in the past. The letters generally point to the contentment which comes from being satisfied with their lot, however lacking this may seem to be to the "city folks" out there chasing the dime.The blocks themselves are all finished at 6" x 6" and although the author enjoyed piecing them by hand they can easily be machined. All use templates and these are on a CD. The one very annoying thing about this is that every single template is given separately, and each of them has to be printed on a separate sheet of paper - so much better if the templates for each block had been given together. (UPDATE 29th Aug 2010-- I have used Paint Shop Pro to print 6 to 8 of the templates onto one sheet - leave a comment if you'd like the details to enable you to do this, correct ratio is maintained)Reproduction fabrics were used to make the quilt in the book and it would have been interesting to see this made in modern day ones for comparison.I think you would need some experience of patchwork and quilting before starting this book, but not a great deal, just the basic general points which are usually found in almost every other book on this subject.A real disappointment for me is that the winning letter is not shown, nor the second nor the third - as the list of winners are given it would have been very interesting to compare their letters to those which are used in the book.

Good book but no CD in advert it says CD included, all patterns are available on line.

I have come rather late to the Farmers Wife phenomenon but I am glad I did. The letters in the book are charming and a timely reminder of how people's perception of their lot has changed in the last 100 years.I did start out with the intention of hand piecing the blocks but there being so small and some with 40 or 50 tiny pieces for one block, I decided my poor old fingers aren't up to it anymore! I will still handpiece some of the blocks with larger pieces but the rest will be done by machine or paper pieced. I have joined a Yahoo group for an online quiltalong and that group provides paper piecing templates etc which has helped a good deal. The group photos give plenty of ideas for fabric placement and to see what works no what doesn't. If you embark on the FWS it's worth joining a similar group.The book itself does not contain any instructions as such, just a representation of how the blocks should go together. For this reason, beginners may struggle with some of the blocks. I also found a couple of errors in the book. Overall though, it's a challenging project. I just hope I live long enough to finish it!

A nice book but beware although there are plenty of 6 inch patterns there are no sizes for the blocks so you have to work them out for yourself.There is a CD to put in your computer to give you lstterns but they are mainly for hsnd paper piecing but she does say that at the beginning of the book that this quilt was done by hand not using a ruler and cutter or sewing machine.An interesting read but disappointed that they had not put sizing .some of them you would also have to do foundation piecing.

This book has stimulated a cult following. There are blogs, support groups and template manufacturers all having a field day because of this book. The story is simple. Letters written in 1922 in response to a farming magazine article "would you like your daughter to marry a farmer". However the cult following is not about the letters but about the sampler quilt that Laurie Aaron Hird made by hand. There are 111 different 6 inch blocks. Making blocks so small is indeed a challenge which is why it has created such a stir in the quilting world. The instructions are for templates and these come on an enclosed CD. However the modern quilting world uses rotary cutting, foundation piecing or paper piecing which is why there are so many online groups sharing information on easier ways of making these blocks. It is a charming book to read, but it is a frustrating book for a quilter. This is why it appeals to so many of us.

Something warm and comforting about this book. Very easy to understand . Would recommend.