Whetting your appetite!

In my last post, I mentioned that I had joined an online sew-along group and promised to tell you more about it.

It's called the Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt Sew-Along, hosted by the Gnome Angel from down under.

I believe there are now over 3000 'sewers along' from all over the world and in order to participate, the only item you must have is a copy of the 1930's Farmer's Wife book pictured below.

I've had the 'other' Farmer's Wife book for several years but it won't do for this sew-along because all 99 blocks included in the 1930's book are new and different ones!

I'm not going to go into all that's involved but if you're interested in finding out more or joining in on the fun, just click HERE and it'll take you to the Gnome Angel's blog where she explains everything in detail.  And it's not too late to join either!

This week we started with two of the easier blocks, just to get our feet wet and to tempt our palettes...or whet our appetites.

To whet your appetite is almost the opposite of wetting your appetite. Whereas wetting your whistle quenches your thirst, whetting your appetite arouses, heightens, or sharpens it. Whet means to sharpen or make more acute and comes from the Old English adjective hwæt "brave, bold" (from the Old Saxon hwat "sharp").

I've decided to use some fabrics in my stash that I've had for a couple of months from Kim Diehl's latest line called Gathering Baskets.

No surprise there, huh?  *wink*   L-O-V-E Kim's fabrics and color palette!

Here's my first block called, "Becky"...

and the second block called, "Bonnie".

I like to be organized so after printing the layout for each block from the CD that comes with the book, I placed them individually in a plastic sleeve in a binder set aside just for this project.

Once I finished piecing the block, I slid it into the corresponding plastic sleeve. 

Each block measures 6 1/2" unfinished so they fit in quite nicely.  In this way not only will they lay flat but there's also less chance of one or more going astray.

All the fabrics that I'll be using are kept in a plastic tote for easy access.

After cutting out the strips for the pieces that I've chosen for a particular block, I fold and store the 'leftovers' in a little plastic tray.  In that way, if I need another small piece of fabric that I've already used, they too will be easily accessible.

By being organized in this way, all the supplies needed to work on this project take up hardly any room at all...

at the end of my cutting table as you can see.

Two blocks down and only 97 more to go...if I decide to make all 97, i.e.

So did I whet your appetite?

Happy stitching!