Farmer’s Wife Phenomenon

In the process of curating my quilt article site, I came across a number of blog posts about the Farmer’s Wife Quilt Along. Intruiged, I decided to Google Farmer’s Wife Quilt. Lo and behold, I found a very interesting event going on in the blogosphere.

Two quilters named Amanda and Jessica have started an e-quilt along. People are using the pattern Farmer’s Wife Quilt. Amanda and Jessica have challenged everyone to create 2 blocks each week. There are 111 blocks in the quilt total. In about a year, each quilter will have a queen sized quilt.

I love so many things about this:

The use of the internet for community to join in and share.
The wonderful and creative photos that people are posting as they complete their blocks.
The stories of people’s lives as they attempt to keep up with the schedule.
The entire idea of having a worldwide quilt along. It’s like a virtual sewing bee.

There is even a Yahoo group for this quilt along. The group is run by someone in Australia. Go figure.

The Farmer’s Wife Quilt is not a style of quilting that I would normally use for my own quilts. And the fabrics that most folks are using in their blocks are not the types of fabrics I normally use. However, I am seriously thinking about joining in. I’m sure it will be completely impossible for me to keep to the schedule. But, perhaps that’s the point. If I don’t have a schedule to keep to, I don’t make the time to quilt. Thinking….