Farmer's Wife Friday: Progress is Our Watchword

The letter this week was very interesting to me. The writer, from Michigan, seemed to be feeling a sense of pity from women who lived in the city, and she was not going to put up with it! "Now that her city sister seems to pity the farmer's wife let all the farmers' wives straighten their backs, throw up their heads and shout, 'Don't pity me!'...Progress is our watchword, so watch out, for we're going on as fast as we can. This world must be made safe for the farmer's wife. Let's--start--now!'"

Can't you picture this woman standing on a street corner, in a city, with a sign that says, "I'm a farmer's wife. Don't pity me!"

There were a lot of things happening at the turn of the century, in the early '20s. There were new discoveries and inventions. Shoppers were able to purchase items like cars and appliances on credit! But corruption was also rampant.

I'm sure the writer of this letter was happy to be living away from all the hustle and bustle, where "we have no noisy whistles to wake us; the birds and the sun do that."

The first block #18, called Century of Progress, was certainly an appropriate one for the letter this week. It wasn't an easy block to make and I wondered if there had been an error in printing because of the color placement. I usually try to get a clue from the letter for color selection, but "century of progress" didn't bring any specific colors to mind. So I just picked these mulberry shades because I liked them.

For #51, Hovering Birds," I wasn't really in the mood for more blackish birds, since I did that last week. So my birds this week are kind of a rusty color. I'm sure there are some rusty-colored birds somewhere. Do you have any in your part of the country?

I also enjoyed this sentence in the letter: "We are no longer hayseeds [emphasis mine]." As you know, Mark now has the moniker of Minnesota Hayseed Psychologist, and one of these Fridays he will be giving his unique perspective on growing up on a farm. Should be very interesting. You won't want to miss it.

You also won't want to miss Carla's comments on the letter and the blocks for this week. 

Farmer's Wife Friday: City Life Holds no Glamour

The writer of this week's letter, from Park County, Wyoming., spent the first two years of married life as well as much of her childhood in Chicago. She was apparently not impressed.

I'm a city girl. I've lived in several large cities for a good deal of my life, so it's hard for me to make the comparison. But I like to imagine what this would be like: "There is not space here to tell of my love for the panorama of ever-changing beauty that unrolls from my cabin on the hilltop."

One of the two blocks this week is #46, Hill & Valley.

It was interesting that already in the 1920s, the writer was convinced that "when America wearies of jazz and reverts, as a nation, to the ideals of her pioneer forefathers, many will find in the simple joys of the country an antidote to over-sophistication." What, oh what, would she think of 2011?

The second block is #34, Flock. I have always been fascinating by the way birds often fly in a V-shaped formation across a blue sky. How do they pick the leader?

As far as shot cottons, I was less pleased with these two fabrics, because it seemed that both the weft and warp threads were nearly the same, so there isn't much contrast no matter how you turn the fabric. But I do like the strong movement of the block.

Don't forget to check out Carla at lollyquiltz to see what her fabric choices were for these same two blocks.

See you on Monday for The Name Game.

Farmer's Wife Friday: No Safer Road to Travel

The letter spotlighted this week (see what Carla has to say about this letter, too) was written by a farmer's wife in Nebraska. She begins by saying, "I know no safer road to travel through real living than my daughter would take if a farmer were her life companion." She had a very descriptive style of writing and I based the colors on some of her word pictures.

"To see the sun climb out of bed and reach out rosy fingers to pick up the dew drops from field and meadow..." had me choosing colors that reminded me of the rosy pinks and corals of a sunrise.

 Country Path (#24)

"...to watch the joyous greeting of all nature, in the summer time, is worth more than silver and gold can buy."  I imagined fields of flowers, rows of corn, with the green foliage interspersed among them.

Silver Lane (#79)

Do you ever wake up early enough to enjoy the "rosy fingers" of a sunrise?