In October of 2013, I stumbled across the Country Charmer Quilt Along. I fell in love with that quilt and decided I would make one myself. At the time, I had about 2 years of quilt making under my belt, yet I challenged myself to figure out the cutting and sewing of the block.
Here is the very first block I made in that pattern. As you can see, I turned around the first row and sewed it on backward. It is such a persnickety little block and I was concentrating so hard on other aspects, that I totally flaked on the position of the row!
After three unsuccessful attempts at making the block come out at 8 1/2 inches unfinished, I ordered the pattern, which uses 20 blocks to make a 60 x 70 quilt. I recalculated and decided to make mine a queen size using 56 blocks. This made for an ambitious project.
Though I had the pattern, I was still struggling to make these blocks come out at the right size. Mine were measuring closer to 8 unfinished. Below is my fourth attempt at making the block and my Facebook post at the time notes that it still doesn’t measure correctly. After a time, I put the project into my closet and moved on.
However, I couldn’t forget it. I knew it was there and I just loved the quilt. I wanted to finish it one day.
When I did my quilting inventory in March, the Country Charmer was added to the list of unfinished projects. After completing a couple of other items, I decided to pull it out and work on it. Needless to say, even with an additional 9 years of quilting experience, I still struggled with getting the block to the right size. I decided to downsize the quilt and make just 35 blocks and have it finish at 70 x 92 inches. Finally, I completed all of the blocks in early April of 2024. I was psyched!
The sashing is a three piece unit and the cornerstones are 9-patches. I located the fabric, cut the strips and began the process of sewing the sashing and cornerstones. I tried to keep from letting this project overwhelm me. I knew I was moving forward and so I plugged along.
On April 7, 2024, I finally had the top done without the borders. You cannot imagine my elation!
After sewing on the first border, I had to stop for a day to work. I was so afraid I wouldn’t get this top done. It was haunting me. I knew I couldn’t put the project away with it only needing one border.
I was up early the morning of April 9 and though I had work looming over my head, I sat down at my machine and sewed that final border onto the Country Charmer quilt top. I quickly set up my ironing board and pressed the quilt top.
As I spread that Country Charmer quilt top out onto the floor, I was extremely pleased! You do not see all of the struggles that I had with each and every block. It just looks beautiful! I am so glad I finished it. Nine and one-half years in the making.
The Country Charmer quilt top was finished on April 9, 2024. It measures 70 x 92 inches. It is plenty big enough for me!
