Schne Fraenze Farm - or: Why this weird Blog Name?

Schne Fränze Farm

40” x 48 ½“

September 2023

Hello There,

I had the honor
to make this Baby-Play-Quilt for one of my cousins and his wife, as their present for their very first grandchild. The brief was, that it should not have the usual ‘baby colours’ (blue or pink), but rather be neutral and have an animal scheme, as the baby’s parents love the great out-doors. This brought me to design around farm animals with a tractor thrown in. I based the tractor on the model, my father had, when I was growing up.

Here comes the name of the quilt (and also my blog) into play. I grew up in a farmhouse in a tini-tiny village in the middle of nowhere in Germany. There, in that very traditional hamlet, the houses have names (to this day) and the families living in the houses are dubbed with those house names. My (and my cousin’s) grandfather bought the house, I grew up in, in the 1920’s and by then, the house had already the name ‘Schne Fränze’, which translates to ‘Tailor Franz’.

With both my cousin and myself having the family connection to this house name, I used it for the quilt, and – thinking about it some more after that – made the decision to name my blog thus, as this blog is sewing related and the name is deeply entrenched in my personal history (as is sewing…).

The baby quilt is designed and made to be tactile. The pig’s snout is very smooth (in comparison to the other fabrics). The tractor’s front tyre can rotate, the sheep’s ‘fur’ is fluffy (terry cloth) and it has a ‘fur fringe’ of organza around it's head.  The cow’s tail tip is made with fleece. Only the cockerel does not have any special fabric. The quilting on this quilt includes the tracks of each of the animals and also the tyre tracks, as well as a picket fence and flying bees & a butterfly. In order to restrict the time spent on this, I opted for raw-edge applique for the animals/tractor, the remainder of the quilt top is pieced.

Take care,

Rita