BROWSE NEWS

Blocks 18, 19, & 20 (Furrows, Gingham & Grandma's Quilt) - Farm Girl Vintage Quilt & Featherweight Shop Sew Along
February 28, 2019

by April Henry

Farm Girl Vintage Sew Along

This month we are sewing Blocks 18, 19 & 20 with our featured blocks for February: Furrows, Gingham & Grandma's Quilt. Wow! After these blocks, we will have 20 finished blocks -- isn't that exciting?!

Psssst! If you're just joining us and want to get in on the fun with a darling and perfect collage of farm girl fabric, then check out the Farm Girl Vintage Quilt Kit. You'll have all the lovely fabrics you need to make this quilt from start to finish. You can get the book here, too!

So, go ahead and open your book to page 35 for this month, grab some fabric scraps, get it prepared and cut, and let's enjoy some more Featherweight sewing! Complete your blocks following along with the pattern, paying attention to a couple of tips in the photos below. Make sure to press your block seams open (when you can), being careful to be as exact with your cutting and alignments as possible.

I like to chain piece, so cutting and preparing all the pieces ahead of time is helpful. The Creative Grids Corner Clipper ruler came in handy, once again, so I could use my Featherweight Accurate Seam Guide for a perfectly scant seam allowance!

Using a scant seam allowance makes pressing so much fun -- I love it when the pieces press over and align themselves to one another in a straight line. Flying geese can be tricky, so be patient with your sewing. Points won't always match up, but that's okay (they don't always for me either). I just love the colors together and the cheerfulness that these fabrics bring to the quilt palette. So keep going and keep sewing!

We often get questions about the tools seen and used in our photos, so for those who are curious, I keep a Paca Pressing Mat (luxuriously soft!) or a Wool Pressing Mat (hardy and timeless wool!) next to my sewing machine. See how nicely they press with the scant seams?! OH, and that's the portable ceramic iron peeking out there -- I am in love with this new iron! I use it dry and with it's cordless portability, I can press this way and that way without the cord getting in the way and it's double-pointed, and the best part -- because of the ceramic ingenuity, it stays hot for quite awhile after it's removed from the base.

I have to say, this gingham block was a blast to sew from beginning to end! Choosing the right color combinations was quite enjoyable, because it gave me a chance to play with different fabric color values. The more white space, on any particular print, will give a lighter shade (aka: lower volume) when put together in a block. Whereas, the bolder and darker the color (more color volume) the more that color will stand out.

Another fun trick -- if you have a smart phone, take a picture of your fabrics, then make that photo black and white in your photo settings. You will then be able to see the different color values and how they contrast with one another. If you have one that is imbalanced (or not enough contrast), sometimes a black and white image will bring that out for visual clarity. So, have fun playing with your scraps to see what you can put together.

Here's another example:

This was Wendy's block and her color choices: dark orange, lower volume orange, and white. Now, let's see what it looks like in black and white:

See how the bold orange is a very dark shade? And the crosshatch orange print gives it a lighter shade, but still darker than the bright white underneath each piece.

Ruthie's color choice was lighter overall, but the values of dark, medium and light correlated perfectly for an aqua gingham and her block turned out so sweet!

You may recognize the location of some of these next photos! We were still on the Featherweights Afloat Caribbean Cruise, so our regularly scheduled sewing night at the shop needed to be moved. Thus, for this month's sewalong blog post, we will show you some more cruise and #featherweightfellowship photos and to let you know that we love seeing whatever project you are working on, Farm Girl Vintage or otherwise!

Sheila was working on her Vintage Christmas quilt, which is sooooo adorable! She and I always seem to be working on our Lori Holt quilts in tandem. I was working on Cozy Christmas last year (she's following right behind me), and now she's working on Vintage Christmas (and I can't wait to get started!).

Ruthie is our Farm Girl Vintage over-achiever. She brought several blocks to sew ahead... so be watching for some of these in the next couple of months.

Here are a few more fun #featherweightfellowship highlights from our recent sewing time aboard the Featherweights Afloat Caribbean Cruise. Enjoy!!

(And, we'd love to have you join us next year for our Hawaiian Featherweights Afloat Cruise!)

Pam & Valerie with Joan, Barbara and Judy in the background

Kathy put us in stitches with her dry wit and humor!

Rosanne was working with some adorable retro-styled cowboy and cowgirl prints. I am looking forward to her sharing photos of the finished quilt!

In the evenings and our "at-sea" days we had a great time sewing together!

I don't have any photos of this block being sewn, but the colors really struck me and I love the teal, brown, yellow and pink together.

What about you!? What colors have you put together this month for your Farm Girl Vintage blocks? Let us know and feel free to post pictures in the comments below. Or join us on the Facebook group to share and enjoy more Featherweight Fellowship online!

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