Blocks 39, 40 & 41 (Sunday Morning, Sunny Sunflower, & Tumbleweed) - Farm Girl Vintage Quilt & Featherweight Shop Sew Along
Farm Girl Vintage Sew Along
Wait, the Sunday Morning finished block in the photo below doesn't quite match the block in the book...? Well, as the saying goes, "If you can't hide it, feature it!" Technically speaking, all three blocks sewed together beautifully, with points matching and appropriate finished sizes, but Sunday Morning didn't quite finish as planned. Nevertheless, once I realized my error, I decided to just keep sewing, frame it in and make a sewing life lesson out of it, even still. What's that other saying...? "Do as I say, not as I do?" Yes, that's it... so, for Block 39, feel free to follow along as I sew, noting any tips for achieving point accuracy, but make sure to also follow Lori's very clear instructions in the book for perfectly matching hourglasse units, too.
Psssst! If you're just joining us and want to get in on the fun with a darling and perfect collage of farm girl vintage styled fabric, then check out the Farm Girl Vintage fabric and accessories collection here. You can also order Farm Girl Vintage Book 1 here, and Farm Girl Vintage Book 2 just arrived!
Begin this month's sew along by opening your book to page 64, grab more fabric scraps, get them prepared and cut, and enjoy more Featherweight sewing! Complete your blocks following along with the pattern, paying attention to several tips in the photos below. Be careful to be as exact as possible with your cutting and fabric alignments. It is also important to note that you may need to occasionally press your block seams open.
Sunday Morning Block 39
The colors for this block reminded me of many Sunday mornings... a bright blue sky with warm sunshine rays awakening us each week to prepare and get ready for the Lord's Day! What a great reminder as I laid out each piece in preparation for sewing.
As you now know, my block did not turn out as the pattern was designed and even my good intentions fell short of perfection. Nevertheless, sometimes it's best to just keep sewing in spite of the errors and, in this case, even frame it in. So, while we are following a specific pattern with very specific instructions, the lesson we can learn from my sewing experience is that you are also free to make any block unique to your own style - even accidentally! :)
As with so many of these Farm Girl Vintage blocks, I cut corners -- figuratively and literally! I want to save time as much as possible and I find it's easier to prepare all the corner seaming using the Creative Grids Folded Corner Clipper Ruler.
I can keep my seam guide in place and best of all, my points are more accurate! This is, by far, my most used ruler ever. I use it ALL.THE.TIME. When we were at Missouri Star last month for the Featherweight Maintenance Retreat, several of you asked about my block points and seam accuracy... well, this ruler, the Accurate Seam Guide and these glass head super, duper fine point pins are "seamingly" my best friends (pun intended).
(Funny Note: The Creative Grids Folded Corner Clipper Rulers were so popular while we were at Missouri Star that their staff had to request more from the warehouse in order to restock their shelves!)
No need to remove the seam guide when sewing half square triangles. Just cut the squares in half point to point and sew the triangle pieces together.
Repeating the cutting process for remainder of the units.
Sunny Sunflower Block 40
Finding the right browns was a bit more of a challenge than I had anticipated, but digging through scraps I found a perfect match!
When using the Creative Grids Corner Clipper Ruler, be sure to measure twice, cut once, and cut along the correct edge.
Pressing with the Alpaca Pressing Mat makes for nicely finished pieces! Lay each unit out and press in place. The mat will absorb the heat of the iron and radiate it back to the fabric piece -- essentially, like ironing it from both sides. The result is blocks that are pressed FLAT! Alpaca is luxuriously soft, has no odor and you can press on a "cotton" iron setting because of the alpaca fiber's heating properties when compared to wool.
The center brown piece is actually square, but what it is difficult to see is that there is a portion of the white selvedge edge left on the right side. It was the only brown fabric piece that matched correctly, so when cutting the right size piece it meant I had to include a little selvedge edge in the cut. I adjusted for this when sewing the pieces together, so that selvedge would not be seen in the finished block.
Tumbleweek Block 41
Again, squaring up each unit will help considerably. Every little bit shaved off makes a difference!
Isn't this block so much fun? I enjoyed seeing the pieces come together to form the tumbleweed in the center.
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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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