Thursday 22 December 2016

.: Farmer's Wife sew-along block 84 Posy :.


Hello Farmer's Wifers, it's Posy time.  I liked making Posy.  My last Farmer's Wife block tutorial was for block 87 Prudence, who is still no friend of mine.  Like Prudence, Posy involves y-seams but they are much gentler. Posy is definitely a much happier block to sew.

My tutorial is for foundation paper-piecing (FPP) Posy.  I created a FPP tutorial for block 1 Addie, and have decided to create nearly-a-full FPP tutorial for Posy too (there aren't as many step-by-step pics for Posy as there were for Addie, so please click through to Addie if you need more detailed info).

And if FPP + y-seams aren't your happy home, Angie has created an alternate block this week - I've included the link right at the bottom of this post :-)

Let's go.

Preparing to FPP
1. The first step is to print off your templates, being sure to have your printer set to 100% (or 'no scale'). Check the one-inch line with a quilting ruler.

2. Decide on your fabrics and colour in or label your block diagram and the corresponding template pieces, so you can keep track of which fabric to sew onto which template piece once they're all cut up and don't make a lot of sense - I forgot to take a block diagram + fabric choice pic of Posy, so see below for a pic of Prudence (so nice of past-Prudence to step up and show a bit of kindness).


3. Use paper scissors to cut out all your template sections, just roughly around the outside, there's no need to cut directly on the dotted outside edge (note that the solid line is the line on which you will sew, and the dotted line is the outside edge, with the seam allowance in between).

Time to join fabric to paper
4. Work through all your template sections, and glue the first fabric piece onto the first template piece. I use a swish of Sewline glue pen to glue the wrong side of the fabric to the unprinted side of the paper template.  To be sure you are gluing the fabric in the correct place, hold your paper template up to the light (a window or a light box if you have one) and position the first fabric piece over the first template piece, being sure to leave a 1/4" seam allowance around all edges of the template piece.

5. Work through all your template sections again, carefully pinning your second fabric piece in place.  Place your second fabric RST (right sides together) with your first piece, with at least a 1/4" seam allowance extending into the template's second piece.  Pin in place along the sew-line between the first and second template pieces, then flip your second fabric piece over to check that it covers the whole area plus seam allowance.

6. Take all your template sections to your sewing machine.  Set the stitch length to 18-20 stitches per inch for your machine - on my Bernina, it's 1.5. I sew all my FPP blocks with the Bernina 1/4" number 37 foot - you need an open-toe foot of some kind, so you can easily see where you are headed.

7. Sew directly on the printed sew line. Be sure to backstitch at the start and end of your sew line. For sew lines that start/finish within the block, be sure to start/stop directly on the sew line. For sew lines that start/stop on an external edge of the block, it's fine to sew into the seam allowance (doing this just makes removing your papers later a little more fiddly, but it makes your block a little more secure).



Trimming + ironing
8. Once you have sewed the second piece to the first piece on all your template sections, take the sections to your cutting mat and lay them fabric-side down, being sure that your fabric pieces are still RST, and haven't flipped over - you don't want to trim off the piece you have just sewed.  Fold template piece 2 down onto template piece 1, along the line you just sewed. Line the 1/4" line of your ruler directly along the fold line, and trim your seam allowance to 1/4".   Do this for all your section pieces, and then take them to the ironing board.

Note that for the trimming step of all FPP patterns, you will always fold down the bigger template number onto the smaller template number, to trim the seam allowance - so be sure to always follow the numbered piecing order. 

9. Flip over and press your second piece down flat - be sure to press down rather than swoosh the iron all about, so your fabric pieces don't shift.

10.  Repeat steps 1-9 until all your template sections are finished.

11. Once all your sections are finished, press them flat with the iron, then trim around the external edges, directly on the external section lines - refer to the pic below under step 12.

Joining sections together
12. Now to join the sections together. To be sure your template sections meet up correctly, place pins through external sew line meeting-points - refer to the pics below as an example (joining section A to section J).





13. I then pop a Wonder clip or two between my pins, so that the section pieces can't move.  Remove the pins + clips as you join each section together, sewing from paper-edge to paper-edge along the sew line.

As with all FPP patterns, follow the piecing order given in the book. 

Just note - when joining the little triangles J-Q, be sure that all the letters read the right way up, then flip the little triangle over to join to the bigger piece (e.g. K to B in the pic below - see how all the letters + numbers are running in the same direction).



Add extra pins along the sew line as needed, to help the sections meet accurately - see pic below, where I have added pins either side of A2, as well as on the outer corners. 



14. After you join each section to the next, iron the seams open - you can remove the paper within the  seam allowance at this point.





Joining corner sections to the middle sections R + S
15. Once you have finished sewing each template section, lay out your block next to your machine, with the paper-side facing upwards and the fabric facing downwards.  Check again that all the little triangles have the printed writing running up the correct way



16. It's y-seam time. Start on the paper-edge and sew along the long edge towards the smaller line (refer to the pic below, sewing S to AJ).  When you get to the y-intersection, exactly where the pin is:
- lower your needle
- lift your presser foot
- pivot the block
- lower your presser foot
- continue sewing along the smaller line to the paper-edge.

It totally works fine, I swear! - just go slow and steady.



Joining the top + bottom sections to I
17. Take care when joining the top and bottom sections to I, as the fabric on the outer tips will want to shift - I used my Sewline glue pen to swish glue on the outer tips of I1 and I3, to ensure the fabric did not lift away from the paper as I sewed.

18. I'm not the world's best y-seam sew-er, so to make life easy, I started right in the middle of I2 and sewed out towards the end of I1, then followed the same steps within step 16 above to sew to the outer edge.  I then repeated it all again to sew from the middle of I2 (overlapping my stitches a little) to sew to the outer edge of I3.


19. Press your seams open - and you are done! - hopefully all your seams will have matched up happily.


You have finished Posy! - block 84 is done.


Remember that all the Farmer's Wife info is on Angie's blog - which is home base for the sew along.  The book you will need is The Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: Inspiring Letters from Farm Women of the Great Depression and 99 quilt blocks that honour them by Laurie Aaron Hird for Fons & Porter/F+W; RRP $28.99 (though it's currently on sale!) - click here to purchase.


Did you see that Angie sewed an alternate to Posy this week? - block 84a Ruth - using Marti Michell templates (to avoid sewing a FPP y-seam block) - so if you'd prefer to sew Ruth instead of Posy, please click on through.  Angie's post includes the links to Marti's chart + template info.

Angie's post also includes all the upcoming blog links for the remaining blocks - we'll be starting back again in the new year.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, and a happy + relaxing holiday time with your family + friends.  All the best for a very peaceful, healthy + content 2017.  Thanks for stopping by xoxo cat


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Tuesday 27 September 2016

.: Farmer's Wife tutorial of sorts - block 87 Prudence :.


'Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play?' - so sang the Beatles.  Well, that's all very nice for the Beatles' Prudence.  Farmer's Wife Prudence, on the other hand, was not playing, smiling or looking beautiful when I sewed her up.  Prudence and I are not now, nor ever will be, friends. In the spirit of keeping things real, I am sharing my sewing struggles with you today, in the hope that you will have a much smoother piecing experience, and that Prudence does indeed come out to play, smile and look beautiful for you.

I foundation paper-pieced Prudence.  If you would like a FPP-tutorial, starting right at the beginning with printing out the paper templates, please take a look back at my tutorial for block 1, Addie (I was friends with Addie.  She was nice). I won't give particular FPP-how-to's here - but rather a 'things to watch out for with Prudence' guide - consequently, I'd suggest reading through all my post before you start, so you know what to watch out for, and where I digressed from the block's piecing order.

OK, let's get to it, Prudence.

1. First up is to choose your fabrics and colour in your block diagram.  So far, so easy.



2.  If you are so inclined, use the FPP templates to make plastic templates - they make fussy-cutting and directional-cutting much easier.




3. Work through all your template pieces and glue down the first fabric piece on each template, and then pin the second piece.  Digression from the template-order alert - if you are foundation paper-piecing, for E1/E2 and G1/G2, glue your outer-cross (blue) piece down as the first piece, then add the inner-cross (orange) piece.  Take care with seam-trimming - with FPP, you always fold the bigger number down onto the smaller number to trim your seams - but, if you follow my suggestion for this step, please be sure to fold the smaller number down onto the bigger number to trim your seam. In the pic below, you would fold G1 down onto G2 to trim, because you went backwards and started with G2 and then added G1.



4. Be aware that trimming the outer seams for some sections is a little annoying - you may need to use scissors to snip into the corners, if you don't trust your rotary-cutting accuracy/ability to stop in time.  See what I mean?



5. Digression from the template-order alert - if you are fussy-cutting the centre square A2, glue your A2 piece first (in the pic below, see how I've so-helpfully written '1' in pencil?), then sew A1 and then A3.  Be sure to trim your seams, folding A1 down onto A2 and then A3 down onto A2 - again, this is different from the usual seam-trimming process for FPP, where the bigger number is always folded down onto the smaller number.  Go carefully, as you don't want to trim off the fabric you just sewed on - that would be upsetting.



6. Y-seams.  There are several.  Just take a look at the pic below, for starters - what even is that!?  I am not skilled at sewing y-seams, so would like to draw your attention at this point to two very excellent Farmer's Wife y-seams tutorials. Melissa from Ms Midge did a great y-seam tutorial for block 13 Belle - please take a read - and Angie from GnomeAngel did an excellent y-seam tutorial - including a video! - for block 61 May.  It's definitely worth clicking through, as Melissa + Angie's tips are way better and ultimately more y-seam successful than mine.



As for my own y-seam thoughts - always sew the long seam first, from the outer edge to the inside.  When you get to your y-junction, put your needle down, pivot your block and keep going, slowly and as best you can.   I tend to only sew a few stitches, then remove the block from under the needle, and come in again towards the y-junction from the other outer edge. It's fiddly and slow, and your fingers can feel like huge cucumbers when you are manipulating such little pieces.



To be completely honest, I had a true shocker joining section I to section E - it's a very gradual y-seam.  It was at this point in the Prudence-piecing-process that I realised she has not been designed as a true FPP block.  There is no extra instruction given in the book, about the trickiness of joining these sections, other than "join I to E".  When pinning your sections together, be aware that the tip of the A4 triangle meets the very slight bend in F1 (see pics below).







When it comes to joining ABEFHI to ACDGJK, take your time.  Make a cup of tea. Read Melissa's + Angie's y-seams posts again. Start at the outer edges and sew towards the y-junctions.   Pivot.  Take your block out from under the needle and sew in again from the other outer edge. By the time you are done, you will have earned a Y-Seam Medal.


And that's Prudence.


I try to be positive and helpful in this space, but I also have to be honest.  Prudence was a really unenjoyable block to piece.  I have a lot of FPP experience, but I do tend to avoid y-seams when I can.  I had to unpick every section-joining seam at least once with Prudence, and still ended up with more wonk than I am happy with.  The bottom right square below the centre-rabbit isn't square, there's plenty of triangle-rippliness going on, and there are puckers-aplenty - but after two unpicks and re-sews of most section-joins, I was done.  Prudence is looking as good as she's going to - and I AM very happy with my fabric choices for her (I'm taking that as a win).

Another upside - who could even have guessed what a perfect choice that little centre rabbit was when I started - the expression on her face is perfect - she's totally saying "WHAT are you doing, I'm utterly dismayed by your inadequate Prudence-piecing, but I must endure in dignified silence. I will not smile or play".



Please, please do not be deterred by my experience - I shared my thoughts to try and help point out the tricky bits, rather than scare you off.  Take Prudence slowly, step by step, and you will end up with a very sweet block indeed and a Y-Seams Medal.  She will be worth it.

We have now finished the September Farmer's Wife blocks - there is just Kitty @ Night Quilter to go, on Thursday.  And Marti Michell will definitely have lots of tips for a happier Prudence-experience, using her wonderful templates as much as is possible. Be sure to check in again with Angie next Tuesday for the October Farmer's Wife block + blogger line-up.  

And last but not least, the book details - The Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: Inspiring Letters from Farm Women of the Great Depression and the 99 Quilt Blocks that Honour Them by Laurie Aaron Hird for Fons & Porter/F+W.



Happy sewing to you, whatever you are making today.  xoxo cat

Friday 9 September 2016

'There's a Bear in There' - Marti Michell Mini Quilt Blog Hop

Welcome to this long-neglected corner of the internet.  Since we last spoke, Vee and I have pulled the pin on cat&vee (while continuing to be great friends), and are following our own (as yet blog-less) paths as HelloFromCat and HelloFromVee - you can keep up as much or as little as you like via Instagram, we'd love to see you over there.

Now - on with today's tutorial for my 'There's a Bear in There' mini, made with Marti Michell templates.



I had clearly been living under a quilting rock, as I had not come across the magical Marti Michell templates prior to joining Angie on the Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt Sew-along.  I was a very quick convert and have very much enjoyed the opportunity to discover new ways of using them through this Marti Michell Mini Quilt Blog Hop - please click through to read all about the hop on Angie's blog. All the bloggers' links appear there, and also at the end of this post.  And here is the link to Marti's shop - the home of the templates and also her fabulous book 'More Bang for the Buck' - it's a total must-have if you love Marti's templates and would like to learn how to use them in your regular quilting life.

When it came time to create my mini, I'd been having a minor obsession with square-in-square blocks.  It was also around the time that Play School's 50th Birthday celebrations had been on TV (along with a bunch of awesome short celebratory videos on You Tube!) - so I came up with 'There's a Bear in There'. If you're not familiar with the Play School song, here is their home page.

'There's a Bear in There' mini quilt details

Finished size 22" square
Templates used - Marti Michell A + B sets.
Fabric (specific requirements are detailed below):
 - four fussy cuts and various coordinating scraps for your square-in-square blocks.
- various scraps for your square-in-square borders - no bigger than 2.5" x 10.5" will be needed for any one piece.
- strips for your sashing.
- 24" batting.
- 24" backing fabric.
- 2.25" x WOF for binding - cut and join three WOF strips. You won't need the full amount, so will have a small amount left over for another binding project.

Please note - I am assuming you know how to quilt and bind a mini, and so have not given instructions for that, other than fabric requirements.  This mini lends itself to either machine or hand quilting, so please go ahead and quilt to your heart's desire.  I chose a low volume binding, so the mini would 'run off the edge' rather than be framed by it - again, please choose whatever coordinating or contrasting binding leaps out at you from your fabric stash.

Marti Michell templates + cutting instructions
Each of the four blocks uses different Marti Michell templates from the A and B sets.  Below is a full photo of the finished mini, plus a full diagram of the mini, followed by the template and cutting instructions needed for each block, working clockwise around from the top left Butterfly block.  Please refer to the photo and diagram below for template and strip placement.  In the cutting instructions, I've included my own fabric choices in italics, to (hopefully!) make it easier for you to see to which template + strip I'm referring.





Butterfly block:
- Marti Michell templates: one B10 centre square (butterfly) + four B13 triangles (teal/navy stars) + four B11 triangles (orange spools).
- cut strips: two 1.75" x 6" strips + two 1.75" x 8.5" strips (Cotton + Steel lady face dots) + one 2.5" x 8.5" (multi-coloured flowers) + one 2.5" x 10.5" (grey floral lace).



Telephone block:
- Marti Michell templates: one A1 centre square (telephone) + four A4 triangles (teal beads) + four A2 templates (orange with white spots).
- cut strips: two 1.5" x 6.5" + two 1.5" x 8.5" (cats) + one 2.5" x 8.5" (grey background with white flowers) + one 2.5" x 10.5" (blue houses on white background).

Bear block:
- Marti Michell templates: one A3 centre square (bear) + four A6 triangles (poo dot) + four A4 triangles (orange/brown butterflies).
- cut strips: two 2.5" x 4.75" + two 2.5" x 8.5" (pugs) + one 2.5" x 8.5" (orange circles) + one 2.5" x 10.5" (black/white/red text print).



Typewriter block:
- Marti Michell templates: one B8 centre square  (typewriter) + four B11 triangles (blue spools) + four B9 triangles (orange flowers).
- cut strips: one 2.5" x 8.5" (rain drops) + one 2.5" x 10.5" (black dot on white background).



Sashing:
- Marti Michell templates: one B12 cornerstone square.
- cut strips: four 2.5" x 10.5".  I used a Laurie Wisbrun for Robert Kaufman chair print (because "There's a bear in there, and a chair as well ...").  As the print is directional, I made sure to cut two strips with the 10.5" length horizontal, and two with it vertical.  If you are not cutting a directional print, you won't need to worry about that.



To construct your mini:
1. Make each block separately by sewing the inner round of triangles to the centre square, followed by the outer round of triangles.  Press your seams in your preferred way as you go - I normally press open, but chose to press towards the triangles in each instance here.


2. Refer to the mini-diagram above to add your border strips around each square-in-square block.  My fabric notes in italics above may also assist you with your chosen fabric placement.



3. Work out your preferred placement for your four blocks.  Use a 2.5" x 10.5" sashing strip to join the top left and top right blocks, and another to join the bottom left and bottom right blocks - taking care if you are using directional prints. Press seams towards the sashing.

4. Join the remaining sashing strips to the Marti Michell B12 cornerstone square. Press seams towards the sashing strips.



5. Sew the horizontal sashing strip to your top row, taking care to match the vertical sashing seams with the cornerstone square seams.  Add the bottom row.  Press seams towards the sashing strip.

6. Give your mini top a good press, and you are done!

7. Layer your mini top, batting and backing together and quilt as desired.  I chose to hand-quilt, as I needed a good on-the-go project for all the times I sit in the car / at activities waiting for my kids!


8. Add your binding - and your 'Through the Window' Marti Michell mini is done!

I hope you love making the mini as much as I did - it's a great way to showcase some favourite fussy cuts and prints.  If you would like more Marti Michell template inspiration, please click through to the other bloggers on the hop.

12 August 2016 Angie @ GnomeAngel.com

19 August 2016 Tonya  @ The Crafty Mummy

26 August 2016 Lucy @ Charm About You

2 September 2016 Kirsty @ Bonjour Quilts

9 September 2016 Cat @ cat&vee (you are here now!)

16 September 2016 Nathalie @ Les Ouvrages de Nat

23 September 2016 Alyce @ Blossom Heart Quilts

30 September 2016 Peta @ She Quilts A Lot

7 October 2016 Lisa @ Sweet Little Pretties

14 October 2016 Rachel @ Wooden Spoon Quilts

21 October 2016 Raylee @ Sunflower Quilting

28 October 2016 Lisa @ In the Boon Docks

4 November 2016 Marti Michell! 

But wait, there's more! 
If you make and enter a mini quilt - following any of the tutorials above - you will be in the running to win a Marti Michell prize pack!  To enter, make a mini (you must follow one of the tutorials) and submit a photo:
- to the link-up tool that each of the participating bloggers will post on their blogs on Friday, 18 November 2016;
- to the specific album in the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt Facebook Group; or
- on your Instagram with the hashtag #MartiMichellMiniQuiltmania and tag both Angie @gnomeangel and Marti @martimichell on your photo

Thanks very much to Angie and to Marti for inviting me to hop along with you all - it's been fun.  Here's to Marti's templates making themselves at home in your sewing room. xoxo cat

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