Farmer’s Wife 1930’s – Jewel and Sara

 

FW_Jewel_and_Sara_Cassandra Madge

 

Well, weren’t the two blocks this week in the Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt a little bit more challenging! First up we had Jewel, who is really very beautiful when you get to know her.

 

FW_46_Jewel_Cassandra Madge

 

There was never any doubt that I would Foundation Paper Piece Jewel. As she is not “directional” you don’t need to mirror your printout for this block, however make sure that you are printing to 100% scale or “Actual Size.” I have a Mac tutorial on printing out these pages HERE.  If you are still having trouble with the Foundation Paper Piecing technique then please check out my tutorial on it Part 1 and Part 2. For Angie’s tutorial on Jewel look HERE. The official guest blogger for Jewel was Jemima of Tied with a Ribbon. Her tutorial for Jewel is HERE.

 

1930's Farmer's Wife 46  Jewel Cassandra Madge

 

Probably the trickiest part of piecing Jewel is making sure that your fabric pieces are large enough to go over the angled sections, often requiring you to be more generous in cutting to save yourself a lot of ripping later. The only other trick that I used to make sure she joined up was to press my seams in opposite directions, allowing the joins along the diagonals to nest and keep my corners beautifully sharp.

 

1930's Farmer's Wife 46  Jewel Cassandra Madge

 

You can see here on the back how all the seams fold and intersect perfectly opposite each other. I also “spun” or “twirled” my centre seam to allow it to join neatly but reduce the bulk in that point. I covered this in detail HERE, it’s a neat little trick and definitely one worth learning!

Next we have Sara – this one is without the “h”!

 

FW_90_Sara_Cassandra Madge

 

Sara seemed to give people the most trouble in the cutting and piecing department, due to her unique measurements. I don’t know many quilters who are happy working in 16th’s of inches. I went to my go-to resource, the Marti Michell templates for help – HERE is the link to Marti’s tutorial and on that page you will find the pdf for the conversion chart for Sara. You can see Angie’s tutorial HERE, and the official guest blogger for Sara was Gemma of Pretty Bobbins. Her tutorial is HERE.

 

1930's Farmer's Wife 90 Sara Cassandra Madge

 

Sara is another of those blocks that can really change by how you arrange your fabrics – contrast and colour will play a real key in which lines and shapes stand out to the viewer. I wanted to feature the two rows of four squares, so I made them lighter than the other two fabric selections. I am super happy with this little block, despite all the pieces it came together really quickly. Nesting the seams, as always, made a huge difference to my corners and accuracy.

 

1930's Farmer's Wife 90 Sara Cassandra Madge

 

Marti actually recommends you swirl/twirl/spin the centres of your little four-patch units but I didn’t bother as I was chain piecing them all together. It still seems to lay very flat to me, helped by the fact that I lay my block out as I’m pressing it, so I can see which way the next seam needs to sit into the others. I certainly credit this neat block to the Marti Michell templates – thanks to her method I didn’t need to worry about the actual dimensions of the pieces.

 

So we have two more blocks done, and next week it is my turn on the official guest blogger train!! I’ve been busy working away in the background getting ready a tutorial that is way out of my comfort zone, so be ready to be wowed!!

 


 

 

If you are in Adelaide or South Australia, I have been helping to organise a group of SA Modern Quilters. We have a Facebook group and are having our first ever Sit and Sew day hosted at Hettie’s Patch on Port Road. We will be there the whole day from 10am until 4pm, please come down and join us if you can.

 

 

**Disclaimer** I received the Marti Michell templates for my participation in the Farmer’s Wife sewalong – all opinions are my own!

 Happy Crafting - Cassie.

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2 Responses

    • Cassandra

      Hi Amanda! I can’t begin to tell you what your comment meant for me when I read it. I really appreciate your words and the fact you took the time to share them with me! Thankyou!!

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