Farmer's Wife QAL blocks 65 and 66: Mother and Mrs Anderson

It's Monday and time for two more blocks in the Farmer's Wife 1930s QAL.  The first block, Mother (p. 224, letter 156) is a hard fiddly block, possibly one of the hardest so far.  There are Y seams and tiny bits to grapple with.  I had my seam ripper out many times on this one.

Fabric credits:

Kona Corn Yellow

Ardently Austen (Riley Blake)

Penny Rose Fabrics, Hope Chest 2, Floral Pink

{Please note:  I have linked to my sponsors for fabric bought through them and elsewhere for anything that has come from other shops}

Jo is guest blogging about this block so I'll let her lead the way but I will say beware to anyone foundation paper piecing this block.  Not only does it have four Y seams (I'll be doing a detailed step-by-step post on these next week) but I had some issues with the pattern (see the errata page), some seam allowances were greater than ¼" so if you cut out with scissors rather than with a quilt ruler and rotary cutter, you might want to check.  I usually use a mini Add-a quarter ruler and a rotary cutter and it ensures I check the accuracy of the seam allowance.

 There is also a section that is rather wonkily drawn.  Not sure if that's to do with printing but it needed correcting.  Below you can see the new line drawn in and also the scant seam allowance - I added a bit to compensate using the A2 triangle as reference.

If you are template piecing this block, check the errata as the quantities for cutting include an error. 

The second block, Mrs Anderson (p. 225, letter p. 163) more straight forward.  It took me most of an afternoon to complete but the seams nest on the nine-patch squares which makes joining the sections together much easier .  

Fabric credits:

Kona Persimmon
Riley Blake Lula Magnolia, Lula Night Orange
Penny Rose Fabric Hope Chest Leaves

I foundation paper pieced this block and used the rotary details below which will produce shapes approx. ¼" bigger than needed.

Rotary Cutting Dimensions 

A1, A3: cut (2) 1 ¾" x 3 ¼" rectangles
N1, O1: measure the paper pieces for these and cut the same size
A2, B2,C2,D2: cut (4) 1 ¾" squares
F1, F3, J1, J3, I1, I3, M1, M3, G1, G3, K1, K3, H1,H3, L1, L3: cut (4) 3" squares; sub-cut each square twice along each diagonal to yield 4 quarter square triangles. (Total yield+ 16 QSTs)
B1, B3, F2, J2, E1, E3, I2, M2,C1, C3, G2, K2, D1, D3, H2, L2: cut (16) 1 ¾" x 2 ¼" rectangles

Joining the triangle corners in each of the none-patch squares of the block needed some extra care to align the sections accurately.  I remove most of the paper on both sections and mark in the seam allowance just at the point where they join- see pic below, then pin the seam points and stitch the seam.

Top tips for this block

• Pre-cut all pieces
• Use a water based glue stick. I use Sewline, to stick the first piece of each section
• Chain piece sections 
• Mark in seam allowance where needed to accurately join sections 
•  Pressed section seams to one side
• Flatten seams with Flatter or similar light starch spray

Remember you can:

• Hashtag  #fw1930sqal on Instagram and add photos to the Flickr group if you like to share there.  
• For individual blocks, you can use #Motherblock and #MrsAnderson on Instagram, Fat Quarter Shop and Angie are using these hash tags, #fw65Mother,  #fw66Mrs Anderson - I'm using both hashtag systems.
• You can also copy and paste links to any blog posts you do on these blocks in the comments and I'd love to visit and take a look. 

Charise returns next Monday as a guest blogger next week and there will be more Y seams- I'll take you through them this time step-by-step as it is my block with the Y seams!