Thursday, January 28, 2016

Farmer's Wife 1930's Sew-Along Block No. 28 ~ Dolly




This week we're sewing the Dolly block for the Farmer's Wife Sew-Along with Gnome Angel, Fat Quarter Shop and Marti Michell.
Dolly can be a bit challenging because she has many small pieces. 57 pieces! I was originally going to epp (English Paper Piece) this block. I prepped all my pieces and began sewing them together. Well, I was a bit liberal with my glue while basting and it made for a hard, stiff fabric that was not very fun to sew through. Not to mention I had to take a deeper stitch than I typically would for epp. My stitches were showing on the front of the block so I decided to hand piece the block. If you have read my blog for a while you know I love hand piecing. I have tutorials for 12, 6 in. blocks under my header, click on the hand piecing / hand quilting tab! 



First I printed the paper piecing templates for the block from the cd onto freezer paper. Then I colored the pieces according to the fabric I was going to use for each piece. Color in the small quilt block on the page as your placement guide.



I then cut out all the paper pieces with no seam allowance. I ironed the pieces onto the wrong side of the fabric I was using.


I trimmed the pieces using my ruler and leaving 1/4 in. Around all sides.



It takes some time to prep all of the pieces. I used the freezer paper instead of tracing each template onto the fabric to save a little time. Please trace the template on the fabric if you feel more comfortable doing that.



After all of my pieces were prepped I sat down for a nice evening of hand stitching. I sewed the center top square together first and then added the side squares. Then I pieced the mid section squares and put them together. I like to put the rows together as I go especially with so many pieces like this. I feel like it breaks up the piecing monotony and keeps the pieces organized for me. Finger press as you go. Press the seams of each row in opposite directions so they nest together.



Here is the last row needing attached and this is how I did it.



Pin the rows together at the center seams. They should be finger pressed in opposite directions as mentioned above so they nest together.

 

Thread a needle. I like straw needles and using hand quilting thread. Knot the end of your thread and start sewing at one end of your row with a running stitch. Keep your needle in in line with the edge of the template.


  

Back Stitch at the center seams. Since this block has quite a few seams you can certainly back stitch quite often as I did here. As you can see paper pieces can fall off. Just keep needle in line      with the edge of the squares as they are least likely to come off. You'll be fine. 



Now that all the rows are sewn together you can press with a hot iron. And your done! I hope you give hand piecing a try. It's a nice way to handle these small pieces and blocks.


  


Have a great day!

Happy Sewing!
xo Erin


Friday, January 8, 2016

Fat Quarter Shop's Top 10 Videos of 2015 :: Delectable Mountains























Good morning! Fat Quarter Shop is celebrating their top 10 videos of 2015. The 5th quilt on the Top 10 is Delectable Mountains. This is a really fun traditional block from their classic & vintage series.

 I used 16 blocks for my layout. I really like this size quilt for one of the quilt racks in my living room. I like that I am getting quite a few wall quilts this size that I can change them out more often.

I used the ever so pretty Paperie line by the sweetest Amy Sinibaldi for Art Gallery Fabrics. It's gorgeous fabric to work with. I added a few solids and some cotton and steel basics and a Lotta Jansdotter print to play along in this quilt. The feel is so soft. I wish I had the time to make a bed sized quilt right now. I think it would be the perfect summer quilt.

For the quilting I sewed 1/4" away from both sides of the horizontal and vertical seams.Then I hand quilted the diagonal seams on the background fabric side using 2 strands of DMC floss.
I used another Art Gallery Fabric for the binding. It's from the Wanderlust line. It's a really nice charcoal grey with some x's on it that I thought would compliment the Paperie fabric really well.

I love this quilt so much!
Fat Quarter Shop has the free PDF for the block pattern HERE
the quilt pattern in HERE
the video tutorial is HERE 

I encourage you to check out their videos on you tube if you haven't already. I really enjoy them.

Be sure to heck out the lovely talented bloggers who also made Delectable Mountains today!

Shruti of 13 Woodhouse Road
Anorina of Samelia's Mum
Karin of Leigh Laurel Studios
Erin of Why Not Sew
Megan of Quilt Story
Lisa of In the Boon Docks
Angie of GnomeAngel
Kiera of Simply Vanella


Also, be sure to post your quilts and use #delectablemountainsquilt and #FQSTop10 on social media and tag Fat Quarter Shop for a chance to win a Fat Quarter Shop $100 Gift Card. The contest will end February 1st. How awesome is that?!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Sewing!
xo Erin


 


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