Chart 61: Primrose, Block 85 in the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sew Along

Primrose and Marcella share the long diagonal center piece, but Primrose squeezes 26 pieces into the same size corners filled with 4 triangles in Marcella. There are lots of little N-81 triangles. Cut with the legs on straight grain for easier piecing and pressing. Don’t forget to true up the triangle sub-units with the square template A-5 and triangel template A-6.

We cut 85A with the Multi Size Half Square Triangle Ruler. If you don’t own it, you can cut with the paper pattern, but the easiest way to get the corners on straight grain would still be to cut a 6-1/2 inch square first, place the pattern corner to corner and cut away the excess, as we did.

My Primrose Block

Click on the image for a larger view. Click the link below to download the Chart for cutting and making Primrose:

From Marti Michell Chart #61
 

Visit these other Farmer's Wife Sew Along blogs, too, for sewing tutorials and other info about the Primrose block:

http://gnomeangel.com

http://www.ellisandhiggs.com/

The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: Inspiring Letters from Farm Women of the Great Depression and 99 Quilt Blocks That Honor Them by Laurie Aaron Hird for Fons & Porter/F+W.

Chart 60: Marcella, Block 56 in the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sew Along

Nine Easy Pieces

Hold up your hand if you have already made Marcella. I’m guessing quite a few of you flipped through the 1930s Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt book and made a bunch of the “easy” blocks before we even started the Sew Along.

As we say on the PDF, it is not difficult to just use the printed-paper patterns and cut the 9 pieces and sew them together. Besides, we don’t actually have templates for those shapes.

Grainline Geek Alert

As grainline geeks, we wanted to make sure that the corners on 56B were on straight grain, not bias!  In addition, you know how we love to share ways to “teach the templates tricks"!

We hope you will enjoy reading how we cut the pieces for Marcella.

My Marcella Block

Click on the image for a larger view. Click the link below to download the Chart for cutting and making Marcella:

From Marti Michell Chart #60
 

In addition to our template conversion PDF download, you will want to read Gnome Angel's tutorials for these blocks.

The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: Inspiring Letters from Farm Women of the Great Depression and 99 Quilt Blocks That Honor Them by Laurie Aaron Hird for Fons & Porter/F+W.

Chart 59: Modified Mollie (Lorna), Block 63 in the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sew Along

A Funny Thing Happened When We Were Making Lorna

The From Marti Michell conversion charts for the 1930s Farmer’s Wife Sew Along are a huge team effort. Patti, Harriett and I all work together to make it happen. I do lots of the conversions, cutting of our blocks and write rough drafts of the instructions. Harriett helps with the conversions and does much of the actual sewing, following and correcting the instructions as she goes. Patti does the layouts and illustrates the instructions so effectively that you usually don’t even need to read them. Then she posts them for you.

Even though all three of us had looked at the finished Lorna block, it was at least 24 hours after she went up on the design wall that I noticed a little problem. Do you see it?

So, I got out a “Magic Mirror” and started looking. I felt like I was getting an eye exam. You know how the doctor says, “Better 1 (click) or 2? Better 3 or 4?” So I sent Harriett this text:

Better 1?



Or 2?



Just like the eye exam, we all had to compare 2 or 3 times to decide.

How about you? Better 1? Or 2?

My Modified Mollie Block: Lorna

Click on the image for a larger view. Click the link below to download the Chart for cutting and making Lorna:

From Marti Michell Chart #59

In addition to our template conversion PDF download, you will want to read Gnome Angel's tutorials for these blocks.

The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: Inspiring Letters from Farm Women of the Great Depression and 99 Quilt Blocks That Honor Them by Laurie Aaron Hird for Fons & Porter/F+W.

Chart 58: Carrie, Block 21 in the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sew Along, and Dimensional Carrie

Dimensional Carrie

Just as we finished making Carrie, I was reminded of the Dimensional Bow Tie block that we featured in Volume 2 of the Encyclopedia of Patchwork Blocks, Product # 8343.

To make this version you need 5 squares the same size, 3 for the bow tie and 2 for the background. To make a Dimensional Carrie quilt block those squares needed to be:

   6 in. (the desired finished size of the block)
 - 1 in. (the finished size of the sashing)
= 5 in.  =  4 sections @ 1-1/4 in. each + 1/2 in. seam allowance

Now I have 2 Bow Tie blocks!

And we have 2 PDFs for you to download this week!  I couldn’t resist making a 6-inch finished size Dimensional Carrie block! If you own Set Q, you can make one, too, using square template Q-c and the instructions in our BONUS "Dimensional Carrie" PDF!

It is hard to see the dimensional part in the picture, but almost impossible to look at it in life and not put a finger there to touch it. Will I use them both and pass on a block between now and the end? Replace a previous block? Make a bigger quilt? Or just enjoy having made it and shared it with you?

What About an 8-1/2 inch Dimensional Carrie (Bow Tie)?

“Why knot?” she couldn’t resist saying. In fact, you may want to make the 8-1/2 inch version first, because the smaller the squares, the tighter the knot to make.

Start with 2-1/4 inch cut squares. (If you owns Set E, that is template E-34.) The sashing strips will be 2 inches wide cut, 1-1/2 inches finished. I haven’t decided on my fabric for the 8-1/2 inch blocks, but “Kaffe” is in the running — hence the cute 3-1/2 inch Bow Tie block  (which is one quarter of an 8-1/2 inch Carrie block) shown at the top of this article.

My Carrie Block

Click on the image for a larger view. Click the link below to download the Chart for cutting and making Carrie:

From Marti Michell Chart #58

BONUS CHART: Dimensional Bow Tie Technique
 

In addition to our template conversion PDF download, you will want to read Gnome Angel's tutorials for these blocks.

My Dimensional Carrie Block

Click on the image for a larger view. Click the link below to download the PDF for the Dimensional Bow Tie technique:

BONUS PDF: Dimensional Bow Tie Technique

The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: Inspiring Letters from Farm Women of the Great Depression and 99 Quilt Blocks That Honor Them by Laurie Aaron Hird for Fons & Porter/F+W.