Post 87: Mrs. Lloyd, Block #70 in the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt Sew Along

Mrs. Lloyd, the Block

This is the third block in a row framed with the same Flying Geese on each side. Complete the block with your best 4-patch corners and a Nine Patch center square.

Mrs. Lloyd, the Person

For me, this block is for Mrs. Lloyd Richardson. Her first name was Edna. She was officially my mother’s aunt, but she was only a few years older than Mom and they were more like cousins or even sisters, they were that close. When Mother talked about Edna, she never referred to her as Aunt Edna, she just called her Edna.

To complicate things, my Dad’s older sister was also named Edna, and both Mom and Dad identified her to my sister and me as Aunt Edna. It was all very confusing to little girls. So, one night when my sister Mary was trying to identify who was coming to the house, she said, “So, is it Aunt Edna who is coming or Just Edna?” That was the perfect solution. For the rest of their lives, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Richardson were “Just Edna” and Uncle Lloyd to us.

They had no children and lived around 20 miles away in the town that was the county seat. As a treat, we girls sometimes got to go and spend the night. Just Edna delighted in doting over us. I remember being absolutely awestruck at her salt and pepper shaker collection -- There were 6 or 8 glass shelves at every window all around the breakfast room loaded with dozens of different sets! I would love to know how many there really were. I’m sure in a little girl’s eyes 24 actual sets could seem like 200. Maybe there were 200. Right now, there are over 37,000 vintage salt and pepper shakers for sale on eBay! Someone had to own them! (Oh my, someday my grand kids will be saying that about fabric!) I was heartbroken when Just Edna and Uncle Lloyd moved to California when I was 6 or 7, and I think of them often whenever I see an interesting set of salt and pepper shakers.

😊

Are you ready for a new Sew Along?

Gnome Angel invited us to participate in a three-month sew along to make Jen Kingwell's Long Time Gone quilt -- you can use the same templates you used for the Farmer's Wife blocks!  Click here for more information.

My Mrs. Lloyd Block

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

From Marti Michell Chart #87
 

Visit these other Farmer's Wife Sew Along blogs, too, for sewing tutorials and other info about the Mrs. Lloyd block:
http://gnomeangel.com

http://www.bonjourquilts.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.

Picking my Fabrics for the Jen Kingwell Long Time Gone Sew Along

We're starting March 15 -- it will be here before you know it! And in a few months, it will be over!  So, there I was in my studio, picking fabric for my Jen Kingwell Sew Along quilt, and gravitating toward orange and purple -- I've been in my orange and purple period for years! I love those colors together! Among many other quilts, I've made an orange and purple Spinning Star quilt...

 

And a Bear's Paw quilt that we call Scrappy Bear's Path. It doesn't sing orange and purple as loudly as Spinning Stars, but, as the saying goes, it's all in the family!

For big quilts, I usually add green into the mix. It's a stabilizing, calming color in the orange-and-purple party! Here's a photo of the fabrics I pulled to get started. Don't these look great together?

Then I decided to search my fabric collection and go for a little lighter and softer palette than my usual orange, purple, green palette. I had a pretty good group when I hit my personal theme fabric jackpot! It's got all the colors in it that were already in my sew along fabrics! I love shopping in my fabric stash!

The colors in this novelty Hoffman print really pulled everything together. Oh, my gosh, I wonder what year I bought that fabric! I have absolutely no memory of buying this, but it is my standard 3/4 yard purchase and it is in my studio, so obviously I did buy it -- I'm glad I did, it's perfect with this group!

The ladies reminded me of one of my favorite Kaffe Fassett "shirt stripes" that I've been hoarding, and a Holly Holderman hydrangea print, and the two of them made me think of a favorite green basic dot that I have from one of my own fabric lines.

Then, when I thought I was all set for the Long Time Gone Sew Along, I was searching for something else and found this perfect Moda Layer Cake called "Saturday Morning" by Basic Grey. In a quilt made with 1-inch squares and 1/2-inch strips, a 10-inch square of fabric will go a long way!

 

Now I really was all set to start sewing! 

That's a lot of different fabric, but there is a method to my madness. I call it "Anticipation Cutting" -- I love using lots of different fabrics in a quilt, and I loved getting all these fabrics out for this project. What I don't love is cutting what I think I need for right now, putting the fabrics away, sewing, getting them out again, cutting some more, sewing, etc. As we go along, I'm going to share some neat tips for anticipating what you're going to need to cut soon and killing two blocks -- or more! -- with one rotary cutting session.  😊

Read More About It

That's how I "shopped at home" for my fabrics. Angie and Nicole wrote about picking fabrics on their blogs, too, sharing links for curated fabric bundles and offering a discount code on Allison Glass fabrics. Use these links to read their articles:

http://gnomeangel.com

http://www.snipssnippets.ca

Long Time Gone by Jen Kingwell. Copyright 2016 by Jen Kingwell Designs. Available on the From Marti Michell website, www.frommarti.com
 

Post 86: Martha, Block #58 in the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt Sew Along

Martha, that’s my name too!

The Martha block is very much like last week’s Sarah block except the pinwheel is smaller. I think it is a very neat little block. I was happy to see that it is very template-friendly! When you realized the blocks were mostly first names, did you look right away to see if your name had a block? If you found it, did you like it? Mystery Quilt

This is another Mystery 8-1/2 inch block and here is the conversion for From Marti Michell Template Set A, Product #8251:

This is a clue: After this block, there is one more to be revealed. That will be 12 blocks for our mystery sampler.

Here is a HUGE clue to the quilt design: Did you read my blog post "Bear's Paw in the Bee Hive" on November 4, 2016?

The 11 blocks that have already been revealed and the blog posts that include the conversions are listed below by block name followed by From Marti Michell Blog Post Number and Farmer’s Wife Block Number: All of the posts are still on my blog, so if you did not print them out, you can still go back in the monthly archive and read them or print them now.

Caroline, Post #4, Block 20

Old Maid, Post #7, Block 78

Jenny, Post #10, Block 45

Addie, Post #11, Block 1 (Post #11 is the post that has the 8-1/2 inch conversions for the first 4 blocks and is when we decided to do the mystery quilt.  It and Nancy below are in November 2015 history.)

Nancy, Post #14, Block 76

Ava, Post #19, Block 10  (Ava’s conversion not in post 19.)

Cat, Post #22, Block 22  (Cat’s conversion not in post 22.)

Interestingly Post #24 has the conversions for Ava and Cat and picture of Nancy in both 6-inch and 8-1/2 inch blocks in December 2015.

Tracy, Post # 46, Block 97 (Tracy’s conversion seems to be a separate PDF, the link is in the #46 blog post, but you have to click on it, you will not see it until you click on the link – look in April 2016.)

Carrie, Post #58, Block 21, July 2016

Mrs. Thomas/Aunt Gladys, Post #77, Block 74 (The 8-1/2 inch conversion is actually for Aunt Gladys, our Set A substitute for Mrs. Thomas in November 2016.)

Martha, Post  #86, Block 58, and you are reading it in 2017!  We began this quilt journey in September of 2015!

There is just one more block to come and the reveal of the quilt design!

My Martha Block

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

From Marti Michell Chart #86

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

http://gnomeangel.com

http://www.charmaboutyou.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.

Post 85: Sarah, Block 91 in the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt Sew Along

I’m not counting, but do you realize there are only 10 block posts to go?

Sarah is a great review block. You have already used all of the techniques in countless blocks on this journey. So show off just a little!

Make sure the large triangles From Marti Michell template A-4 or pattern number 91C in your Flying Geese units are cut with the hypotenuse on straight -- preferably lengthwise -- grain.

Then make the perfect swirl press on your pinwheel, join the units and pat yourself on the back!

I never use that expression without thinking of a patchwork vest my friend Sally Paul made years ago. Here it is shown as a guest garment in Jean Wells's A Patchworthy Apparel Book published by Yours Truly, Inc. I think I mentioned before that Yours Truly, Inc. was the patchwork company Richard and I started in 1972 and sold in 1985. At the time I am writing this post, there are 16 copies available on eBay and a few on Abe Books.

 

My Sarah Block

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

From Marti Michell Chart #85
 

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

http://gnomeangel.com

http://catandvee.blogspot.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.

Announcing the "Long Time Gone" Sew Along!

It's a new year and we've got a new sew along for you! Australian designer Jen Kingwell originally ran "Long Time Gone" as a popular year-long block of the month. Now the book is available in the US and Jen has given her permission for a new sew along, brainstormed by Angie Wilson, who blogs as Gnome Angel! The quilt is fun and scrappy, and all sewn with straight seams. It is a lot of cutting and sewing! But I've got some neat tricks for you and I think you'll have as much fun working on your Long Time Gone quilt as I'm having making mine. Some of the blocks are really cute!

The Sew Along Hosts and Timeframe

I''ll be providing free template conversion charts here on the blog so you can follow along and rotary cut the pieces for the sampler blocks from strips using your From Marti Michell tools. If you were with us for the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt Sew Along, you probably already have the tools and know our partner for this quilt along, the Gnome Angel, Angie Wilson. Nicole Carver will also be joining us from Canada through her blog, Snips Snippets.  Sign up to follow my blog and theirs so you won't miss any of the weekly tutorials! We'll be sharing how-to's and options for making the blocks and working with small pieces -- easy peasy with accurate sewing, which starts with accurate cutting.

Accurate cutting doesn't have to start with our tools, but we don't call them Perfect Patchwork Templates for nothing! 😊 They're laser-cut, include 1/4 inch seams and the special engineered corners makes it easy to match squares and triangles for perfect points -- really, it's easier than you may think!

The Sew Along starts March 15 and will keep you sewing until July 28, 2017. Two tutorials will be posted every week, one by me and one by Angie or Nicole, who will alternate week to week. 

What You Will Need

The Long Time Gone Book
The tutorials will guide you as we follow Jen Kingwell's book from block to block. For quilters in North America, the Long Time Gone book will be available from our website for $28 plus $5.95 S/H (our S/H charge is a flat rate for any size order). Some LQS will have it, too. If you live in Australia, check with Angie for where to shop.

From Marti Michell Perfect Patchwork Templates
Not necessary but definitely helpful for sewing accuracy! We've got an info sheet that you can download for reference by clicking here, but here's the lowdown:

The most frequently used sets are A, B, D and N. We'll be using them for the first 6 weeks of the sew along. Set Q is used to cut the Bow Tie blocks.

I'm going to show you some tricks for accurate, efficient cutting (which leads to accurate, efficient sewing!) for "now and later", and you'll love our Pineapple Ruler Set #8262 -- it's the #1 go-to tool for making this quilt! If you don't use any of other tools, you will be so glad to have this set on hand for these 16 blocks! Pineapple is shown in the "Order of the Blocks" below as #15, but we have a tried-and-true way to make them that we think you'll really like. We're going to begin working on them in the first 6 weeks, probably around week 3.

In the second 6 weeks, we'll be using Log Cabin Rulers #8037 for 1-1/2 inch and 3/4 inch finished strips for the Chevron Log Cabins, and #8227 for 1 inch and 1/2 inch finished strips for the Courthouse Steps blocks. Some people think cutting strips to exact length is a bit fussy but you'd be surprised by how much difference it makes to the finished block -- not only will it be the same size on all 4 sides, the interior strips will also be straight and "square" from row to row.

We'll cut the "60-degree triangles" with the Peaky and Spike Set #8289 (we used quotation marks because the triangles in these blocks are not really 60-degree triangles; the angle is actually 53-1/2 degrees). Or, if you have Set C or D, or the Sashing Star Ruler, we'll tell you how to cut these triangles with one of those tools.

Our tools are sold through local quilt shops and are also available on our website here.

Fabric, of course!
We'll be talking about selecting fabrics soon so you'll have time to gather together some yummy cotton goodness before we get down to business. I had a blast shopping for my favorite colors in my studio! Angie will be using Andover fabrics by Alison Glass, and Nicole is making her quilt using FreeSpirit solids by Anna Maria Horner.

The Order of the Blocks

We're hoping this list will help you plan your approach to completing your to-do list each week. If you already have the book, we hope you'll hold tight until March 15 before you get started -- you just never know when a bit of info could turn into a personal gold nugget, no matter what your experience level!

1. Bow Tie – Make 2
2. Square in a Square Stars – Make 1
3. Crosses of the U.K. – Make 6
4. Jacobs Ladder – Make 9
5. Trip Around the World – Make 1
6. Plus a Star – Make 1
7. Churn Dash – Make 21
8. Courthouse Steps – Make 9
9. Log Cabin – Make 4
10. Half Square Triangle 1 – Make 1
11. Half Square Triangle 2 – Make 1
12. Half Square Triangle 3 – Make 1
13. Flying Geese – Make 64
14. 60 Degree Triangle – Make 30
15. Pineapple Log Cabin – Make 16
16. Checkerboard

Sponsors and Prizes

Angie has put together a great lineup of sponsors and prizes! More info about prizes and how to qualify for them will be published shortly. So far we can share this list of sponsors:

• Alison Glass
• Andover
• Anna Maria Horner
• Free Spirit
• Jen Kingwell’s Amitie Textiles
• Marti Michell Perfect Patchwork Templates -- that's us!
• Love Patchwork and Quilting

We hope you'll be quilting along with us!  If you have any questions, feel free to email us through the contact page on the From Marti Michell website.

Chart 84: Stella, Our Substitute for Mary Gray, Block #60 in the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt Sew Along

Mary Gray is not template friendly.

Now, straight from template tricks in my book More Bang for the Buck! we present a 12-piece block we love.  The block we usually call Twinkling Star is named Stella in this quilt. Stella was our closest neighbor to the north when I was growing up. I'm actually being very familiar when I say Stella, as we only referred to her as Mrs. Tucker.

Stella, or Twinkling Star, is a quick and easy block that looks much harder -- it looks like you can't easily cut the shape of the star points but you will see how easy it is to make when you download the PDF!

If you made Mary Gray, you still may want to make this block as a back-up or substitute for another block, or as an extra block if you are making a king-size quilt. This block makes a great controlled scrap quilt in your favorite color scheme when you need a quick gift, too!

My Stella Block

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

From Marti Michell Chart #84
 

Visit these other Farmer's Wife Sew Along blogs, too, for sewing tutorials and other info about the Mary Gray block in the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt:

http://gnomeangel.com

http://www.sunflowerstitcheries.com/sunflower-quilting-blog/

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; RRP $28.99. 
Click here to purchase.

Post 83: Mary, Block #59 in the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt Sew Along

Happy New Year! I wonder how many of you made resolutions to finish your blocks for the Farmer's Wife 1930s sampler before the last block is posted? If my math is correct that is 12 weeks from now.

The Block Named Mary

This block will lay flatter and be a better square if you remember to cut the border triangles with the hypotenuse on straight grain. 

Second, there are 2 pairs of 2 different mirror image corner triangle combinations, not 4 just alike! In the conversion chart (below) we have described a slick, efficient way to sew them together so they will come out right the first time. And every time! Use the same sewing trick for other blocks with similar combinations of triangles.

My Sister Named Mary

Mary is 3-1/2 years older than I. We are the daughters and only children of a farmer’s wife of the 1930s. For me, having an older sister was great 99% of the time.

Side by side or miles apart—We are sisters connected by the heart!

First, parents are a lot more relaxed about second children and Mary had done a good job of breaking them into parenthood!

Most important, I had a great role model. I could learn what to do and what got you in trouble by watching Mary.

Because our nearest neighbors were a quarter-mile away, we were also playmates. We explored the timber together and the haymow. We shared a room and a pony named Sally. Well, we shared the pony until Mary took advantage of me one day and talked me into trading my half of the pony for her half of the chalkboard. It was a great big chalkboard, and I wouldn’t say I hold a grudge, but from then on, I had to ask her if I could ride the pony. I did say, “Having an older sister was great 99% of the time”! I don't have a photo of Sally, who was a darling pony, but I have the saddle we wished for but the grandchildren got, shown here with the Log Cabin Snuggler in my Log Cabin ABCs book. (Those are our daughter Stacy's little cowgirl boots, and the bench is a pew that my parents rescued when the church I grew up in was torn down and rebuilt.)

Mary became more of a tomboy, out in the barns and fields with Dad, than I. I think when I came along, I was encouraged to stay inside with Mom because neither Mom nor Dad wanted to keep up with both of us at the same time. Mary and I went to the same one-room school until it closed and then rode the same school bus into the town school that housed all of the classes in one big building.

When Mary went away to college she included me in lots of her experiences and continued to make it easy to follow in her footsteps. We both went to Iowa State and we both married engineers we met in college. We both left Iowa after graduation to follow our husbands' careers. In the early years of raising young families, we were often all together back on the farm with our parents for holidays and summer vacations. However, as the children got older and had more of their own commitments, it was not so easy to get together.

Neither of us has lived in Iowa since we left college. In fact we have never even lived in the same state at the same time. However, we have inherited and still share the small family farm where we grew up. It has been in our family since 1864 and the home for 5 generations of Glenns. The 6th generation (our kids) only spent vacation time with Grandma and Grandpa on the farm. Dad bought 2 new ponies so the grandchildren didn't even have to share. And they got saddles. Mary and I rode bareback. (Really, I'm not holding a grudge, LOL)

Here are pictures of our families when we all got together for the first time in 2009… Mary and I and our husbands…

 
… all of our kids (5 cousins)…

and all of the next generation of kids (11 second cousins).

It was a wonderful day to share. There is nothing to compare with family.

My Mary Block

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

From Marti Michell Chart #42
 

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

http://gnomeangel.com

https://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 82: Ruth, our Substitute for Posy, Block 84 in the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt Sew Along

If you really only want to make the block in the book, we recommend using the paper-piecing technique for Posy; it's on the CD that comes with the book. However, we are substituting a template-cut block with a similar profile. It is cut with Template Set S and sometimes called Rhodey’s Square. I’m calling this block Ruth.

Just like my other substitute blocks, Ruth was an Iowa Farmer’s wife in the 1930s, and also a friend of my mother's. Mom was the leader of my 4-H Club and Ruth agreed to be the assistant leader. Looking back now, I can see what a positive influence my 4-H experience was on my life and it couldn’t have happened without the adult leaders. That's me at the right end of the first row:

Our block Ruth is ideal for efficient piecing because you need 4 or 8 of nearly every unit. However, to take full advantage of that, think twice about using fabric with strong directional design. For example, the corner units are identical until they are rotated to complete the design. Then they become mirror image units. If any of the pieces in the corner units are cut from directional fabric, the result could surprise you. For efficient piecing, we'd make 4 corner units just alike:

Then we'd rotate them to create the block -- what happened?

If all the triangles had been cut from fabric printed with trees, some of the trees would be rooted in the ground and some would be growing sideways!

My Ruth Block

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

From Marti Michell Chart #82
 

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

http://gnomeangel.com

http://catandvee.blogspot.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 81: Tirzah, Block #96 in the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt Sew Along

It is fun, especially this late in the list of blocks, to have one block that uses pieces from 3 different Perfect Patchwork Template Sets. It is really unusual to have pieces from Sets A and B used in not only the same block, but the same sub-unit of the block!

True confession: There was very little time between the idea for the Farmer’s Wife Sew Along and the date the blocks needed to be sorted and put in order. When I looked at the basic grid of Tirzah, it was obvious the sub-units would finish at 2 inches square, the size of template B-12, but what about the little pieces? That meant, it got pushed to the bottom of the list to give me time to “think” and in the meantime, many other blocks were made.

When I took time to look more carefully, I saw that N-81 was a perfect match for 96E. However, 96F was a bit of a mystery until I thought to extend the edges of the printed pattern and nub off the corners to match our engineered corners. Then I measured the leg of the triangle and discovered it was our triangle template A-6!

For many of the blocks, information in our book More Bang for the Buck provided the clue for which template set to use. For example, if I knew the finished length of the leg of a triangle, I could look in the appropriate chart in the book and find which set, if any, included a triangle that size -- bingo, I had the answer. At the beginning of the sew along last year, I talked about how helpful this book is in learning more ways to use the templates, and that hasn't changed! If you own several of the sets, this book is a great investment for getting "More Bang for the Buck."

As it turned out, making Tirzah was a lot of fun using a great template trick!

So, now that we are closing in on the last blocks in the sew along, we are giving you the opportunity to win a copy of this book! Anyone who has made at least 40 blocks using the templates -- on your honor -- is eligible. Just make a comment below. Tell us which block or blocks were your favorites to make, for example.

My Tirzah Block

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

From Marti Michell Chart #81
 

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

http://gnomeangel.com

http://shequiltsalot.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 80: Slightly Modified Widow, Block 99 in the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt Sew Along

15 Blocks to Go! We are in the Home Stretch!

Here we are on Post #80, almost done. For those of you who are making every block you can with the templates, but at the same time, you are only making the blocks that are in the book, there are still 7 blocks for which template conversions aren’t appropriate. As we are on the home stretch, when they come up, I won’t always be blogging with a substitution.

I was almost positive that we had already provided 7 extra blocks that could replace the 7 I’m not converting. There was Mabel, chart 12; Alta and Aimee Chart 13 (Aimee is also featured with templates in my 11/13/15 post); Pat’s Basket, post 32; Poppy and Pippa post 54; the Dimensional Carrie, post 58; the modified Mollie (Lorna) post 59, and several still to come. Sure enough when I counted, I have 98 actual blocks I’ve made and have blogged about or will blog about.

Of course, Angie and at least one of the other bloggers will still be blogging about the 7 blocks and, as always, we will link to their blogs on the appropriate days.

But just in case you are looking for more blocks, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a few of our design specific template sets that make great 6-inch blocks. I’m not including patterns or writing instructions because if you own or want to own these sets, the instructions for rotary cutting and making the blocks are included with the templates. But, I have made the blocks to share with you.

Set F Sunburst

Follow the instructions included with the template set to make one-quarter of the full Sunburst Block. Click the images for larger views:

The cover of “Sunburst Quilts to Make” book shows another way to use the quarter-block in a quilt:

Sunburst Quilts to Make, Product #30006, $9.98

The Starry Path Block

This is our newest template set. The set is multi-size and you can make 6-, 9- or 12-inch finished blocks with one set.

Starry Path Template Set, Product #8586, $21.98

The 6-inch House or Schoolhouse, Set J

I actually went to a one-room country school for kindergarten and half of first grade. Then the school was closed and we were sent to school in town. The school sat at the top of the hill about a quarter-mile east of our house and we could see it, silhouetted just like this little block, from our yard. (The same house block can be made at 12 inches finished with Set K.)

Template Set J, Small House, Product #8952, $19.98

Now––On to Today's Block, Widow

Make 8 Units with Strip Techniques

As much as I love the Perfect Patchwork Templates, I would never walk away from an opportunity like this to use strip techniques. In fact, you may have heard me say that I think the templates are just an extension of strip techniques. Some of you may have even started quilting in the late 1980s or 1990s and used my best selling book, Quilting for People Who Don’t Have Time to Quilt (over 750,000 copies were sold). I love it when people tell me it was their first quilting book! In 1998 ASN asked me to do an enlarged and expanded version and in 1998, Quilting for People Who Still Don’t Have Time to Quilt! was published. Both books are out of print and often available on eBay.

It is easy to see that Widow is made with 9 equal size units or what is often called a nine-patch layout. Next, the four corner units are actual nine-patch blocks. The four side center blocks are basic Fence Rail blocks. Fence Rail and Nine Patch are two of the easiest blocks to make using strip techniques. The question is what size strips to cut.

Since Widow is a 6-inch finished block each of the 9 finished square units is 2 inches. But a 2-inch square divided by 3 is 2/3 of an inch -- oh, no! how do you measure that? Don’t forget to add 1/2-inch for seam allowances. The answer is a full 1-1/8 inch or a few threads beyond 1-1/8 inch.  One again, if you happen to have a metric ruler, 30mm is a perfect width strip for the Nine Patch and Fence Rail blocks.

No matter which way you measure, we suggest cutting strips for the Fence Rail first and then using the #12 square template in Set B to cut the square and true-up the width of the strips, if necessary.

Simplify or Paper Piece the Center Unit

I’m a big believer in the question “is the result really worth the effort?” So, since it is my quilt, and I had some appropriate ribbon handy, I chose to simplify the center unit of this block.

My Widow Block 

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

From Marti Michell Chart #80

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

http://gnomeangel.com

http://woodenspoonquilts.blogspot.com/

Giveaway Just For People Who Read This Far!

Make a comment below to let us know you are still reading and win your choice of the 3 template sets shown today. One comment will be chosen by a random picker on December 13, 2016. Be sure to check back on that date to see if you won! If so, contact us with your mailing address so we will know where to send your prize.

COMMENT #13 was picked -- Jewel, you won!

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.