Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Farmer's Wife - Week 36

We are closing in on the last weeks of our Farmer's Wife Quilt-along and will begin thinking about how we want to assemble and quilt our blocks together!  While we do, here are this week's blocks:
  • Block 52 - Hovering Hawks
  • Block 71 - Puss in the Corner
  • Block 72 - Railroad


Block 52 - Hovering Hawks

Hovering Hawks is almost the same as Hovering Birds from last week (URL) except that the two corner rectangles are a bit different.  Refer to those instructions for Units A, B, and C and the row assembly, adjusting your color/fabric selection as desired.

Make the Unit D pieces starting with large white triangles, as described, by cutting a 3 7/8 inch square in half diagonally.  Next cut two green (correction 1 1/2) 2 inch squares and mark a diagonal line on the wrong side of the fabric with chalk or pencil.  With right sides together, lay the green square on the corner of the white rectangle, lining up the edges and with the marked line parallel to the long edge of the rectangle. Sew on the marked line, trim the excess fabric and iron seam allowance in one direction.  You should now have a large rectangle that is white on the long edge and green on the corner.  Repeat for the second Unit D.

Sew the Unit D pieces to the main block to square it off.

Farmer's Wife - Block 52 - Hovering Hawks
Farmer's Wife - Block 52 - Hovering Hawks

Block 71 - Puss in the Corner

This block is pretty simple with the following pieces:
  • Four HSTs finished 1 1/2 inches
  • One large square for the center cut 3 1/2 inches
  • Four rectangles cut 3 1/2 x 2 inches
Assemble like a 9-patch, in rows, to finish the block.

Farmer's Wife - Block 71 - Puss in the Corner
Farmer's Wife - Block 71 - Puss in the Corner

Block 72 - Railroad

Railroad is a 9-patch block with two different sub-blocks.  There are five 4-patch blocks and four HSTs.

The HSTs should be finished to 2 inches square and trimmed to 2 1/2 inches square before assembly.

If you are using the same fabric, you can do strip piecing for the 4-patch blocks.  To do this, you should start with 1 1/2 inch strips.  Depending on how many of the blocks will have the same fabrics, the strips should be up to 16 inches long.  Sew a white strip to a green strip and iron the seam allowance toward the dark fabric.  Cut 1 1/2 inch sections from the long piece.  Sew the sections together to create the 4-patch blocks desired.

If you don't want to do strip piecing, each 4-patch requires four 1 1/2 inch cut squares.

Once you have the 9 sub-blocks, all measuring 2 1/2 inches square, assemble them in rows and join the rows for the finished block.  Be sure your blocks are oriented before assembling, as one block turned the wrong way will be very noticeable here.

Farmer's Wife - Block 72 - Railroad
Farmer's Wife - Block 72 - Railroad

See instructions for Week 35 Farmer's Wife Quilt-Along.