Farmer's Wife - Week 9

For week 9 of our Farmer's Wife Quilt-along, I'm going back to three blocks.  They are:

• Block 107, Windblown
• Block 92, Streak of Lightning
• Block 29, Economy

I would classify Windblown as difficult, but only because there are so many pieces. Economy and Streak of Lightning are straight-forward.

Let's go...

Block 107, Windblown

This block is made up of 16 half-square triangles (HSTs), each block finished to 1 1/2 inches.  If you choose to use the same distribution of fabrics depicted in the sample here, you will need to make 8 green & white HSTs and 8 blue & white HSTs.  To start you will need to cut

• eight 3 inch squares in white
• four 3 inch squares in blue
• four 3 inch squares in green

Start by pairing up each colored square with a white square.  Using our familiar tutorial for making HSTs here, from each pair you will get two HSTs.  Once you have completed them all, you should have eight green & white HSTs and eight blue & white HSTs.

Trim all HSTs to 2 inch squares.  Remember that we want the finished squares to be 1 1/2 inches, so we need the extra 1/2 inch for seam allowances.

Carefully, lay them out in the proper arrangement and sew them together.  I like to make 2x2 blocks for each quadrant, then sew them together in a larger 2x2 block.  However, you could also sew them together in rows, then attach the rows.

Farmer's Wife - Block 107 - Windblown

Block 92, Streak of Lightning

My instructions for this block are very traditional, cutting and assembling individual pieces.  If we were making several copies of this block, I might be inclined to do some efficient strip piecing. 

Start by cutting the following squares and rectangles:

• three white 1 1/2 inch squares
• three 1 1/2 inch squares, one in each color (red, blue, green)
• seven 2 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch rectangles in white
• five 2 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch rectangles in green
• two 2 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch rectangles in blue
• one 2 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch rectangle in red

Next arrange the squares and rectangles in rows according to the color arrangement shown, alternating rows with three rectangles across and rows with two rectangles and squares at each end.  Sew together the pieces in each row, then sew the rows to each other.

Farmer's Wife - Block 92 - Streak of Lightning

Block 29, Economy

This block is assembled using foundation paper piecing.  The template can be downloaded here, and be sure to print it at 100% scale to ensure the finished block is the right size.

Farmer's Wife - Block 29 - Economy

See instructions for week 8 Farmer's Wife blocks.