A New Farm Girl Friday - Happy Anniversary Farm Girl Vintage and a free Farm Girl Layer Cake Block Tutorial - Farm Girl Layer Cake!!

Good morning cute people! 

Today I'm celebrating Farm Girl Vintage 

along with my amazing publishers 

It's Sew Emma by making a cake!

Go check out 

The Jolly Jabber 

to see all of the cute participants:)

I'm super excited to show you 

how to make my new block called 

Farm Girl Layer Cake:) 

I designed this block to celebrate the 

one year anniversary of my third book 

Farm Girl Vintage

It's been so much fun 

seeing stacks of Farm Girl quilts 

from my book being made in sewing rooms 

and quilt shops everywhere...

so I thought it would be fun

 to celebrate by

 making a cake together!

Every celebration needs a cake right?

And what better kind than an old fashioned yummy layer cake

 made with lots of love and sprinkles...

just like grandma used to make...

and of course she put it on a vintage cake stand:)

Click Here

 to download the free cutting sheet 

and then I'll show you how to make it!

After you have downloaded the recipe...

decide which size cake you will be baking and

cut all of your ingredients. 

Cutting is for a 6" block...

And a 12" block:)

I made both sizes of course...

 but today I'll be showing you 

how I made my 6" block.

I always lay my block out on my design board

 to make sure that I like my fabric choices 

and that I have cut everything:)

*NOTE* - I also cut a green  2 1/2" x Width of Fabric for binding.

1 strip is enough for the 6" block 

but you will need 2 if you are making the 12" block.

Now lets bake a cake!

*Take note when laying out ...

that the bottom rectangles for the cake stand (M) (L) 

are laid out tall and the rectangles for the top of the 

cake stand (N) are laid out wide as pictured:)

**Also take note***  

that piecing instructions 

are exactly the same 

whether you are sewing the

 6" block or the 12" block:)

Lets start with the top layer of the cake.

1. All of the smallest background squares are (G). 

Place one on each side of the heart tops (P) with right sides together.

Also place the bottom pieces of the heart (Q) onto 

the top inside corners of pieces (H) 

and stitch from corner to corner like this.

2. Trim an approximate 1/4" seam allowance and press your seams OPEN.

3. Place back down on your design board for the next step.

4. Yes...I said press your seams open!

You will find that by pressing open...

 (especially when sewing small pieces) 

that your blocks will lie flat be more accurate. 

In a few of these steps its not necessary...

 and I will let you know when we get there!

1. Place a (G) square onto the other side of the heart tops (P)

 and sew the other easy corner triangle.

2. Place them back onto design board.

3. Yes...continue to press seams open:)

4. Sew the two heart tops and

 the two heart bottoms together like this.

1. Sew (E) to the top of the hearts and the 

frosting (K) to the top of the bottom cake layer (I).

2. I pressed the seam towards the (E) rectangle 

and pressed frosting/cake seam open.

3. Sew a (B) on both sides of heart top and press toward (B)

Sew the bottom layer of cake/frosting section

 to the top layer and press open. 

sew the side pieces (D) to 

each side of the cake and press towards (D).

4. Sew these two sections together making sure that

 the center seams in your heart line up. 

Press seams open:)

The top of your cake is out of the oven...frosted and decorated...

and now its time to place it on your cake stand!

***TIP***

Here's another thing that I do to get my blocks to lie as flat as possible.

After pressing each section...

(I use a good hot iron with absolutely no steam)

I lay it out on my design board while its still hot from pressing 

 and smooth it out flat...

the batting on the design board will keep it in place...

 and then...

I quickly put a ruler on top on hold it down firmly until the block cools off.

I do this especially when sewing small blocks or little pieces in a large block.

By pressing open and using a good hot iron and my design board...

my blocks are flat and accurate.

YaY!

Now for the cake stand:)

1. Sew the easy corner triangles onto the (N) pieces of the cake top. 

Use one (G) for the left side of the end piece and the other little squares are (J).

2. Repeat for the right side of the cake stand top pieces.

3. Trim as usual:)

4. Press seams open and lay back out on your design board.

Sew them together like this:)

The back of mine:)

There are a lot of seams in this section but don't worry...

just be sure to use an accurate 1/4" seam allowance 

so that it doesn't end up too long or too short 

for the top piece that you are sewing it to. 

You can see that mine is just a smidge longer.

Whenever this happens...

 I place the longer piece on the bottom when sewing the two together

 because I know that the feed dogs will 

pull the bottom piece through at a little faster rate 

than the top piece so it will ease in nicely....

Like this:)

Make sure to press your seams open and use my 

design board and ruler trick!

Now sew the easy corner triangles (G) onto 

the bottom rectangles (M) (L) of the cake stand like this. 

Sew the side pieces (F) to the cake stand center (O)

Press these seams towards the (O) 

After trimming the easy corner triangles on the bottom...

sew them together and press the seams open.

Before sewing to the cake stand center you will need to 

sew the easy corner triangles (C) onto the top outside corners.

I use my Seams Sew Easy

 so that I don't need to mark any lines 

on my easy corner triangle squares...

and for an accurate 1/4" seam of course!

I also use an open toe foot when piecing 

so that I can see exactly where 

my needle goes into my fabric at all times...

I don't like to assume it's lining up 

if I can't see it under a presser foot:)

Now the bottom of the 

cake stand pedestal is finished...

With seams pressed open of course!

Now sew the two pedestal 

sections together and 

add the side pieces (A).

Press towards the (A).

YaY!

Your block is complete:)

I added the optional borders on mine because

 I'm making a Farm Girl potholder just like on page 

number 120 in the Farm Girl Vintage book:)

One more view of the back of my block:)

I prepared my cakes for quilting 

by layering the blocks with batting and backing fabric.

I prepared a binding for each as well.

Click Here 

to see my machine quilting 

and binding tutorial:)

Here is my 6" Farm Girl block 

fresh from the oven!

(it finishes at 8" with the borders)

And here is my 12" Farm Girl Layer Cake 

completely baked and ready for a celebration!

(it finishes at 14" with the borders)

Thanks so much for joining me for another Farm Girl Friday!

Click Here 

to see other Farm Girl Layer Cakes 

that others have been baking!

xx

Lori