Farm Sweet Farm - Week Three - Farmers Daughter Block!!

YaY!

It's our time to 

hang out on the farm:)

Because it's week 3 in our 

Farm Sweet Farm Sew Along

We are playing with 

Farm Girl Vintage fabric and...

Farm Sweet Farm

Sew Simple Shapes

This week is all about the pieced 

Farmers Daughter Blocks.

I'm going to show you how to

 make the 5" size...

the ones that are sewn into a row.

Of course the 10" size

 Farmers Daughter blocks 

are sewn the exact same way.

You can sew them anytime you want 

or save them until the very end 

when you're sewing the borders on:)

You will need to make four 

10" Farmers Daughter Blocks 

exactly like this one 

for each corner of the quilt.

On page 13 of the sew along guide

 is the diagram for the 

Farmers Daughter Block

CLICK HERE 

if you need to download the guide

As you were cutting from 

each fabric listed in your kit...

you should now have a whole bunch of

 1 1/2" squares cut that are 

for the 5" Farmers Daughter Blocks.

Here's my pile after I had cut them all!

I labeled a design board 5" Blocks and 

placed them there as I cut from each print.

Here are my pieces 

for all of the backgrounds...

cut from my current 

favorite background fabric...

 the little red chicken tracks!

I separated all of my 

squares into blocks.

Take note that you will need to

 sew 2 blocks exactly the same.

That's why you sew 

18 piles instead of 36:)

I'm showing this photo to you 

so that you

 can see which fabrics 

go together in each block.

In each combination of three prints...

the two squares on the right 

are the single squares

 that go in the centers (Pieces "E")

 and the middle squares are

 the four matching squares (pieces "D")...

and finally the bigger stack 

of squares on the left 

are the ones on the

 outside of each block. (pieces "C")

I also placed all of my 

background pieces on a design board

 for safe keeping while I sew!

I'm going to show you how 

to make this block...

and remember I'll be making 

two of them exactly the same.

First make the center of the block...

which is just a simple 9 patch.

When you sew 9 patch  blocks...

you sew three rows of three squares

 together and then sew 

those three rows together.

I like to press my seams open 

when sewing small blocks.

It helps to keep them 

accurate and lying flat.

I also do not use steam 

on my blocks after I have 

cut them and sewn them.

I do not want them to shrink:)

That center 9 patch

 should measure 3 1/2" at this point.

I like to use my 

3 1/2" Trim - It Ruler 

to square up during this step.

Now it's time to add 

easy corner triangles 

onto each side of the

 "A" rectangles which are

 1 1/2" x 3 1/2"

I like to use the 

Seams Sew Easy Guide 

instead of marking a line 

on all of my squares.

CLICK HERE

 to see how I use it and how 

to put it on your machine.

I like to chain piece mine

 to save time and thread!

This photo shows what each one 

looks like when it's sewn 

(on the left)

and on the right how you

 trim off an approximate

 1/4" seam allowance.

Above that you can sew 

what they look like after pressing.

Lay the blocks out like 

this on your design board.

Sew the top pieces into a row...

the center pieces into a row...

the bottom pieces into a row...

And then sew the 

three rows together:)

YaY!

Your block should measure

 5 1/2" square at this point

 before sewing them into the quilt.

I like to use my 

5 1/2" Trim-It Ruler 

to help out with that!

All trimmed and pressed.

The back of my block:)

These blocks are fun and easy to sew...

and there are a total of 36.

There are 4 rows of 9 blocks each.

Before they are sewn together 

into the four rows you will 

need to sew a sashing strip 

(1 1/2" x 5 1/2") 

in-between each block and

 on each end of the row.

Each row should measure 

55 1/2" long which is what 

the top row measures

 after sewing all 

4 of those blocks together.

Obviously that's what the center row

 with the barn and trees measures 

 and also the bottom row 

with the tractor and cow etc. 

Now that two of these blocks 

are finished I'll be sewing 

the rest up over the next

 couple of weeks as I have time...

and I'm assuming that you 

will do the same as well!

And I'll be sewing up the rest of my

 10" Farmers Daughter Blocks as well:)

As a reminder...

this is not a race and you should 

not feel pressured or think that

 you are "sew behind"

 because there is no such thing!

Sewing under pressure is not fun...

give yourself a break and 

 simply allow yourself to 

enjoy each step of 

our sew along journey.

Y'all are doing great...

and I'm loving the posts on 

INSTAGRAM

Keep plowing through...

it's the Farm Girl way!

***Announcement***

Next week is the Tree Block.

After that instead of doing the 

Barn and Silo Block tutorial 

I'm going to do the

 Chicken Coop and Windmill block tutorial.

I'm working ahead by a few weeks 

and as I was doing so I realized

 it makes more sense to

 do that block BEFORE the barn

 because they need to be sewn together

 before you can completely 

lay out all of the appliqués....

so that's the reason for my change.

Bee sure to "tune in" 

next week for that tutorial!!

xx

Lori