Welcome back to the Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt Sew-along! We’re kicking off 2016 with Block 47 Joy, which seems fitting because it looks like a gift bow which is a hangover from the festive season and who doesn’t want to start a new year with joy? There’s a great opportunity to fussy cut with this block as there’s 9 squares in the block. I’m also a big fan of the odd shaped piecing that the parallelograms provide. It’s a fun block to kick off our return.

 

Tutorial: Block #47 “Joy”General Information

• I pressed my seams open.
• I used a Schmetz 70/10 needle.
• I used 50wt Aurifil #2600 (Dove) thread for piecing.
• I used the From Marti Michell Patchwork Templates Set D.
• I used Flatter by Soak in Yuzu 248ml as my starch.
• Fabrics shown in the tutorial are from the Gnome Angel Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Bundle from Fat Quarter Shop.

If you’d like to know “My Top 10 Beginners Patchworking Tools” you can find them by clicking here.

Measurements for the pieces needed to construct this block will not be provided in this tutorial. It is a pre-requiste of making this block that you have a copy of the book, 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 – available from: Amazon | Pink Door Fabrics | Fat Quarter Shop | The Quilting Company | Interweave (Affiliate Links).  Measurements can be found in this book and it’s associated media.

On Point Blocks

Please note I am not doing my blocks on-point. If you are fussy cutting your blocks please be mindful of your fabric placement so that the motif will sit correctly if you decide to put your blocks on-point.

Conversion Chart

You can find the From Marti Michell Patchwork Template Conversion Charts by clicking here.

Helpful Links & Videos

Marti Michell shows you how to cut using your ruler and templates:

For another video on this template set click here.

How to Make the Block

General advice:

• Tolerance Levels: you need to decide what is an acceptable tolerance level for “mistakes”. For example if your blocks are consistently 6¼” instead of 6.5″ are you ok with this. Or if your seams matching are less than an eight of an inch “off” are you ok with this. There’s no hard or fast rule and it’s different for everyone, so remember it’s your quilt so make your decision for you.
• Press your seams at each step. Click here for a great article on how to press your seams for patchwork.
• You can iron and starch your fabric prior to cutting. I also starch when pressing bulky seams.
• When pinning, pin away from you so that you don’t move your pieces when pinning.
• Where possible I chain piece all the pieces I can in one step. If you’re unsure of what chain piecing is, click here for a tutorial on how to do it. However, for the purpose of the tutorials I will step you through all the seams individually.

Please note: Use your rotary cutter and ruler to cut all pieces required for the block as per the instructions in the book. Cutting instructions can be found on the disc that came with the book. Block directions are located on page 206. You can also use the cutting instructions on the conversion chart. I have used the From Marti Michell Patchwork Templates Set D to cut the pieces required to make the block as shown in the book.

1. Making 47A and 47B with the Marti Michell Templates: Cut 2 x (1.5″ x 9″) of Fabric 1 (orange) (Diagram 1 shows the strips). Place strips right sides together. Using From Marti Michell Patchwork Templates Set D29 align the template on the strips as shown in Diagram 1a. Move the template and align it as per Diagram 1b. Pay attention to lining up the engineered corners as per the arrows. Make the final cut and this will give you pieces 47A and 47B. Repeat another 3 times for the remaining pieces.
2. Cut all pieces required and lay them out as per the block Diagram 2. To cut the 20 47C’s using From Marti Michell Patchwork Templates Set D29 cut 4 x (1.5″ x 7″) and stack them on top of each other right sides facing up. Cut five templates from the stack to give you 20 x 47C.

3. Making the left side of the parallelograms: Join one 47C to the longest side of the parallelogram as per Diagram 3a.Join 47C to the short side of the parallelogram as per Diagram 3B.4. Making the right side of the parallelograms: Join one 47C to the longest side of the parallelogram as per Diagram 4a. Join 47C to the short side of the parallelogram as per Diagram 4B.5. Join the parallelogram units together to make 4 large triangles as per Diagram 5a. Join the 47C small triangle to the tops of the 47D at the end of the squares as per Diagram 5a.6. Join the squares (47D) together as per Diagram 6. You can chain piece this step.

7. Join one large triangle to one side of the squares as per Diagram 7.

Please note: You’ll only be joining triangles to one square row on each side of the centre square, the other squares will be joined to the centre square to form the middle row. Be sure you don’t attach the triangles to the squares that will become the middle row.

8. Join the other large triangle to the row of squares to complete each side of the block as per Diagram 8.

9. Join one side triangle unit to the middle row as per Diagram 9.

10. Joy to the world, Joy is complete!

 

Book Details

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 – available from: Amazon | Pink Door Fabrics | Fat Quarter Shop | The Quilting Company | Interweave (Affiliate Links).

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase those items through my links I will earn a very small commission. You will not pay more when buying a product through my link, in fact in some cases I can offer you a better price via an affiliate link. I will not recommend something that I do not use myself. These commissions help me keep being able to provide you with great content for free. Thank you, in advance for your support!