I have such a sweet spot for bunnies that it seemed a shame not to include them in my Farmer’s Wife. This block provided just the opportunity and I had so much fun using 3 of my favourite designers in this block; Lizzy House, Alison Glass and Tula Pink. I love the movement that the angled rectangles provide, it almost reminds me of the movement of a pinwheel in the breeze.

 

Tutorial: Block #94 “Susannah”

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 A.
• 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: This tutorial shows how to use the From Marti Michell Patchwork Templates Set A to cut out the block pieces 94A. If you are not using the Mart Michell templates you will find the template for cutting this shape in the information included with your book.

1. You can do 2 methods for making the 94B blocks; you can cut out the squares individually (great for fussy cutting) or you can strip piece them. I’m going to show you the strip piecing method that is covered in the conversion charts. To do it this way you need to cut 1 strip of 2″ x 8″ for the fabric to be the blue squares and 1 strip of 2″ x 8″ fabric to be the dark pink squares.

2. Sew these two strips together down one of the longest sides, as pictured in diagram 2.

3. Cut the strip in to for 2″ segments (as pictures in diagram 3). These are your squares.

 

4. Cutting 94A with the From Marti Michell Patchwork Templates Set A: Choose the fabric you wish to use for piece 94A and cut 2 – 2″ x 6″ strips. (As pictured in diagram 4)

5. Stack these strips on top of each other, right sides (print) facing up on all pieces. Take the time to line the pieces up as accurately as possible. To cut your first shapes lining up the template on your stack of stripes as per diagram 5.

Pay careful attention to the direction of the template. I remembered the direction by thinking that the right angle corner was on the bottom of the strips on the left side. See diagram 5 for assistance. (Note: For the purposes of this tutorial I have put a pieces of what paper under my template so you can easily see it against the fabric.) Diagram 5a shows how the strips will look once cut.

 

6. Use the template to cut the remaining pieces. Pay careful attention to the direction of the template. I remembered the direction by thinking that the right angle corner was on the top of the strips on the right side. See diagram 6 for assistance. (Note: For the purposes of this tutorial I have put a pieces of what paper under my template so you can easily see it against the fabric.) Diagram 6a shows how the strips will look once cut.

7. Use your rotary cutter and ruler to cut all remaining 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 253. You can also use the cutting instructions on the conversion chart. I have used the From Marti Michell Patchwork Templates Set A and accompanying conversion chart to cut all my pieces for this block.

 

8. Join 94C to 94A as per diagram 8. This step can be chain pieced to make all 4 rectangle units that make up this block. Diagram 8 shows how to line up the engineered corners of your pieces if you’re using the From Marti Michell Patchwork Templates Set A templates to cut your pieces.

Tip: For this tutorial I’m going to be showing you how it would come together if you chain piece each step. You could chain piece the entire block if you feel comfortable doing so.

9. Join Unit A to Unit B (as per diagram 9a). This step can be chain pieced to make all 4 square units that make up this block.

10. Join Unit C to Unit D, join Unit E to Unit F (as per diagram 10a). This step can be chain pieced to make the 2 rows that make up this block.

11. Join the top row to the bottom row. Pay careful attention to lining up the middle seam (indicated by the arrow in diagram 8a).

Tip: It’s important at this point to pay attention to the angled seams to line up the middle triangles correctly. Take your time and if you need to unpick. (It took me 3 goes to get it to a point I was happy with!)

12. Rock on! You just made Susannah!

 

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).

Disclaimer: 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!