1930s Farmer's Wife Block #1 Addie

1930s Farmer's Wife Block #1, Addie

This is kind of confusing because Addie is Block #1 in the book, but I made the second block first so my first block is my second block.  Or something like that.  I should have taken my picture before I starched the snot out of my block because it looked better before I created those seam allowance ridges!  Maybe I should put a layer of batting under the blocks before I do the final starch and press next time to prevent that happening?  I know it will be fine after it's quilted and washed, but it's a bummer that it spoiled the photo. 

Anyway, I foundation paper pieced this block, using Sax plain newsprint this time.  It fed through my Epson printer without a hitch and was a lot easier to work with than the 29 pound vellum that I was using (due to ignorance) on the last block.

Lots of Sub Sections to the Addie Block

Thoughts on the process: I like the ease and accuracy of foundation paper piecing, and precutting my shapes with approximately 3/8" allowances on all sides does help me to align them more accurately for paper piecing.  The newsprint is nice and easy to work with.  However, I feel like I'm flying blind when it comes time to join block subsections together.  I know "they" say to leave the paper in place until the block is completed AND joined to your quilt sashing or to adjacent blocks, but I am being very careful to keep straight grain along the edges of my blocks and segments, just as I would if I were rotary cutting and piecing the block by the traditional method.  On my next block, I think I might like to try removing the paper from the completed sections before joining them together, so I can feel where the seam allowances nest and see that the fabric edges are perfectly aligned along the entire length of the seam.  Both of these blocks I've made so far are acceptable, but there are a couple of triangle points that could have been improved if I could have seen what I was sewing.  It's also difficult to pin those tricky intersections through seam allowances AND two sheets of newsprint; the pin and paper distort everything so it almost makes it worse.  I know some people baste those tricky joins by machine or by hand prior to stitching, so I could try that, too.

I should note that these blocks finish at 6", so the little green and pink/orange triangles are ITTY BITTY.  I am definitely seeing the accuracy advantage of FPP for this scale, especially as I look ahead to the next few blocks in the book that have many more pieces and some odd angles.

It has been an exhausting, emotionally draining week so I'm grateful that I snuck in enough odd moments of sewing time here and there to make a block this week.  Now what I really need is some exercise and a good night's sleep!  I'm linking up with Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.