Gypsy Wife QAL: March Blocks

I worked ahead on these – sewing them up in February.  I knew I’d be chained to quilting my Farmer’s Wife quilt in March. 

This month’s blocks were Pershing (main block) and more pinwheels and square within a square blocks (filler blocks).  Alhtough there are 7 blocks, you use some of the pinwheels for the center of the square in a square blocks, so there are really only 5 finished blocks when all is said and done. 

I decided to try and be a good blogger and take more process pictures.  Maybe they’ll help someone, as several of us have realized there aren’t step by step measurements.  That’s fine when your ¼” seams are perfect, but how many of us REALLY sew a perfect scant ¼” seam?  I know I don’t – I do pretty well, but I’m not perfect by any means. 

For that reason, I like to cut and kind of triangle block slightly larger and then trim to the perfect size after piecing.  With a block like Pershing and no step by step measurements, it’s not easy.  What to do? 

The answer lies in the points.  I needed to align on a straight edge and make sure I had my ¼” clearance on either edge of the points (plus a hair) and to ensure they wouldn’t get cut off when adding the next round of triangles and to keep my block square.  And then (of course) some careful sewing to make sure I didn’t cut off those points. 

It worked pretty well.  Then I got to the outermost edge.  There were a few mistakes in piecing this section.  Some stitch ripping.  Trying again, more stitch ripping, and finally a duh moment. 

In the end I persevered. 

Me likey. 

On to the filler blocks.  One economy block.
 

Those pinwheels were tiny!  I dug in my scrap jars for a few 2.5” squares to round out my block selections – I’m pretty sure that’s why I go to the trouble of cutting up my scraps and sorting into jars in the first place – so I can USE them easily. 

I pressed the seams to the side rather than open on these – just to try.  Not sure why I thought that was a good idea on a 2.5” pinwheel!  Lesson learned. 

I love the leopard print.  I need to use animal prints more. 

And now, back to Farmer’s Wife quilting.  54 blocks done, 74 blocks and a feather border to go . . .

For the full QAL schedule go here.

Awesome Flickr group with lots of gorgeous blocks – here

 

The QAL blog hop schedule with links to pretty blocks in blog form

(and prizes for those who link up their blocks) – here

 

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!