I was so excited when Kerry first mentioned that she was planning to run a sew-along for this quilt. I already had my copy of the book and was dreaming of starting yet another project.
I have the original Farmer's Wife book and made about 25 blocks (I think) before I decided I wasn't overly pleased with my choice of fabric and they got stuffed in a box when I moved on to something else.
This time I thought carefully about my fabric selection and decided to stick close to the style of the book and use 1930s reproduction fabric along with a few sweet prints thrown in. I also decided that I would English paper piece my blocks this time. Partly because I love EPP but also because that's about all I have time for sewing-wise these days. I can pick up my EPP and stitch for 10 minutes when I get a rare quiet moment
I've been printing out the block diagrams at full size on standard printing paper and simply cutting out the shapes as accurately as I can. My top tip is to write the colour of the fabric that you plan to use on each little shape. This helps me keep the right colours in the right place and the right way round when I'm making the blocks. I've been glue basting my pieces so far and it's working a treat!
The Belle block is a very simple block to EPP. It only has 12 pieces and some of those pieces are a great size for a few fussy cuts to show off your favourite prints. Using EPP means you don't need to worry about the Y-seam. The block comes together really quickly
I chose a Moda 30's Playtime print in blue and one of my favourite prints from Milk, Sugar & Flower by Elea Lutz for Penny Rose Fabrics. I love those sweet little bunnies and kitties!
You can see the gorgeous blocks that the others are making for the quilt along on Instagram by using the hashtag #fw1930sqal and #belleblock you can also use Fat Quarter Shop's hastags #fw13Belle. I'm @FionaPoppyMakes on instagram. Check out Kerry's beautiful Betty block and her version of Belle on her blog.
Fiona x
