The 8th of my 9 Farmer’s Wife blocks, and another tricky one. I’m just not used to triangle / kite / diamond-type things! This time I starched the fabric before drawing round the templates, I found otherwise the pencil was pulling on the fabric too much and it was hard to get it right, especially at the corners. When making the eight individual segments there were some pieces that just wouldn’t line up properly, usually the burgundy ones on the pieces made of three parts. I couldn’t see why just by sight, but making new pieces did the trick so there must have been an inaccuracy in drawing round the templates.

These are the two halves ready to be sewn together. Lots of excess bits of pointy fabric in the middle to negotiate. When sewing sections together it was hard to see how they were going to line up until they did: I do admire the farmer’s wife who designed this in the first place! (Though I’m sure it wasn’t unique to her, and I find it astonishing there were / are so many talented craftspeople out there).

I would have liked all the lines I’d drawn on the back to line up, but in this section (below) they haven’t, so I hope it will be okay when I come to sew on the sashing.

This is the finished item. Two shots, one indoors and one out to try and get the colour representation right (seeing as our landlords were away so I could photograph it on their patio, which we’re allowed to sit on in their absence). The one outside’s better for colour but casts quite a shadow at one edge. There is one point that doesn’t fit quite as neatly in the centre as I’d have liked, but with all those points to navigate I couldn’t do my usual and fiddle about with the fabric to get the needle in exactly the right place, so we’ll just have to live with it. By the time it’s quilted it probably won’t be too noticeable.

Moving on to put the pieces together so I could decide on colours for the last block was quite a challenge, but that’s for another post!