Let's Get This Party Started: FWQ Blocks

The entire time I was in Ottawa I was itching to get stitching.  You see, there was a box of fabric waiting for me at my parents house from The Fat Quarter Shop which a friend who lives in the States had kindly brought to me (shipping is significantly cheaper within the US so I had my Black Friday purchases sent to him).  Plus, as you know, I hit the local fabric shops up to add blues and greens to my stash for my Farmer's Wife Quilt.

I was thrilled to find an add-a-quarter ruler at Dragonfly Fabrics in Ottawa (I looked in four different stores before finding one).  I recently heard about this nifty tool in a paper piecing tutorial on YouTube. Unfortunately, I can't for the life of me remember whose tutorial it was!  The ruler has a ridge which you butt up against your folded paper after sewing a seam and it "adds a quarter" inch, so you always cut a perfect seam allowance. Brilliant!

I was able to get started today and completed two blocks. I'm paper piecing my blocks and so far I am loving this technique. It's so gratifying to have perfect points. I'm sure my blocks would be totally wonky if I was piecing these traditionally. My only complaint is that I think I'm wasting more fabric than necessary. Crafty Gemini's tutorial noted that this might be an issue, but she also said that this would improve with practice. Also, it's a bit fiddly, getting up from the machine to iron and trim each seam. I guess that's two complaints. Well, neither of them are deal breakers and I intended to paper piece that majority of my blocks.

I tackled block 41, Friendship Star first. The fabric used for the star is by Art Gallery Fabrics and is called Nature Elements, in blue green. The photo really doesn't do it justice. It's gorgeous. The other print is Dimples in Teal by Gail Kessler.

The next block I made is called Box and is block 9. I bought them fabrics at Sew For It. I tried to figure out the names and makes of the fabric but my cuts didn't have information on the selvedges. If you recognize them, let me know! 

So there we go. My Farmer's Wife Quilt is off to an auspicious start. What fun!

Oh, and would you look at that? It's midnight. Perfect timing for me to link up with Fabric Tuesday! Unless the linky party isn't set up yet...