Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt Along - Tracy # 97

I'm excited to share my second block (Tracy # 97) for Angie (GnomeAngel) and Fat Quarter Shop's Farmer's Wife QAL. I decided to paper piece this Tracy block because of all the smaller pieces. I know a few of the bloggers have already done some paper piecing tutorials so I am just going to share some tricks I have figured out along the way. If you are new to paper piecing, you can check out Angie's Tracy post in the which she has linked up many of the bloggers that shared full paper piecing tutorials.

When working with any paper piecing project that has numerous pieces, color code the pieces to keep things straight while sewing. It's even better if you color code it so the colors match the fabrics you are using.
I leave a little extra paper around the edge so in my mind, I need extra fabric. This ensures I'll have enough fabric for the actual seam allowance.

Some pieces don't always go beyond the edge, especially when trying to fussy cut a specific design. As long as you have enough for the seam allowance, it's ok. 

I don't trim up every block until I know for sure that each fabric placement is correct. Even then, I only trim up one section at a time.

Sometimes it's really easy to line every piece up. Below you can see the straight edge lines up in the front, to the line behind it, and the angle on the right lines up too.

When they don't line up visually, I use a pin to connect the point on the front to the point on the back.

This is the back side.

It also works for joining points.

The pin should meet with both points.

When it's all done, the majority of your points will line up. Somehow I still had 2 a little off in my center square, not sure how or why - but it happens. And it's ok. I'll enjoy all of the others that did line up. The more you work at it, the easier it gets.

Thanks so much for visiting. I hope you learned a few tricks to put your paper piecing blocks together. If you want to check out my other Farmer's Wife block post, you can check out Malvina here. Sign up below for my emails to get info about new patterns, new dies, future sales and other fun stuff. The first one is coming soon...don't miss out on the first bit of giddy goodness and find me @kidgiddy on Instagram for all my daily happenings.

If you want to join in on the fun, you can find Angie's Malvina tutorial on her website Gnome Angel, as well as grainline tips from Marti on her blog. You can get the book and all your fabric needs from The Fat Quarter Shop (Angie got to put together a big Farmer's Wife fabric bundle just for this sew along), and the Marti Michell templates from Marti's website! 

Disclaimer: Because I am a blogger in this quilt-a-long, I graciously received a copy of the Farmer's Wife book and gift card from the Fat Quarter shop (yes I picked up more Cotton and Steel fabrics for my quilt) as well as a full set of templates from Marti Michell. The links above are not affiliate links - because my state won't allow that. The opinions as always, as well as the tutorial and photos, are all my own.