Lily and I completed block 14 in the Little House on the Prairie Sew Along today. This is the last block for The Long Winter. At the beginning of the book, an Indian walked in the store in town where the men were congregating and warned them of a severe winter that would last 7 long months. The Indian wore a single Eagle feather. As Lily said, it’s a tiny part of the story but so important!
Our block is inspired by Anna Maria Horner’s beautiful feathers.
I want to answer a few sewalong questions today. Some people have asked about the templates and how to use them. I want to make the blocks in this sewalong work for children and beginning sewists. Often, with a block like this one, I would choose to paper piece. But paper piecing scares away beginners and I think that the concept of sewing a mirror image and through the paper is a big foreign for children. So, for blocks that cannot be easily pieced with cutting instructions alone (which do always include your seam allowance, fyi–that was another question I received), I thought that templates might work. They can be assembled in the normal manner, right sides together, 1/4″ seam, etc. but allow me to design some blocks that I couldn’t otherwise.
Sometimes, the templates have to be taped together. That’s the case this time. The taping together can often be the most annoying part-just think of it as a puzzle! Cut with your template facing up on the right side of your fabric. Rely on the diagram that prints with the template to figure out which piece is which.
Today I am going to give you the option of paper piecing since I know some more advanced quilters are also joining in. So, download whichever you prefer:
Eagle Feather Paper Piecing Pattern
We used the templates and they were ok but I had a hard time getting the top corner piece right so we just stitched on a larger piece and trimmed it down, squaring up the block while we were at it.
I didn’t include instructions with either because I think that as long as you lay things out you can figure out the sewing order. If you need more help though, just email.