Sunrises and Project Synchronicity in June

Sunrise is the block we're making for the Block Lotto in June. It was inspired by a New York Beauty block I saw on Barbara Brackman's blog a while ago ... but morphed into a half-circle sun for the Lotto.

It can be made by paper foundation piecing the arc and adding the inner half circle and outer border by your favorite method for sewing those things on machine or ... you could choose to hand-piece it, as I did this block.

Hand-piecing is slower, but also relaxing, meditative and very accurate.  I am preparing another couple lotto blocks today and will begin slow-stitching them tonight.

For this block, I created actual size templates–I printed the templates onto card stock, then cut OFF the seam allowances–and used them to draw the exact shape onto the back of the fabrics.

I know that I'm easily amused, but I think it's fun to hand-stitch the arc: you start at the point of one of the half-rays and put it together in one long seam.  When you get to the end, you can continue to stitch, adding the background to the outside of the arc.

I don't actually use a thread long enough to do all that without a couple stops and starts, but it still has a nice rhythm to me.

If you like this 7 by 14-inch (finished size) block, you can read more (and download the templates you'll need to make it) on the Block Lotto here:

Summer Sunrise (Block) in June

(I'll be adding it to my Free Quilt Block Patterns page soon).

For more information on hand-piecing, I found this tutorial that covers the basics:

How to Hand Piece

Here's my hand pieced block again, next to one that was made on the machine.  Again, it's that easily amused thing, but I love how they came out perfectly matched.

After I finish with the lotto blocks, I'll be working on more for my mod-mod quilts.

Although this shape could be made in any color and could be seen as a sun, a flower or just an interesting spiky shape, I kind of like that the color for the Rainbow Scraps Challenge this month is YELLOW.

I'm joining Kathy's party for Slow Stitch Sunday and looking forward to an evening of