More of the Same (Sunflower Block)

I finished hand-piecing my second Sunflower block and setting it inside the (machine) pieced background this week.

The sunflower is 14 inches across.  The block is 18 inches square (finished size).

Tonight, I'll start cutting fabrics and slow stitching another Sunflower-inspired block in this series.

Stitching Slivers and Suspending Disbelief

I shared this work-in-progress photo on the Block Lotto earlier this week as an example of how sometimes, in life and quilting, we just have to trust the pattern (or path), suspend disbelief and carry on.

At this point, I had sewn together about three-quarters of the 64 "petals" and background pieces that will form the outer edge of the circle of my next sunflower block.

When the ring was complete, I added the slivers of green fabric that fit between each of the 32 petals. It felt like I was bringing order to the chaos ... but there was still no guarantee that when I was done, everything will fit, the block will lay nice and flat and the center of my sunflower will fit.

I think it helped that I started with a full-sized drawing.  I could see the exact size of those green slivers and decide they were do-able ... though whether *I* can stitch them accurately enough to have success with this block remained to be seen.

What seems a pretty simple pattern turns out to have 98 pieces–not counting the background frame that will be added if/when I successfully pieced this block.  Stay Tuned.


I'm linking to the WIP Wednesday party at Freshly Pieced and Esther's WOW (WIPS on Wednesday).

Sunshine on My Design Wall

There's probably some wordplay on the John Denver song, Sunshine on my Shoulders, thats eluding me ... but the Sunshine on my Design Wall today is making me pretty happy, too.

I blogged about the big block–the first block of my Summer of Sunflowers project– yesterday.  It is joined by the first 10 Broken Dishes blocks made from scrappy yellow Half-Square Triangles.   Yes, I did iron all 340 of the HSTs I made Friday night and have started putting them together.  

I started by making just one, then photographed it, uploaded it and converted it to black and white to see how sound my value judgement was with all these yellow fabrics.  As soon as I saw it on the screen, I immediately saw my goof (lower right corner), so before I went any further, I had to fix that. 

    

(original block, converted to gray scale, and the same block, rotated, with the corner fixed) 

It's interesting how, in color, I see good contrast in some of those light + bright combinations; when converted to gray scale, in some squares, there is little/no contrast.

I'm adding my link to Design Wall Monday.

My Summer of Sunflowers Project

As 21st Century quilters we are blessed to have a plethora of patterns,  tools and technology available to help us design and make quilts. So what I am doing with this stuff?

In January, when I had to come up with a replacement for a missing 12th block for a hand-pieced block of the month, I discovered the elegance of designing a block by hand, using a compass and a technique as easy as folding paper to divide an arc into even segments. I enjoyed the process so much, I knew I wanted to design more blocks this way ... and that's how I decided a summer project: 12 original blocks, pieced by hand, one each week throughout summer.

I started by making the quarter-circle template at the top, using the compass to draw arcs in 1-inch increments, then folding it half and in half again (and again) to create 16 equal segments. I used a rule to draw lines on the creases and then made copies of the template on which I started doodling and coloring block ideas.

Today, I'll be cutting the pieces for the block in the photo.  The sketch peeking through underneath is the proof of concept block I shared earlier this week.

Here is the pieced circle, front and back, before it was pressed and set into the background

   

The circle is 14 inches in diameter, so that even though there are a lot of pieces–67 in this block–they are large enough to be able to sew easily.  It just takes time ... but since I enjoy the process, it's enjoyable time.

Here's a close look at what that slow-stitching looks like.

The pieced donut shapes are sewn in a continuous line, zig-zagging up and down the triangles.  As a new triangle is added, each short seam is lined up and held in place with the threaded needle at one end and a pin at the other. I actually use small, short, designed-for appliqué pins, but the flower pin in the photo is easier to see.

I set the sunflower circle into the machine-pieced background using the 6-minute circle technique–exactly as in Marie's tutorial here:

Marie's Creative Space: Circle Tutorial

I'm joining the links for Slow Sunday Stitching and for the Handmade discussion of the month on the Block Lotto.

And here's my first completed Summer Sunflower block, one more time. I am not happy with the circle in the center ... since it's hand-stitched, it will be able to take apart and try again before the end of Summer.