It’s March, so clearly it must be time for November in the SugarBlock Club! There are only two more main blocks after this so with these blocks it feels as if I’ve turned a corner and I’m finally on the home stretch.
When I ran races (many years ago now; pre-children and mostly pre-marriage) I would plod along at the end, certain that I was pushing myself as hard as I could go, and then we’d turn the corner and see the finish and my brain would spot that finish line, send the clear and certain message around the rest of me, “Get there and we can stop” and I’d take off, entirely without conscious thought of a final push. I could see where I’d get to sit down and I was going to get to sitting down as fast as possible. I’m not sure I could claim to have sprint finished a marathon, because nothing I do could ever seriously have been called a sprint, but it was fast for me (and is possibly why I hold the family PB for both half and full marathon despite John being a much much much better runner!).
It’s the same for my quilting, or knitting, or any other project; when the end is in sight it’s all I want to work on until it’s done, and so it’s proving with this quilt. Watch out for December coming soon.
But first, November, and Dresden plates.
I have made a Dresden plate block before as part of a sampler quilt, and if I’m remembering it rightly it was pieced together, curved seams and all, rather than the plate block appliqued onto a base. The Hello Sunshine block uses the applique method, and some clever fabric origami to boot, and it’s definitely the simpler of the two.
The rays of sunshine are made from wedge shapes, folded in half lengthways, sewn across the top, and then folded out to reveal a pointy ray. You end up with a beautifully crisp point and perfect edges on the point and raw edges down the sides and across the bottom which you sew together to make the quarter circle and then applique on to a base block. It was one of those bits of sewing whiztrickery that make you feel very very clever.
I joined the lower edge with a zig-zag on the machine, but to keep the crispness of the points I hand stitched them down, and found it a lovely change to do a little hand stitching and watch it all come together.
Two very similar blocks; you can start to see that I’m running out of original fabric that has any large pieces left but as I’ve decided to do two quilts I’m not bothered if they’re slightly more matching on this block than on some of the others.
And with two finished it was actually really hard not to press on and make more. I love this block, and I know I’ve said that about at least half the blocks in the club, (sign of a really good club), but this is one I could seriously see myself making a quilt’s worth. Not perhaps to do big Dresden circles, though that could look amazing, but even with two blocks, the side of the bookcase and some washi tape you can see the fun you can get up to in setting them at odds.
The possibilities are vast, and if I ever make even half the quilts I have planned it will be quite the achievement.
Joining Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday and Frontier Dreams for Keep Calm, Craft On