I have been a fan of sunflower-themed quilts since my earliest days as a quilter.
Although I've made several sunflower projects, my Bucket List plan was to make a traditional sunflower (or Russian Sunflower) quilt.
After seeing Cathy's Sunflowers quilt and later, Pat's Diamond Jubilee Sunflowers, I knew it was my turn to give this pattern a whirl.
I had planned to start making Sunflower blocks in January of 2021, but I got side-tracked by a batch of t-shirt quilts. Determined to get started in early 2022, I made time earlier this week to begin the process.
The pattern can be found in the 19th Century Patchwork Divas' Treasury of Quilts.
The pattern calls for 18 blocks set on point, which results in a 74" x 98" quilt. I don't need a quilt that large, so I'm only going to make 13 blocks.
The Patchwork Divas recommend using Marti Michell's Sunburst acrylic template set for accurate piecing.
I actually ordered the templates and made a practice block in December of 2020. Then the templates and practice block sat in the sewing room giving me pleading looks for a year!
I have been hoarding collecting French General fabrics for several years, so it seemed like a good idea to do a fabric pull from the stash.
This initial pull really makes me smile - it will be so much fun to cut into all these fabrics!
Last, but not least, I finished the first block! All the diamond and triangle shapes are machine-pieced, but the center circle is appliquéd using the back-basting technique.
The circle will eventually be appliquéd to a background square. This particular background looks great in person, but not so wonderful through the camera lens. I'll probably make all the circles first, then decide on different backgrounds for each.
