Busy, Busy, Busy!

I've been so busy here lately that I haven't had time to post or to read your blogs!  I've missed you!  You have become such a part of my daily routine that I feel "off" when I can't get my daily dose!  I have let so many things slide around here, I had to get things in order before I start the next project.  Yesterday, I cleaned the house, cleaned my sewing room (I had fabrics from the last 4 projects still out!), groomed the Scotties (poor puppies, we were calling them Shaggy Maggie and Fuzzy Fergus!), did laundry, ran errands,...you know the drill!  All those boring, not fun things that unfortunately have to be done!

For our local shop hop, there is a challenge contest.  This year's fabric was an unusual one; it really was a challenge!  I also challenged myself in that I did a block I have never done before.  I saw a picture of an antique block that was a non-typical Dresden plate design.  I knew as soon as I saw it that I wanted to try it.  Here's the antique block:



I drew it out to get the size I needed.  Actually had to do some math.  Or rather my husband did!  At first I thought I could just fold the paper over and over to get the lines, but that was not the case.  When I mentioned it to Tony, he said I needed 18 degree angles.  A circle is 360 degrees; I needed 20 petals; 360 divided by 20 is 18 degrees.  Gosh, like I told my son in school, you do need math in everyday life!  I needed a protractor to get the right angle.  We use to have several protractors around the house when we homeschooled, but I got rid of them when our son graduated.  Who knew I would need them again!  But, did you know, you can print a protractor off the internet?!!  Once I had the right angles, drawing it out was easy.  I used a small drinking glass to get the curve of the petals.

I made a sample block out of Christmas fabrics to make sure I could put it together right. 

I realized I didn't like the way the center turned out so I redid the drawing of the center.

This is how my challenge block turned out.  The black and white fabric is the challenge fabric.

My Christmas block's lines matched up better than the challenge block.  Whenever I do this block again, I need to be more careful with how my lines match up.  I'll need to block it out to make sure my lines go straight across.  I wonder if I stretched it while pressing?  I didn't have time to redo the block for the challenge, so I turned it in "as is".  The important thing is this year all the challenge blocks are put into quilts for two children's charities. 

Today, I'm cutting out the next quilt!  Or at least, getting started on it!  It's another queen size!

LaDonna