First of all, thanks to everybody who helped me out on the colour scheme.  I’ve put in a monster order at equilter of these lovely Kona packs (in greens, blues, and warm tones)… there seemed to be general agreement that dark blues and some light yellows were the go.

Second… here is the first circular pattern I’ve ever drafted all by myself in EQ6.  It’s a miniature intertpretation of a block in an old signature quilt made for and by a young American lady.  Helen Hayes did a full sized machine pieced/machine quilted reproduction which you can see here (full quilt) and here (detail).  She did change the position of some blocks, but it’s a pretty close repro.

This was the first seriously difficult bit of appliqué I’ve done.  It’s also the second bit of appliqué I’ve done, period.  If I’d stopped to plan, I would have realised that the tiny tiny points on each of the small appliquéd orange pieces were way above my beginner skill level, and I should have modified them or read a book about appliqué first.  On the other hand, I’d already drafted it and I wanted to finish it.  Soon.  Plus, as my helpful resident masculine quilt advisor pointed out, real flowers aren’t symmetrical anyway!

Here it is, at last: by the way, the creases won’t survive hand quilting, so they aren’t a worry.

One thing that did go remarkably well was the piecing.  The angles seemed a bit dodgy (as you can see in the photo below), but it all went together quite easily.  Curves are getting easier. I followed some advice picked up from Alice on the Indiana Puzzle block: not stretching the fabric and keeping stitches small and relaxed.  This has helped enormously.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the stages of Block Nine.

Thanks to Anina over at Dear Baby Jane for the freezer paper appliqué technique!

Patches in this block: 26

Patches so far: 224