Happy Days BOM - Finishing Month 4 and Month 5

In May, I left you hanging with my unfinished Hawaiian applique block from Month 4 of Sarah Fielke's Happy Days BOM.

I was very slow sewing this block and there are quite a few angles in them there curves but from a distance it's a passable first effort at Hawaiian appliqué.  Not sure I could ever have the patience for one of those large Hawaiian appliqué quilts but I wouldn't be put off the odd block here and there as it wasn't really as scary as I had thought initially.

In Month 5 Sarah introduced a dresden plate block (Block 6) alongside another appliqué block.  It wasn't my first attempt at a whole dresden circle but it has been my most successful-ish.

I say -ish because I had a little drama in my making of this block.  When all 20 of my petal were stitched together they didn't quite meet up.  See that gap?  Ahem!  I checked my seam allowances, re-read the pattern, scratched my head and felt my lower lip wobble like Gretel from The Sound of Music.  I had carved out precious time to sew that day and I'd gotten it so horribly wrong!!

But I stiffened my upper lip and, determined not to have to start again from scratch or to bin this pretty partial circle, I puzzled my puzzler, laid a ruler on top of the dresden-so-far and discovered that although it didn't have the require 5 petals per quarter, 6 petals were fitting a quarter perfectly.  Phew!  Bacon saved or what?!

So, I unpicked just enough seams to add in another coloured petal to each quarter (4 in total) and hey presto - one dresden flower, just not as originally intended.

It has 24 petals instead of the regulation 20, they probably result in a bigger flower overall and I had to re-cut my centre circle to fit the new plan.  But hey, I didn't have to waste the afternoon's sewing and my flower petal points will just about survive the quarter inch seam of the block when it's stitched in to the quilt eventually.  Job's a good'un! And, just in case you were wondering, turns out I must not have scaled my templates properly when printing - doh!

Block 9 is some hexagon flowers on a circular wreath.  All nice and straightforward really.  This photograph makes the fabric choices look a bit washed out, but they are better in real life, honest.  Not sure if choosing those two patterned prints for the flowers was the best decision though.  Maybe they're a bit busy?

Well, that allows me to tick off Month 5's blocks. Months 6 and 7 are waiting in the wings for a little attention - hopefully soon. I really don't want to fall any further behind, especially as I have my eye on some new sew-a-longs coming soon - *cheesy grin*


Sarah x