Amy Gibson Craftsy July blocks

So lovely to have time to sit and sew.

I have a number of projects to finish - well ok, I probably have hundreds of projects to finish and just as many waiting to be started .... BUT today I wanted to catch up with Amy's BOM.

So here are July blocks - Dresden Plates - I've never made these before, as I thought they would be hard.

I cut 20 'blades to make the first block. I was lucky that a few weeks ago I ordered from Missouri Quilts a Dresden Plate template, and it worked so well.

I started by folding each blade and stitching along the top. 

I  then turned each blade the right way to make a point at the top. Amy suggested starching, and I didn't but they still turned out fine.

I laid out all the blades and rearranged to make a pleasing pattern.

Then proceeded to sew each pair together, then each sewn pair to another. 

I then centred the sewn blocks on the background fabric and appliquéd them on.

I used a straight stitch with purple thread.

I pinned the inside of the 'plate' to keep it in place while I made the centre.

I sewed two circles together, nicked around the edge, slit one side and turned the piece inside out. 

This will give me a clear finished edge for the centre.

 Now for block 2.

 This is in two colours and each blade has a flat edge.

 When sewing, each outside edge needs to be matched perfectly.

It doesn't matter that the inside edge is not matching as it will be covered by the centre.

To make the edge of the plate easier to appliqué, another circle of material is sewn, with right sides together and nicked and turned the same as the centre.  

This was then sewn onto the background block.

Finished July Block 1

Close up of centre.

Finished July Block 2

I had fun with these blocks. Dresden Plate was not hard, and I will make it again, especially block two. I really like the way it pops out.

 Off now to do August Blocks :-)

Happy sewing