Thursday 13 June 2013

Irish Puzzle Block

I have to say that this is probably the most complex quilt block I have ever made (to date). But it was really fun.
Irish Puzzle Quilt Block
 I will admit that it did end up a little wonky (i.e. not perfectly square), not quite the 12-1/2" I had planned, and a few other imperfections, but I'm still quite pleased with it.
I chose this block because of my Irish heritage. Now I just have to find a German one to go with it... (Irish father, German mother). :-) And I suppose I should throw in a Canadian one as well. 
I got the pattern from Jinny Beyer's book, The Quilter's Album of Blocks and Borders. It was first published by Ladies Art Company in 1898. It's the first quilt block I've drafted and will be one of the extra blocks I need for the Craftsy 2012 Block of the Month quilt in order to make it twin size. The 2012 BOM is the course where I learned the drafting skills and this is the first time I've put them to use. I also had to do Y-seams, which I learned how to do in the Craftsy 2013 BOM Class. I found the ones for this block a little trickier than the ones in the class, but they still turned out acceptably. Part of what made it tricky is that the seams around the centre medallion are all bias seams. Setting in that medallion was probably the most challenging part, otherwise, it's just all HSTs.
I really wish someone would invent a self-cleaning house so that I could have more time for quilting. I'd better go and get some of the house and yard work done. 

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