SAHRR Round 4 Show Off Our Curves and Another Publication

Round 4 came from Wendy of Pieceful Thoughts. She asked us to show off our curves. I've had lots of fun over the years with improv curves, and a cool method that uses the bias to make fancy curves, but would you believe I've never made a traditional curves block à la Drunkard's Path? Out came the Betty Crockerass curves templates! 

Another one of the many things I love about Project Quilting and SAHRR is the challenges and prompts that push me to make the time to try something I've always wanted to try. I've done bajillions of set-in sleeves over the years along with the improv curves, so doing this block was actually really easy. Here is where my SAHRR sits right now.

I knew I'd incorporate the floral trellis fabric in one or two future rounds after using it to join the four centre blocks. This seemed like a good place to do that, so I cut a few quarter circles using Jen's 3.5" templates and set them on the design wall in a couple of potential places, settling on the four corners.

I hit up the 'under half yard' plastic drawers for a purple upon which to set these, and chose this Northcott one I'd used in one of Cheryl's mystery quilts. It's a little on the berry side of purple and works as a medium to counter the light and dark used in round 3. Because there is now only 11" x 21" left, I've decided not to fill in the sides until we get the round 5 prompt. I may do it along the sides, or I may not!

When I checked the Swiss cheese leftover butterfly fabric to see it there was a butterfly I could centre in a half circle above the four from the previous round, I found the brown ones, not my first or preferred choice, but the only ones with enough fabric surrounding them to cut out a half circle. It was easy to use the centre of the butterfly body to align the quarter circle template, flip it and cut the half circle in one fell swoop.😉

Here's a chuckle for you: when I cut the concave curve out of the purple, I admired the two purple pieces, another half circle (convex) and the concave circle. I thought, What am I going to do with the leftover? I could maybe get a 2.5" square... So I picked up my rotary cutter, and cut the concave circle into two crumbs. As I dropped the discarded bits from cutting the crumbs into my scraps bag I give to a friend, my heart DROPPED. I was supposed to cut the purple half (convex) circle, not the concave one! Ugh! So I cut another, and now have two convex purple circles left over.

The reason I've just done the one brown butterfly is that it hit me after I cut it that it would look weird to have them all pointing away from the centre when the four purple butterflies are all pointing upwards. And no, they won't fit within a half circle oriented any other way. Two of each set of three quarter circles has been sewn together (could've done a half in retrospect there) for when I add the top and bottom borders to the side borders. Now I wait for round 5 prompt! Right now with this border it's 41 1/8" square. I haven't made up that weird measurement with a coping strip just yet.

In other fun news, Lisa Ruble Quilty Zest asked me a few months ago if I would like to submit a plus block for the issue of Benartex Designer Fabrics’ magazine, Fat Quarterly, for the issue out at QuiltCon.

Here is my block, a signature shadow one☺️

Here is the link with information about the magazine and how to subscribe. Will there be a quilt pattern with this block? There will be! Longtime followers might even recognize it.