Jane A. Stickle Quilt row B: JAS-B07 – World Series

Before I started this block I thought: Oh no! A03 all over again! I was mistaken.

This is not an easy block though I found it a lot easier than A03 having learnt from the mistakes then. The melons are a bit larger so that helps too.

Still the most challenging part is placing the melons so you get a perfect circle at the end. If you look closely, my placement of the melons leans towards the right ever so slightly.

I decided to do regular needle turn appliqué because to get the points matching I find needle turn is the easiest method.

I got a couple more tips from Granny Maud’s Girl blog post on appliqué. The most important one is patience, take as much times as required to appliqué. And to avoid lines that aren’t smooth, particularly on curves, just spend some time with your needle massaging the fabric to remove any bumpy bits. It is possible to get smooth curves.

I traced the template on to freezer paper, ironed to the fabric and cut around leaving 1/4 in allowance.

I cut the square 1/4 inch larger all around, so 5 1/2 in square.

Then folded the square twice on the diagonal to find the middle.

I finger pressed around the freezer paper. This is something Granny Maud’s Girl does but she removes the paper afterwards. I left it in.

I also traced the circle using a compass.

To work out the circle size check out one of my A03 post.

So placement is the trickiest. I basted the shapes to start with but I had to unpick them because they weren’t matching after sewing.

So I went for pins only so I could reposition the melons easily until they were right.

I stitched around the outside first to make almost a perfect circle.

And then I continued with the inside curves.

I was quite happy by this stage.

The diamonds turned out to be easy too in spite of their small size.

Time to remove the freezer paper.

And trim off excess fabric.

And then I squared the block.

So here it is!

Where to get the Jane A. Stickle Quilt patterns

Susan Gatewood’s paper foundation . All patterns are free though Susan says “I only ask that you consider making a donation to the Bennington Museum, in Bennington, Vermont. And if you do, it would make me tremendously happy if you would tell them that you have received help from me.” I totally recommend Susan’s patterns as they are very easy to use.