I finished this block on Groundhog Day, and a small part of me worried that when I woke up the next morning, it would be Groundhog Day again and I’d have to repeat the events of the day, including the last few seams on this block. When I got up this morning and dared to take a peek, though, the block was thankfully still assembled.
It’s been a busy couple of weeks, and this block has accompanied me to some of your more heinous waiting rooms, including but not limited to the passport office and the gynecologist. Thankfully I didn’t have to repeat any of those visits endlessly either.
When I first saw the pattern for this block, I thought those appliquéd petal shapes looked like Mickey Mouse ears, but now, in light of the recent holiday, I’m thinking they look more like groundhog ears. While Googling to confirm that groundhogs actually have ears (they do), I also learned that groundhogs and woodchucks are the same thing. They are good swimmers, they’re known to share their burrows with skunks, and there is no scientific evidence that woodchucks actually chuck wood. I’m not procrastinating on writing this blog article. Really.
The actual block construction was nothing too challenging (certainly simpler than staying on task and writing this article).
In the seemingly endless debate of whether to piece or appliqué first on these mixed technique blocks (it’s right up there with the great paper vs. plastic debate), this time I opted to piece first. That way I could make sure to get the points of the appliqué shapes right at the edge of the seams. After piecing the center diamond and the four red pieces surrounding it, I pinned the seams up out of the way so I wouldn’t accidentally sew the groundhog ears to the seam allowance.
On three of the four appliqué pieces, I changed up my appliqué technique, and I think I’m pleased with the results. For you appliqué enthusiasts who want all the gory details, I was still doing needle-turn appliqué, but I was turning the seam allowance under with my needle held farther away from the last stitch than I usually do. I think it made for less lumpy appliqué than my previous attempts. Who knew something as simple as that would make such a difference?
This light green fabric was a replacement I found for one of Paulette’s missing fabrics, and it was one of the tougher ones to replace. I’m still not super happy with it – it’s brighter than I would have liked – but I’ve decided to just embrace it. Maybe, like the Victorian Camo, it’ll blend well when it’s mixed in with all the other blocks.
This particular light green color, which I’ve been referring to as “dirty sage”, may have been popular 15+ years ago when Paulette was originally assembling the fabrics for this quilt, but it sure is hard to find in this day and age. I guess that would be one advantage of being in a Groundhog Day loop – the available fabrics would never change, even if it took you years to complete the project. I still live in fear that I’m going to run out of the main red fabric, with no hope of finding more to complete the quilt.
Despite the worry about fabric shortages, I’m glad we’ve moved on to February 3rd. The beauty of a sampler quilt is that you only make each block one time, and I’m excited to move on to the next one.