Sew Joy: Making Sun Shine

This post is a bit wordier than the last. I've had time to think and that usually makes me wordy! I'd love to know if you make a sun too!

Now, back to making Sun Shine. . .

I left off last post with making the rays. In this photo you can see how angles play a role in joining all the rays together. You can see between the ray with the polka dot background and the light coloured one at the top I put some different blue between them. Angles. Once you can think in a circle (!) sewing the angles together gets easier.

I didn't even think of paper piecing as I have a slight aversion to it. Over the weekend I spied Anita's liberated wedding ring block - which I believe she is paper piecing. So you can do it that way too.

I made sure not to 'force' my circle so it wouldn't pucker. In this photo you can see all the background pieces I added between rays. If I make another sun, I wouldn't trim the width of my rays until I was at the sewing together stage. I would have saved myself some work - and fabric!

I kept checking to make sure my circle was the right size for my centre to cover it after I sewed one each ray. It was also how I measured to see how many more rays I needed. No math involved - just lots of guessing! I did end up with an odd number of rays which is esthetically important (I think?!) I thought I would need 7, but ended up with 9 rays.

Then I needed to attach the centre. I put my pins in this way because I planned to use my sewing machine. Judy at Patchwork Times puts her pins in this way when she machine sews on her binding.{Click here for link to her video} I thought it was a good idea for attaching a circle because there are so many curves. In the end I blanket stitched the circle by hand because I wanted to use the thread you see above. I won it through Pat Sloan's blog and the Season of Grace BOM.

However the thread is too big to go through my sewing machine needle - and I was too impatient to see if another needle size would work or if I'm just not supposed to use this thread in the machine. So I did it by hand. . .

This is what the block looks like from the back. I only had a hard time stitching through all of the layers in a couple places where seams from the centre overlapped seams from the rays.

I measured the block and I should be able to add some more background and square it up to 12 1/2 inches.

What do you think should play with my sun in the sky?
Kites?
Birds?
A rainbow?

I'm not sure yet. This portion of the quilt will have to wait awhile. I have a few other projects to focus on now.

With Joy,
Sarah Vee