Sunshiny Day Quilt

It's always a great sense of accomplishment when you finish a quilt, often tinged with a little sadness knowing the journey is over. I definitely feel this way about my Sunshiny Day Quilt which was completed yesterday.

I'm incredibly grateful Jodi (Tales of Cloth) approached me about being one of her volunteers to stitch some blocks prior to the release of this quilt, her club/quilt-along for this year. I'm also pleased she is happy for people to add their own twist to her designs. The original pattern has 48 blocks and no borders. As you can see, mine has only 25 blocks and a fun border.

This is my first ever quilt with circles, yet there are NO curves to stitch! Each block is hand stitched using English Paper Piecing (EPP), then appliquéd by hand onto a background square, with the squares later being machine sewn into a quilt top. A wonderful combination - all the fun of creating EPP blocks, without the arduous task of stitching them together. Not only that, but this quilt includes three slightly different circle patterns - Dawn, Noon and Dusk, allowing for even more possibilities.

I chose fabrics from my collection which met my 'sunshiny' criteria, aiming for a quilt to give a little sunshine every time I look at it. Early in the year I settled on a border option, so I made a start and cut fabrics for these 2" eight point diamonds and 2" half-square triangles. The border stitching was perfect for those times when I needed a more portable option and didn't want to be making lots of fabric choices.

Lustrous silk thread in sapphire blue (Gutermann R 753 silk, colour 960) was my choice for hand quilting around each circle and little square, as well as one internal 'star' row of stitching inside each circle block. At this point I decided the centres of the Dawn and Noon blocks needed some definition. I used any colour matching fine thread, making tiny stitches along the seam line to be 'invisible'.

Eventually I settled on Perle 8 cotton in a deeper golden shade (DMC 741) to hand quilt the borders. This is a thicker thread than I usually use (often a Sulky 12 wt) however I thoroughly enjoyed the stitching and the effect. I can see more Perle 8 in my future!

 

I do believe Sunshiny Day is my favourite quilt ever - and my husband's also. Another great design by Jodi Godfrey of Tales of Cloth. Remember, her original varies from this - it has 48 blocks and no border. My background squares are slightly larger too. Jodi has mentioned the possibility of releasing her Sunshiny Day Quilt as a kit/pattern in late November this year - I would highly recommend it.

PS If you look closely you will see the same fabric in my centre block used for the mini corner circles and the backing. You may also notice a little 'cross' of four sunflower blocks and other minor features to keep one looking 😊🌻🌞

Quilt Details

Sunshiny Day Quilt 

Designed by Jodi Godfrey - with my alterations as mentioned above

54"/137cm Square

Started November 2020

Completed August 2021

Legacy natural cotton wadding with scrim