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| Ever since I got Sujata Shah's great book, I have been wanted to try her windmills pattern. I love everything about it - the free-cut shapes, the colors, and the windmill inspiration. My grandparents lived on a farm, and I grew up in a small town, so windmills are a part of my past. Very nostalgic. |
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| Sujata's book. |
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| Look at all of these yummy colors! As a birthday gift (thank you honey!), I got a "grab bag" of Cherrywood Fabrics' hand-dyed scraps. Their fabrics have a unique, sueded texture, in addition to the gorgeous, rich, yummy colors. Perfect for my windmill blocks! |
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| Sujata has us choose 4 fabrics, of contrasting values. So I chose a bunch of "quartets" of fabrics - sort of like auditioning voices for a choir, isn't it? |
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| First windmill vane block, cut. This is four layers of fabric - a quartet - all 4 cut at once, with a ruler, but in gentle curves. It is quite easy actually! |
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| Then - you take the top-most center piece - the vane - and shuffle it to the bottom of the stack. Now the pieces are ready to sew. I kept these pieces right next to my sewing machine, which made piecing easy as pie, following Sujata's directions. The curved piecing is easy. No pressing until the piecing is done - her tip - which also makes the piecing quicker! |
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| First block, done! Not sewn together, just arranged - I was anxious to see them together! The hand-dyeds fabrics work really well in this block! And the blocks pop out to easily, like popcorn - I can't wait to make more of them. |
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| Two blocks completed. Thank you Sujata for this great design! |
