Good Day Sunshine!

Is there anything hotter than August in Florida?  Oh wait, I know the answer to that, August in Phoenix.  Been there.  It’s an oven.

But it’s REALLY hot here, too.  So I decided to use the Sun for my August block.

My Pinspiration was this sunflower block.

If you click on the Sunflower, it will take you to the Bloglovin’ post. No directions but there is a reference to a book that you can purchase that has the pattern.

I wanted this to have a fun look so for the center of the sun I used 12 different bold graphic designs–no flowers. I found these mini charms at the local quilt shop, Dot Dot Dash by Me and My Sister Designs for Moda Fabrics. You can buy the pack online at the Fat Quarter Shop.

Actually I didn’t use that one in the lower right hand corner. That was from a different mini charm pack and I decided it didn’t really have enough “fun” in it.

The other yellow print was a fat quarter from the same shop. The blue sky?  I have no idea where that came from.  It was in my stash of fabric and I used it for the windy month of March block and had just enough for this piece.

The mini-charms are 2 1/4″ and after I washed them they were about 2″ so I based this block on that size.  I know, those of you out there that sew are saying, “You aren’t supposed to wash those before using!”. I’ve read that on numerous blogs. I don’t care. Any fabric that says it’s washable, gets thrown into the washer as soon as it comes in the house. And I always know that everything in my stash is washed.

And here are the instructions!

Good Day Sunshine Block

Cut:

16  2″ squares from different shades of yellow and orange (That’s the mini-charm pack)

4   6 1/2″ x 2″ yellow strips

8   2 1/2″ blue squares

8   2 1/2″ yellow squares

4   3 1/2″  x 2″ blue rectangles

2    2″ x 2″ blue squares

2    5″ x 2″ blue rectangles

2    3 3/4″ x  12 1/2″ blue rectangles

2    3 3/4″ x 19″ blue rectangles

2    12 1/2″ x 3 3/4″ blue rectangles

2    19″ x 3 3/4″ blue rectangles

Sew the 2″ squares together into a block of 4 x 4 rows.

Put a yellow strip on the top and the bottom of the middle block.

Take all the 2 1/2″ squares. Put a blue one on top of a yellow one and draw a line diagonally. Sew 1/4″ on either side of the diagonal. Cut on the line, press squares open, and trim to 2″.  You should now have 16 blue/yellow 2″squares.

Put a blue/yellow square on each end of the remaining two yellow strips. Make sure they are going in the correct direction.

Sew the strips onto the sides of the block.

Sew three of the blue/yellow squares together then put one 2″ blue square on one end and one 3 1/2″ x 2″ rectangle on the other for each side.  Again, double check which way those blue/yellow squares are aligned.

Do the last two sides. Sew the three blue/yellow squares together then put a 3 1/2″ x 2″ blue rectangle on one end and a 5″ x 2″ rectangle on the other.

Add the 12 1/2″ x 3 3/4″ strips to the top and bottom then add the 19″ x 3 3/4″ strips to the sides.

Pin Baste.

Quilt.

WOW! It’s almost a quilt!

Look how happy Piper is that I finally finished all 12 blocks!

All the blocks are done.  Next month I’ll share how I put them together!