Eye of the Cyclone

108 blocks
Fabric
Last night, I completed this Dear Jane block, C5 - Eye of the Cyclone. After spending so many hours on this block, it has really grown on me. I chose this fabric because I like the way it echoes the round shapes in this block. I used the same fabric for the basket block. It may not be evident to anyone but me but these are fussy cuts. I tried to align the curves of the basket weave print to one edges of each of the four outer piece.

Redraft
Brenda drafted this block differently from Jane. I chose to redraft the block to match Jane's construction. The seams that join ivory with ivory may become nice places to do some quilting whenever I get to that stage of this project.

Piecing
The block is entirely hand pieced. I made the central circle and then the four corner pieces. Next I joined all the corner pieces to create a square with a circular opening. This is when I attempted applique -- and even reverse applique -- but it was not working, so I went back to hand piecing. It was slow going but it was worth it. The second photo was taken before all the pieces were trimmed.

Dead Center
I am very pleased with the way all the points meet in the center. The trick is tracing all the pieces onto the fabric and being sure to make a dot at every corner, and then, when you begin or end a seam, making sure all the dots line up. That also means that if more than one dot meets in the same place, to be sure to carry the thread through from dot to dot to dot. Another trick is to stitch up to the dot and then finish off your thread -- do not stitch into the seam allowance. That allows all the seams to swirl around the center and I think that helps wtih the sharp points at the center. This is one of the reasons I love hand piecing. I pressed the seam allowance from that large circular seam, toward the center. That meant, no clipping was needed on that seam.