Happy Flower Quilt Along - Blocks 37-41

Welcome back for another installment of the Happy flower quilt along. Today I'm sharing my blocks 37 - 41, and a little step by step for the tricky basket block in block 39.I'm sewing along with our hosts Krystyne from Pretty by hand, Melissa from Oh how sweet, and Wynn of Zakka art, and we are slowly making the gorgeous flower quilt from Atsuko Matsuyama's book Happy Flower Quilts. We're breaking it down into two blocks a week, but you can pick this up anywhere anytime.

Block 37. I had a lot of fun with this, using up my yellow scraps, and limiting myself to only fussy cutting 3 of the triangles. There's only so much waste my heart can handle! I think all the different shades add a great overall look, and Melly & Me's green Fairground Fun add a great contrast.I actually really doubted myself before starting this, and cut it out to handsew together. That was not a good look, and several triangles in I decided that machine piecing would surely be easier...and it came together really fast and accurately. Whew!

Block 38. I went for an aqua and minty combo with the leaves, with one rogue yellow one. I tend to get a thing for the colours that I'm working with. It seems a shame to put them away so quickly.

Block 39.There are a few different ways to approach the assembly of this one, and I'll share mine.I thought it would be easier to applique the little basket handles on first. So using the freezer paper and starch method, I made my little handles. Then I cut a square larger than was needed, ruled a line down the centre diagonals, and appliqued the handle.

I then trimmed the square in half, and completed the half square triangle, trimming to fit the final measurements.

Here's a quarter of the block all laid out. I'd just like to point out that this makes 32 pieces total for this block...another big one!

I like to cut my triangles oversize, and trim everything down to fit. I also find squaring up as you go, without cutting off too much is a great trick to keeping a block like this square at the end, as you aren't magnifying any slight errors.I then sewed the squares with the triangles to the basket, trimmed again, then added the larger triangle. And trimmed up to make one quarter of the final block.

I was surprised how nice this looked at the end, as I felt that it was going to be far from ok, but the points ended up meeting, and it was square!

Block 40. I used lots of pink and green here, and liked the way it turned out.I was inclined to leave off the little extra bud, but in the end decided I was being lazy...

Block 41. Well this one looked really easy, and it really is, but in the interests of full disclosure, I managed to totally stuff it up lol. I'm easily lulled into complacent carelessness. I read one of the measurements wrong, and finished up with my block a full inch too small!I might have had a little tantrum, and declared I wasn't playing anymore...but I came back the next day with my priorities sorted out, and got it done. Sometimes you have to be tough with yourself!If you'd like to look back at my progress thus far...here's blocks 1-4, blocks 5-6, blocks 7-10, blocks 11-14, blocks 15-18, blocks 19-22, blocks 23-27 and blocks 33-36.