Block #2 for me is the first block in the Dear Jane Stitch Along, in Facebook. The plan in this group is to do one block per week, for three years. I plan to catch up with the group, and follow along, while completing other blocks to fill out my weeks. This is the centre block of the quilt, and anchors a nineteenth-century version of “Trip Around the World”. I don’t know if I will stick to this colour plan, but I found this lovely green, to remind me of spring!

The videos created by @JayneStitches are detailed and easy-to-follow, and allowed me to confidently tackle this complex block. And the printed instructions were a perfect complement to the files from EQ8. Here are the instructions with my centre circle in process:

I followed the Facebook group instructions for the first two steps, but then used the Foundation Paper Piecing page from EQ8 to do the cross strips:

I had a lot of fun with this one!

Successes:

• Combining applique with FPP worked very well
• Use of Best Press to fix edges made the needle-turn applique easy and precise
• I can put my blocks away, and still see how the quilt is going, through the use of the Progress Chart in EQ8

Challenges:

• There were remarkably few challenges with this block, despite my trepidation!

And here’s what the quilt looks like so far: