Dashing Americana is a reimagination of the Churn Dash Block. This block is quickly assembled with strip piecing, half square triangles two at a time, and fused appliques. This was really a fun project from start to finish!
There are so many possibilities to learn when you focus on one block. For examples, the stripes are easy to put together, but you really need to watch your stitching to keep the lines straight. The half square triangles on the corners were easy enough to do. But I spent time to make sure they were trimmed so I would have sharp points.
The stars gave me an opportunity to play with my Cricut! It was so easy to load the fused fabric and let the machine do the cutting for me. I am working on a video for how to upload images and then be able to cut them with the Cricut. If you have trouble with cutting appliques, Cricut is worth the investment. Once the appliques were cut, I played with their arrangement on the field of blue. I did learn a lesson on this one. I should have though about my quilting before fusing. If I had drawn the rays before fusing, my placement would have been a little better. There is always room for improvement!
The stars quilted in the Half Square Triangles were great ruler work and echo practice. Meanwhile, I learned a few things about traveling while I was creating the ray in the center.
Here are some picture of the final product! It feels so good to complete it and not have a UFO in my stash.
If you are interested in making this quilt the pattern is available in my shop.
Happy Quilting!
Laureen