Zakka flower block | WOMBAT QUILTS

…is done. It took a lot of unpicking and sewing but it is finally finished.

This is one of the biggest quilt tops I have made, finishing at 70 inches x 85 inches. I was struggling a little to wrangle it through the sewing machine at the end.

I actually struggled quite a bit with finishing this top because in the cold and flu haze of a couple of weeks ago, I decided to take the paper off the blocks BEFORE I sashed them. Silly silly silly move.

It meant I had to unpick the sashing a couple of times to get the blocks to align properly. But half a ton of Best Press, a trip to the store to pick up more Kona Snow and lots and lots of pinning later I got it all done.

Zakka flower detail That just leaves making the back, basting and quilting to do… but I think I am going to take a break before I attempt the next steps. I need to get my head around dealing with a quilt this big… any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Last week, while I was cleaning up our very messy office/quilt fabric storage room I came across my large stash of Denyse Schmidt fabric. I have been hording Denyse’s fabric for a while, including the DS Quilts lines. I have not really used the fabric other than in bits and pieces in scrap quilts, but this week all that has changed.

All this week I have been making Denyse Schmidt Zakka flowers. I found this fabulous pattern in the book “Patchwork Please” and it just screamed to be made in my DS stash. So I have been making flowers all week… lots and lots of flowers.

During this process I have discovered:

1. I did not buy enough Flea Market Fancy – it is such a great line.

2. I did not start building my stash soon enough because some of the earlier lines are FABULOUS and missing from my collection – early Flea Market, Katie Jump Rope and Hope Valley in particular.

3. You must concentrate when paper piecing and not be distracted by your husband or you end up doing this…

So here is what a weeks worth of of Zakka flowers looks like…

And there are more to do. I have become a little obsessed with these beauties and have at least 5 more cut and ready to go. This pattern is proving to be the perfect showcase for my DS fabric stash.