I was up bright and early this morning, ready to start sewing the blocks together.  It all went without a hitch, but took several hours as I was being very careful.  It would be catastrophic to scorch a block, or make a slip with the rotary  cutter at this late stage.

But my diligence paid off, and the blocks are as square and flat as I could make them.

I love these sunflowers, they are so pretty, and there are many, many antique quilts using these blocks in amazing settings.  Once I get this set of pink and brown ones done I'll start another set.  I used the Marti Michell templates,

and it was very easy to churn out the rings.  Adding the background fabrics is what slowed me down on these.

I see I have still more sets of pieces to sew together...

One of my most favourite ever quilt books is A People and Their Quilts by John Rice Irwin.  If I could only ever have one quilt book, this would be it.  The quilts are beautiful, the stories are wonderful history, and the photos excellent.  No patterns, but I don't need patterns.

 I love this glimpse of a sunflower quilt, held by Mildred Locke. I must track down similar fabrics to make my own version; I can make the sunflower rings while I hunt around to find setting and border fabrics.

I knew I would love A People And Their Quilts when I read these words on the first page;

"I'd druther quilt than to eat on the hungriest day that ever I seen".

At the time I bought this book, very few people I knew quilted, and they regarded it as an amusing hobby.  I thought it was a way of life.  I felt an instant connection to Ethel Hall when I read her words, and I knew Mereth and I weren't alone in loving quilting so much.  The whole book is an affirmation that quilting is so much more than just cutting up fabric and sewing it back together.