Blocks with Curves

One of the "bees" I belong to is having a traveling box activity.  Each person has put fabric and a journal outlining her theme into the box.  The box is passed once a month and whoever gets the box makes a block and an entry in the journal.  (That's it in a nutshell.)

This month, the box I received was filled with beautiful batiks in purples, blues and aquas.  The owner wanted CURVES!  I took two squares, layered them, made gentle layered cuts and then pieced them back together (oops, looks like she's getting two blocks from me!

I decided to add some circles to the blocks.  I don't like fused applique, so I went looking for items of various sizes in the kitchen and craft area to trace different size circles on freezer paper.

I iron the shiny side of the freezer paper to the back of the fabric, cut out a scant quarter inch beyond the cut paper shape, carefully fold the fabric to the back side and baste.  Yes, it's time consuming, but it gets good results.  (If you're always in a big hurry, maybe quilting is not the sport for you).

I appliqued three circles on each block, removed the basting, cut out the area behind the circle and took the paper out.  Here are my two blocks, finished and trimmed to 12 1/2 inches.