Celtic Knot

This is another block from the New Sampler Quilt book and has been sat about on my coffee table, half sewn, for weeks.  Last night I finished the hand sewing and this morning I put the borders on, so its now complete.

Its a celtic knot with a contrast fabric underneath it.  The design is traced onto the printed fabric then cut around and the medallion of printed fabric is placed centrally on the background block, tacked into place and then the bias strips are added.  I must admit I did cut my own bias strips but they went a bit wrong so I took the easy way out, and used Clover Iron On Bias stripping which comes on a roll and is very easy to use. 

The entire design must be pinned into place all in one go when using the sticky bias whereas you might do a section at a time with more traditional bias.  The overs and unders must be alternated, so I had to pin the entire thing in place, then fuse it all down a section at a time.  However, once that is done, all I had to do was sit quietly and sew both sides of the bias stripping down all the way around the design. 

I was absolutely determined to use this particular print in this block but the scrap I had left over was not wide enough and was an odd shape as I'd previously cut the collar of a polo shirt from it.  So I had to do some creative cutting and seaming.  It does show a bit if you look closely since I couldn't match the print properly, but is worth it to have the fabulous print showcased and I think the knot itself distracts from the seam. What do you think? 

I think this is one of my favourite blocks.... and I almost didn't make it at all as it looked way too complicated.  I was persuaded that it wasn't and am glad I put in the effort to make it.