Broken Dishes: Blogging from A to Z

I've dabbled in quilting almost all of my life, but haven't finished many projects, so this month I'm trying to finish a few new blocks that I've never before attempted. Most recently I put together a Broken Dishes block:

Broken Dishes Quilt Block

This is the first of the new quilt block samples that I will be sewing this month as part of my blogging from A to Z challenge.   I don't have a huge stash of quilting fabric, but I do have a few things in the store room, so I shouldn't have to go out and buy anything new.  I really love this blue floral print, and this white on white.  They're two of my favorite fabrics from my stash, so I've chosen them for this first block. 

This Broken Dishes square is made up of  16 half-square triangles.  In the quilting class that I took several years ago, the teacher gave us a paper template for sewing and cutting multiple half square triangles at a time.  I messed up my markings the first time, so will save that fabric swatch for something different.

 I was able to successfully sew and cut out my 16 half square triangles on the second try.  Here are two of them. They aren't perfect, but . . . what can I say. I did square them up a bit, but if I strived for perfection, I'd never finish anything!  The next step was to arrange the squares into the broken dishes pattern and sew them into strips:

Not too bad, if I do say so.   And here again is the finished quilt block:

Of course, the broken dishes quilt square doesn't need to be done in just two colors.  This is just the way that I chose to put it together.  Most of the squares that I've seen have been done in many colors.  For more ideas on different fun combinations of this square go to bing.com: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Broken+Dishes+Quilt+Block&FORM=RESTAB

Did you know that there is also a book with the title of Broken Dishes?

Broken Dishes by Earlene Fowler is book number 11 in her Benni Harper Mystery series.  I have loved the Benni Harper mysteries, and think I have read them all.  You can read about Broken Dishes at goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/275812.Broken_Dishes.

But you really should probably start out by reading the first book in series, Fool's Puzzle.  I think that there are 15 books in the series, but  Earlene Fowler has also written and published several other books that I love, including a book of quilt patterns that includes snippets of back story about Benni Harper that aren't included in the other books.

I've loved browsing this book, but probably won't be making any of these quilts any time soon, as I think they are a bit above my skill level at present.  So, if you like reading and you like quilting or even just looking at fantastic quilts, you just might like reading Benni Harper's books.