This block has to be my absolute favourite. For one, it is a tribute to my country, India, on our Republic Day falling on 26th January. Secondly, it is designed by me, not based on any other quilt block that I have seen.

The Ashok Chakra, which is the inspiration for this block, is at the centre of India’s national flag. It is taken from the edicts of the great emperor Ashok, who ruled over almost the entire sub- continent, in the third century  B.C.  I quote from Wikipedia : The “Ashoka Chakra” … is the wheel of the law of dharma. Truth or satya, dharma or virtue ought to be the controlling principle of those who work under this flag. Again, the wheel denotes motion. There is death in stagnation. There is life in movement. India should no more resist change, it must move and go forward. The wheel represents the dynamism of a peaceful change.

 I tried to be true to the proportions of the Ashok Chakra on our flag. The block, a 15″ square set in an 18″ circle, is the tenth block in the Round the Year BOM quilt. It is surprisingly easy to piece the foundation paper piecing way, and assembly is also simple enough. (Except that you have to be really fond of hand appliqué to add those half circles using the method I employed!)

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 For the other block patterns, please go here.

The Chakra (Wheel)

As mentioned above, the block finishes at 18″ square with a 15″ inset circle.

I have used four shades of blue (coded 1, 6, 5, 4 from light to dark) and four contrasting colours ranging from yellow to orange ( coded 2, 8, 7 and 3 ) for the block in the Dusk colourway.

For this block, I have assembled the full circle and plan to appliqué it to the background. A background template is, therefore, not provided. The block is mainly paper pieced with some appliqué for the half circles. (You could fuse these if you have access to Heat ‘n Bond Red or equivalent; which case, do not cut fabric** for the half circles at this stage.)

Fabric Requirement

Printing Instructions

Please note that I revised the pattern template `naming’ after piecing my block. Don’t let the piece numbering on the pictures confuse you.

Print first two pages of the Instructions File for ready reference.

Print Paper piecing templates file at 100% (or actual size ) in portrait mode and cut out the templates.

You can decide if you wish to use  the **circle templates and print the file as and when you need it. .
I printed the 1″ circle templates on freezer paper.

If you are interested in English paper piecing or regular piecing for this block, I have also provided the option of individual templates in a separate file.

Piecing Instructions

Piece the inner ring templates A,B, C and D.

Make piles of the rectangles for the inner ring – all four shades of blue and two shades of the contrast fabric (light orange and gold) are used here. Reduce the stitch length on your sewing machine, so that the paper can be torn off easily once you are done.

The strips in the inner ring are ready at less than a ¼”. Fold the paper on the incoming seam and trim the seam allowance to slightly less than ¼”, before you join the next strip.

Piece the middle ring templates E, G. I. K. M. and O. Here, we will use the other two shades of the contrast fabric (deep orange and yellow) with the four shades of blue.

Again, trim the seams before you join the next rectangle.

Piece the outer ring templates F, H, J, L, N and P. It is possible to chain strip piece these, which is what I did.

Prepare the twenty four 1″ circles for appliqué. I must be a glutton for punishment, as I prepared the circles using the pulled thread method and appliquéd them by hand!

 

 

 

Applique the circles to outer edge of pieced wedges F, H, J, L, N and P referring to the colour design.

Note only half the circle is visible in the finished piece. Tack the circle to the edge of the corresponding template piece, such that the midpoint of the circle falls on the centre of the seam line at the outer edge of the piece. About ¼’ of the circle will stick out and beyond the template. Applique it in place using an invisible stitch.

I love to hand appliqué so I really enjoyed my afternoon doing this step!

You could possibly machine appliqué the circles, if you are confident about getting such a small circle right by machine. You could also fuse one inch fabric circles in place if you have access to double sided fusing like Heat ‘n Bond (Red) or equivalent.

Or you could even omit the half circles altogether!

Arrange everything in order of assembly and gloat!!!

Assembly Instructions

Refer to the Master Template given here to assemble the block. Note it is a mirror image, and shows the block as it would look from the printed paper side.

Join E to F; G to H, I to J, K to L, M to N and O to P. ( The half circle should match the colour of the adjoining outer ring piece). I experimented with several methods to see what works best. The last method was the easiest and worked best!

First, I trimmed the seam allowance on the paper templates F, H, J, L N and P. I left the half circle on corresponding untrimmed and pinned the first pair at every possible point! (Do not attempt this, it added no value).

The paper kept getting in the way, so I removed it for the next pair. The pinning was the same and the circles were left intact. The circles got in the way of aligning the edges of the pieced templates – not recommended.

I trimmed the circles to the template edge…

…pinned and sewed another pair together.

Finally, I used just 5 pins, one each on the corners and three to match the seams. The seams abut against each other and join beautifully, without any additional pins. That is the one I did not take a picture of :-p. This gave me the smoothest curve! And this is what I recommend – trim the circles to the template edge, remove paper from outer ring templates and pin minimally.

The next step is to join the outer six wedges in threes.

Join EF to GH to IJ

Join KL to MN to OP

Before you do that, remove the extra paper on the seam allowance and press the seam outward. Pin at corners and at centre.

Next, join the innermost pieced rings in pairs.

Join A to B

Join C to D

Join AB to EFGHIJ

Join CD to KLMNOP.

This was surprisingly quick and did not need any pinning, as the seams worked as alignment markers.

Join the two circle halves.

Tada!!

Yes, I can see a couple of unmatched seams and plan to re-do those when I do the last steps, that is, firstly appliqueing the circle to the background and then finally to applique the centre circle Q1 (3″ diameter ready).

You can purchase the Instructions and the Template files from my MadsPatch Store on Ecwid (link below). You would need Adobe Reader ( free online download available) on your computer to be able to open these files.

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