APPLIQUE PAINTBOX-I LOVE APPLIQUE

THIS WEEK'S FOUR PACK MAKES 100!!.....also machine quilting update

I like all of this weeks blocks very much.  They are all adaptations from Chuck Nohara's book.

This one is my favorite.  The flowers and stems are from Chuck's book but I did not like her bird and substituted this broderie perse one.  I love how graceful the stems and flowers are and how the bird complements the colors.

Chuck's sunflower petals were shaped differently.  Since I wanted to use a directional fabric and her pattern called for the petals to be cut from one piece, I had to cut individual pieces and I also shaped them differently.  This is the beauty of having good resources- they generate ideas instead of being slavishly copied.

I love sunflowers!  We have some volunteers growing up around our birdfeeder.  They will not "make" as rural farmers call it-they are spindly and small.  The ground is too dry and uncultivated there.

This basket was fun but time consuming.  I have told you of my frustrations with hexagons-triangles are easier-the thread does not wrap around so much. Also I received some good advice on how to handle paper pieces working with them.  I wanted to put into practice the advice I had received and I think the basket turned out okay.  I had to call into account my math skills when making this block when I sized it up from being 2x2 inches to 6x6.  I also thought the braided handle would be more interesting than the simple one from the pattern.

I have never seen a block like the one below.  It has such a different look. This makes 100 blocks-43 to go but who's counting!

I have been working on my free motion sampler and have completed week three. This was an especially hard one-not sure why.  I have included a copy for the pattern for a couple reasons.  One-you can see the difficulty with this pattern-one sews around the circle and then backtracks and shoots off in another direction. The hard part was not getting trapped in a corner.  I drew and drew this and did some practice squares.  The other interesting thing is how individual style is achieved with practice.  My circles are closer together and are more curvy.  This just happened.  The fmq is not perfect but I am pleased.

As promised, here are two more blocks from my Caswell Quilt:

The robin block on the left is from the original pattern except I wanted the block to be 8x13 instead of 11x11.  So I deconstructed and rearranged it and added the snail.  The second pink flower bloc is taken from the original Caswell rug.  The idea for the caterpillar came from looking at Elizabethan stitchery and the dragonfly is placed on a seam to break down the barriers between blocks. 

Lastly, we have a red bellied woodpecker who visits the corn feeder.  He edges down the tree to the feeder, snatches up a kernel, goes back up the tree to beat the kernel against the bark before he eats it.  You can't see the kernel but that is what he is doing.

I will be so glad when my birthday is here in a couple weeks-I will have my new camera and hopefully be done with fuzzy photos!  We also had a large yellow flicker wood pecker some to the fountain but he flew off before I could grab my camera.

Happy quilting!

Linking up with Slow Stitching Sunday, MCM, Moving it Forward Monday, Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Easter's WOW, and NTT .

  Thanks for hosting ladies!