Sunday, July 31, 2016

THUNDERSTORMS, WIND, RAIN, AND LIGHTNING!!!
and we love it!
I have 5 blocks for this week:
I call this one "Under the Sea".   I had some great fish fabric begging to be part of the quilt.  The fish and the shells and the sand, and the seaweed make up the block with the ominous touch of wiggly worm on the fish hook.  The original version of this block had a boat in it but it sailed away.





Now my beloved Chuck Nohara blocks.





I don't do hearts often so I had to come up with another motif finish the block. These pretty flowers are from French General fabric and I like the way it finished.  I purposely lapped the motifs over the stems to give them more of a sense of belonging.


I was not in the mood for symmetry when I made this block.  It is such a great block but I decided to change it up with some asymmetry but with balance.  Most of the design is inside the circle which makes it interesting along with the odd numbers of elements.


Here are some of the butterfly blocks from Chuck's book.  I wanted to make the one in the upper left corner with the pieced fabrics but I did not like the shape.  So I combined several to make one butterfly.  The wing is reverse applique.  I like it okay except I wish I had cut the fabric more at angles like the first butterfly. This block gave me the chance to try out a technique new to me-that is using strips sewn together-a technique which can be very effective.


I call this block "The Curious Flowers" because they look for all the world like they are busy inspecting the ladybug.  You can see I changed the block a bit but not much.

Speaking of ladybugs.......I have been promising to show you more of my Caswell quilt and the ladybugs reminded me.  Here are two sections of the quilt which the lady bugs have claimed as their own.
This section also has snails, and a hummingbird.  You can see how I have sewn birds and bugs over the seams of the blocks to break down the viewer's first recognition of the quilt as composed of blocks.  The ladybugs tell their story over two of the blocks as to the snails, the hummer, the moth and the honeybee.

Here is the second grouping of ladybugs and also a bird perched on a leaf singing a birdsong which I "composed".  Again you can see an example of the unity which was my goal.

Free motion quilting-check!  Done this week-lesson 8. One more and we begin the borders.  I decided to work on only one sampler at a time.  Here is progress so far:
This has been a fun sampler and I will be sorry to see it end but I have another one in the planning.

Here is Mrs Blossom Muggles inspecting the start of the abandoned sampler:
She is such a big help with her praise and insightful criticism.  She is also a clown.  Here she is pretending to be a vam-purr:
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I decided to set this sampler aside because I am not sure if the FMQ in this sampler, while nice, will suit the direction I want to go to learn methods and means of quilting around applique.



I also have three photos of the little dinosaurs which visit my backyard:
This is a Eurasian ring neck dove.  We have several. They are a soft white grey and much larger than the usual doves.  They really enjoy teasing Yoshi, our outdoor cat, who like to stalk them only to have them fly off at the last minute.
Can you see the hummer?  Just barely!  I will have better photos in the fall when many, many visit our feeders. 
This is a female hairy woodpecker.  She likes to eat ants from the feeder and also likes the sugar water as a sort of sap.

I have two wonderful new countries who visited this week: Sweden and Finland!  Lucky me!  I am very pleased you visited.  My mother's family comes from Sweden.  I added the flags to the growing list.

Well, I think I have covered all topics.  I am so pleased when you visit and leave a comment.  I read all the comments and just love them and will respond if you are not a no-reply blogger.  I want to know what you are working on!

HAPPY QUILTING!

This week I will be linking to those great blogs: Slow Stitching Sunday, Patchwork Times, Em's Scrapbag, Esther's WOW, Let's Bee Social, NTT, Whoop, Whoop. and Off the Wall.  Visit as these are awesome blogs!



23 comments:

  1. All oh so gorgeous blocks! Vam-purr is cute. Wish we had such a lush yard - ours is dirt during this drought. Love your sample.

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  2. SO many beautiful blocks... I love the one with the french general flowers!
    Love your little vam-purr!

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  3. You inspired me to purchase the Chuck Nohara book. It arrived early this past week.

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  4. When you are finished with the Chuck Nohara blocks, are you starting Sweet Surrender?

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  5. All of your appliqué blocks are beautiful--I especially love all your fun bugs!

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  6. while following your blog pictures, I became interested in the book by Chuck Nohara!!! I purchased the book from paper pieces. What a wealth of design details for applique. Thanks for recommending this great resource.

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  7. Thanks so much for the wonderful comment on my blog. I love your new blocks and especially your adorable cat. The free motion stitching is great too!
    Susan

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  8. What gorgeous applique. Glad I happened upon your site!!

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  9. Just love the blocks you make from Chucks book. And the caswell quilt looks very good, the insects are a wonderfull addition. Greetings
    kleinevingerstussenstofjes.blogspot.nl

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  11. You asked about the fabric. It is an old piece of fabric of the costumes from Marken (Netherlands). You find some pictures over here: http://www.schoutenenterprises.com/Marken_algemeen/Marker_Klederdracht/MarkerKlederdracht.html I have several of these ‘Baafjes' , you can find it on my Blog under the topic; ‘Baafjes’

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  12. Still excited by your blocks love your interpretations !

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  13. I love seeing your beautiful applique and how you change up the blocks when it suits you. VAMPURR. LOL!!

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  14. Watching your Chuck Nohara blocks grow and how you interpret each one is so interesting...the additions you make such as the musical notes draws us in to all the details...want to linger over each one...

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  15. Your applique work is just beautiful. I enjoy how you put your own spin on some of the work. Very nice! (piecefulthoughts@gmail.com)

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  16. This is fabulous! I love how you make each block your own. Those lady bugs are just darling. I would be tempted to put those lady bugs on EVERY block, they are so stinkin' cute!

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  17. So so creative and love your creativity in covering up the seams - Very Very nice! Beautiful work and love your interpretations of the blocks from the 2001 book!

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  18. Wow your appliqué is exquisite! Such patience. I sure like your FMQ sampler too, but I can see why some of those motifs won't work behind appliqué; I've usually used cross-hatching. Love your furry 'vam-purr' - that made me chuckle! And great bird shots; will have to check where you live!

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  19. My goodness so much to see and admire, not sure what I liked the most, may be the ladybugs and the curious flowers LOL Was also lovely to visit your garden and see your live creatures as well. Thanks so much for sharing so many photos for us to study and learn from. Cheers Glenda

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  20. Beautiful work, Pam, and so much eye candy!! Thanks for sharing!

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  21. Beautiful work and I love the way you are linking your Caswell blocks together. xx

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