We had an 80 plus degree day this week! I declare summer officially started! And to celebrate, I pieced bright colors and awesome parrot fabric into a little quilt for charity.
Fifteen of the blocks in the quilt are "crumb" blocks or "slab" blocks, made from small pieces of scraps sewn together. (Both Mr. Biddy the cat and I managed to get a foot in this shot. So talented.)
Here's what they looked like on the design wall.
It was fun to gather these pieces at the machine, and just sew. Treadling with this lovely Singer 66 is so relaxing.
The alternate blocks are this amazing parrot fabric. Isn't it scrumptious?
Here's some info from the selvedge.
Simple quilting finishes the little quilt. The backing is a paw prints print. The border reminds me of the clear shallow water in Mexico where we went on vacation many years ago.
But wait--more parrots!
I'm experimenting with a design I saw on the internet for a bird block. What if these birds were parrots? What if the wings and beaks were 3-D?
My first try. Not too wild about the color placement, but okay.
Maybe this is better? The whole wing is green, the body blue, etc. Seems like a lot of white background. I'll keep thinking about it. Any ideas? I'm always glad to know what other quilters would do.
In keeping with the wild life theme, look who visited our back yard on Wednesday:
It's a turtle! My grandson and dog saw it out the window before I did. It was about the size of a small cat. Grandson and I went outside to see it (we left the dog inside, barking her head off), but we didn't go very close to it. There is a pond near the end of the street, and I think it must have been heading that way.
Last week I was sick, so no blog. I'm grateful to be feeling better this week and getting back to the things I love.
Speaking of which, now that I'm done writing this blog, I can go read what everybody else has written. Hurray!
Have a wonderful week.
Cheers for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
Link ups with
Crazy Mom Quilts,
Busy Hands Quilts,
and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.
Cute quilt, love the parrot fabric.
ReplyDeleteThanks, karenbbsnow! I'm sad that I only have a little of it left.
DeleteGreat idea to use the slab blocks. (I've got that same parrot fabric with a black background. Looking forward to putting it to use one of these days.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bonnie. Wow, I bet those bright parrots on black are stunning.
DeleteSuper cute quilt! I love making slab/crumb blocks, too. Pairing them with the bright parrot print was very clever and effective! Glad you're feeling better this week :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Louise! I'm just a beginner at the slab/crumb blocks. This is the first time I've made them all in one color.
DeleteCute quilt! I've never made a slab block before. I love them with the colorful parrot print.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Shannon. I'm trying a few new things, mainly to use up all these scraps.
DeleteGreat quilt. I've been making crumb blocks for RSC18 without any plan for them. This is a good idea and I love the parrot fabric. Those little birds have been on my radar as well and I like your 3-D wings.
ReplyDeletePat
Thanks, MissPat! I'm still not sure I'm coloring everything in a way that makes sense for those birds.
DeleteI am just recently on the all one color slab block band wagon too. But it is fun...What a great idea to use them in this way. Great idea!
ReplyDeleteThanks, grammajudyb! I'm keeping it simple around here.
DeleteThose crumb blocks are such fun to make. I like that it's kind of mindless and you almost can't make a mistake! I've made a couple of quilts using scraps this way.
ReplyDeleteThe parrots, especially your parrot blocks, are just plain cute. I have no doubt that they will soon be all over blogland in every color of the rainbow. Get ready for lots of requests. :)
Thanks, Mary! You are very kind. I'm still thinking of ways to make the parrot block better and wondering how to set them together.
DeleteHave a great week!