Modern Irish Bee March Block

I finally got my Bee blocks completed today.

pattern at..

http://mansewing.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/burstblock.pdf

Or go to the Modern Irish Bee blog for a link to the You Tube tutorial.  An American man sewing as only an American man could sew.

This block takes about 10 minutes to do, so very fast, but you need to concentrate and be quite methodical.

Not much else in the way of sewing around here at the mo.

I'm next in the Bee so I have to get planning and ready to post my block.

 Look at my beautiful whippet.

He absolutely knows he's a gorgeous boy.

xxx

Bleaching the birdies.

At the weekend I decided to have a long stare at my bird quilt that has been sitting about feeling unloved in every way possible. 

I considered cutting it up into smaller pieces.

But when thinking of where to cut I kept finding bits of it that I liked that would be lost in the process.

It was actually the middle strip that was annoying my aesthetic brain.

The dullness. The this isn't doing anything bit. And the white circles should be under the water with the fish and not in the trees with the birds.

So I experimented with discharge paste on a smallish section. Surprisingly it didn't work. It didn't remove any of the colour. Perhaps it has a use by date. I bought it from Art Van Go about three years ago.

So I used bleach!

Watered down a bit.

And that worked, and what a joy it is to paint bleach on a surface and watch the colour change before your eyes.

It lightened up the whole feeling of the quilt.

And I coloured in most of the circles with my inktense blocks and added more colour on the left side with the inktense as well.

And now I like it.

Here are a few details.

I have since coloured most of the white circles on the right too.

 I wish I could enter it for the reflections exhibition but it is too big, as there is a size limit of 30 inches.

REFLECTIONS REFLECTIONS REFLECTIONS!

Playing around with ideas....

I'm thinking about trees reflecting on windows.

These inner blocks are about 2 inches by 4 inches and the grey strips are quarter inch.

Thought I would play around with a bright fabric for the fun of it.

It all feels a bit soulless in a way.

The trees are flat and lifeless.

No excitement.

But wait to you see this!!!!!

This is an image I have on my phone taken straight off google images.

I think this is amazing. 

A quilt waiting to happen.

And there is so many similar images mostly of buildings reflected on buildings. Or machinery, cranes reflected on windows. 

I think this is just waiting for me to explore.

On Saturday Alicia Merrett came to the Patchwork Guild and her work was beautiful.

I really enjoyed seeing her map pieces.

She can be Mapwoman.

I am Windowwoman.

Last but not least I have to get on with my blocks for The Modern Irish Bee.

We are doing a star burst block.

I have had a go, but unfortunately my block didn't work out right.

I will conquer the block today.

modernquiltersireland.blogspot.com/

If you want to see the block and the tutorial scroll down through the blog to the post on March 1st.

xxx

thinking about Reflections

I have made my two blocks for the Modern Irish Bee and will pop them in the post tomorrow.

I think the image is slightly blurred.

Each of the squares finishes just one inch, so I'm glad it's only two blocks.

I enjoyed piecing as I haven't done any patchwork in a while.

It got me in the mood again.

Now looking forward to next month whatever it may be.

And I have an idea already for my month, which is April!

The Northern Ireland Patchwork Guild have an exhibition in conjunction with The Irish Patchwork Guild in May.

The theme is Reflections.

So my head is in a spin thinking about ideas.

Size is limited to a maximum of 30 inches.

So an achievable size for two months work.

I have been pinning ideas on Pinterest and Flckr(which I am new to)

This is a picture I took on my local beach.

The light is reflecting on the wet sand.

As it is here too.

I quite like the light reflecting on the rippled sand.

I like the idea of trees reflecting on water. Bare branches and twigs.

 I took these pictures on a walk recently of trees bare of leaves.

And looking down at marks on the snow.

I am thinking dark and light.

Maybe not too literal.

Mark making.

I am looking forward to getting my sketchbook going on this one.

xxx

technophobe quilter

Quilt Finished and hanging on the line.

Sorry for the rubbish pictures. I have actually worked myself into a bad mood doing this blog because I use my son's apple mac and it was upgraded and I am useless at tech stuff and got lost every which way I turned.

I think I will buy myself my own laptop.

I feel that the quilt doesn't work particularly well as a whole, but that the different bits of it are lovely.

I bound it with fabric that I had experimented on with prints and paints.

I am really happy with the binding. It adds a bit more interest.

I might try and photograph the quilt a bit better and blog it again.

Sorry for this awful image but this is the quilt way back in the beginning stages.

Quite interesting how it evolved.

I'm still in rotten form. Blogging should be easy.

Before I got into bad form I was excited about a new adventure I'm setting off on.

Without even leaving the house.

I have joined the Modern Quilters Ireland Sewing Bee.

AKA Modern Irish Bee

I only joined this month so my first block is the February block.

modernquiltersireland.blogspot.co.uk

I will keep you updated.

On my new computer!!!!!!!

Shallow snow.

Hello...

Is there anybody there??????

It's me and my bird quilt here.

Or my bird quilt and I.

Yes we are still plodding along together ,but if there isn't completion soon I think one of us will jump out the window. And although there is snow on the ground I think the landing will be fatal.

I will bombard you with pictures now. And all I have to say is that it will be finished by the end of the week.

And then I will like it.

Before I go, thank you Pamela for the gorgeous Liberty fabric and the little bell. You are so kind and generous. One in a million really, xxx

I will be back on Friday with a picture of the finished quilt.

Or an outline of me lying face down in some shallow snow.