Reforestation

Anne has kindly whipped up five beautiful tree blocks to my two for the Wollongong Modern Quilt Guild's efforts in support of those who are suffering as a result of the bush fires that continue to rage in Australia.

Aren't they beautiful? I love the contrast between her block style and mine and can only imagine how wonderful the quilts that they assemble will be when they have even more variety to work with.

She dug into a pile of great turquoise strips and came up with these beauties.

My images aren't totally capturing the true colour of these prints, but they are warm and cheery and scrappy. I know that they will make someone's day.

So its time to package them all up and head to the post office. If you are interested in making a 12.5" tree block or two to support the cause you can find all of the details in my last post. Just keep in mind that they would like them mailed so that the blocks arrive by the end of February...M

Tree Planting #bushfireblocks

When I was in my teens my dad was a Cub leader and my sister Betty and I helped out. We did lots of fun things to help in the development of those boys but the one thing that really stands out was a day we planted trees. It was about giving back and looking to the future, even if you were only 6 or 7 years old. Today I live about 20 minutes from the fields where those evergreens were planted. They are thriving, mature trees and every time I drive by I am reminded of the difference a small group can make, and for the long term.

Undoubtedly you have seen and heard coverage of the devastating fires that have been consuming Australia since last August. The country is burning and the losses are inconceivable - lives, livestock, wildlife, livelihoods and homes. So many helplessly watch as their world disappears.

Sunday I saw a facebook post from the Wollongong Modern Quilt Guild about the ravages to their state and their efforts to make quilts to ease some of the suffering; they have sent out a call for quilters interested in helping out. So today, in -26⁰ C weather and under a couple of feet of snow, I am again planting trees.

A symbol of growth, tree blocks are the guild's block of choice; any block you like works as long as it is 12.5" square and has a low volume/white/pale grey background. The quilts will be beautiful and diverse, just like their communities. Mail blocks to arrive by the end of February to:
     Woolongong Modern Quilt Guild
     P.O. Box 54
     Jamberoo, New South Wales
     AUSTRALIA 2533

I landed on improv trees. I loved making them for this quilt and was keen to play with them again. Given the size of the block, I decided to try making a small grove of trees instead of just one per block and I wanted to use bright and uplifting fabric. This Kaffe Fassett green fit the bill.

You have to be careful when piecing these blocks to ensure that you sew the branches and trunks in the proper order or you end up in a pickle, so once I had cut the background I laid everything out and methodically worked through it...

one piece...

at a time.

Voila! Block number one.

Then I used the trimming from the first block in the second.

It is hard to see but I also worked in two additional cream prints.

And here is block number two. Originally these trees were going to fill more of the left side of the block than be centred but at the last minute I trimmed a piece of white from the right and added it to the left side. I think I should have left well enough alone, but it still works.

I'm really happy with them - they remind me of saplings with that fresh green that you only see in the spring - and hopefully bring a sense of rebirth to the ultimate user of the quilt(s) that they are sewn into....M

Snow(man) Day

For the second weekend in a row we've received a significant dump of snow so we started our day by attempting to dig ourselves out. This little tree is in an urn on our back deck that we put up for the holidays. It developed a Grinch-like bend in an ice storm a few weeks back and never really recovered; now there's only about a third of it showing.

After a couple of hours with the shovel I'm thinking that this won't be a day to sit at the machine and work on Pineapple Tidbits. Instead, I'm going to settle in with the Official Cookie Tester for some good football - the NFL conference championships will both be decided today.

I've quilted the four snowman placemats that I had started for the Holly Bazaar last fall and sewed the binding on as well, so they are ready to be hand stitched.

Two of them are now bound so I'm thinking that two football games should give me ample time to finish up the other two....M

You Just Knew It Was Going to Happen...

Despite having a shoe box full of strips cut and sorted for Pineapple Tidbits, I couldn't resist the siren call of the rotary cutter and my scrap bins.

All of the blocks were looking the same - not much interest - I felt as though I was always using the same fabrics. It was compounded by the fact that they were very dark and very similar - you know, the saturated greens and browns from the late 80s/early 90s. It is a quilt designed to use your 'uglies' and will eventually be over-dyed with a tea rinse to help meld the colours together, but it was just looking a little too ugly for my liking. Even Dame Edna agreed.

So, out came the scrap bins. I also cleaned out a few small containers of strips that date back to mom's stash hidden in the shelving unit that the shoe box had been sitting on. She didn't waste a thing.

There's a little bit of everything in it which I love, including a few Christmas prints.

I think that I've more than replaced all of the strips that I recently sewed into blocks, which sort of defeats the purpose of working through that shoe box, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do....M