A light at the end of the tunnel?

I decided to focus a bit and got back to work on the spring samplers. I NEED to get them done.

I laid out the blocks that are complete. This is what they look like....................   (that was early in the morning)

Two spring samplers - still missing bits and pieces!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then just before leaving for the afternoon - this is what they looked like. Notice there is only ONE block left to do for the one on the right (and one block to repair - more on that in a minute) and there are TWO blocks missing from the one on the left.

Two spring samplers - close to completion!!!!!!!!!

Since we got home late last night, I didn't get a chance to continue working on these, but I was back at them this morning.


So what are all these pieces?????   Thank goodness that these sections were already sewn together.

What is this????

This is what it looks like when all the pieces are in the right order. 

And here it is pieced together. See how small this is!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Well of course - it is a baby bird!

Now for the next step - the bird house............

Again - all the pieces were cut and partially sewn together. However - the perspective of that bird house looks weird. 

Compare it to this one that is already finished - well almost. Notice how I darkened the fabric for the side of the bird house. And how did I do that????

I used some inks and coloured it darker. 

They are transparent so you can still see the original fabric through the ink - just darker. 

A couple of years ago, I was demoing different ways to change the look of fabric and I was using my birdhouse as an example. When I opened the jar of ink - I managed to spill some on the blue sky.

See - just to the right of the post. GRRR!!!!!!!!!!! I did a quick check in the blue scrap box and saw nothing. 

Well - it just so happened that I still had ONE seam to sew on this bird house. One leg of the Y seam just under the mommy bird.

Here is the wrong side of the block with the Y seam not sewn.

Then armed with that small triangle cut off and another that was generated when the roof was assembled - the bird house block now looks like this........................

Yep - you probably wouldn't notice the repair unless you were looking for it!!!!    And this block that has been in limbo for YEARS is NOW COMPLETE. 

I am waiting for the ink to dry so the birdhouse and the mommy bird will have to wait until later before they can be sewn together.

Time to tackle the LAST block. Oh crude - there is MORE PREP work to be done.............

While the background is all cut for both blocks and the leaves and stems were cut as well - I had to prepare the applique. Now I have to stitch the applique

There was NOTHING cut for the flowers so I had to dig through the scrap boxes to get the pieces cut for that.

Then I had to make half square triangles and trim them. 

I still have a LOT of work to do to get these quilts completed, but close - so very close!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Even though I have a class this morning and a LOT of quilting to do, I might bite the bullet and get more done on it later today. Hmmmm - when I need to take a break from the long arm!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Oh yes - I managed to get Section One and Two of the Block of the Month together.

YES - I know - this is NOT a traditional block of the month - but it is replacing block of the month. I am very happy with it so far.

Well - I have run out of time for this morning. It took me forever to edit the pictures from yesterday. Needless to say we had an amazing day yesterday. I will post the pictures later today.


Have an awesome day!!!!!!!!!!!



Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!