Last of the April RSC blocks

I’ve made 4 Roman Stripe blocks for this month’s RSC blocks

I decided only to make one set of Ship blocks using light/ mid blue but have made an extra set in green.

Linking with Angela’s SoScrappy blog
Waiting to hear what May’s colour choice will be. Pink I hope!

How one Angel became three

Some months ago - many months ago probably - one of our members suggested we use a discarded Block of the Month pack which another member no longer wanted to make. It was suggested we each take a block and turn it into a Premature Baby quilt for our local hospital.
Time went on and everyone was busy with more urgent projects but when eventually people started to look at the Block pattern they had we discovered all the blocks were a different size, significantly different. Mine was very narrow with the Angel flying sideways and I couldn’t think how to expand it to make a quilt 15” x 20”. Then (obviously I wasn’t thinking straight that day!) I thought if I made two more I could have three Angels flying one above the other, the original Angel in the centre, the other two made in matching fabrics and flying in the opposite direction to the Original Angel. So I painstakingly made two more blocks. THEN I started to arrange them together and realised I hadn’t worked out the Maths correctly and three Angels would make the quilt far too long, so, back to the drawing board.

Starting with the Original Angel I added rows of 2” squares and rows of appliqué hearts and created this little quilt.

Then I used the same method to make two more little quilts:

All hand appliqué with blanket stitch and hand quilted with a pale cream Perle thread.

As if by magic......... One Angel became Three.

Of course with the Covid19 lockdown these quilts will not be delivered anytime soon. Perhaps not even this year?

A walk in our Bluebell Wood

Yesterday my husband and I did our allowed daily walk to our nearby Bluebell Wood. We actually have a choice of three within reasonable walking distance.  We visited one on Monday and this one yesterday.  We saw nobody else all the time we were in the wood. Spotted a woman jogging with her dog as we left the wood. Such a magical experience. Thousands of wild bluebells, birds singing like crazy, stunning blue skies and sunshine. How it lifted us up during this time of lockdown and isolation.

Then on our way home we spotted this rainbow on a garden gate post. Made from painted stones. Made a lovely cheerful finish to our beautiful 2 hours walk.

Blue sails for RSC 2020

One of the RSC 2020 blocks I’ve chosen to make this year are Sailing boats, in three different sizes.
My aim was to make two of each style blocks. However, as we have already used Teal and now it’s light and mid blues I’ve decided only to make one set of three this month. Mostly because of the style of blocks it is there is a lot of blue already in the blocks before I add the sails made in the chosen colour for the month. I had a piece of batik from a friend which I think works well for “sea” and I’ve been able to change up the sea colour a little by picking out the blues, green and purple sections of the fabric to vary the sea colour. Important when the sails are blue too.

Not so keen on the smallest ship block, not enough contrast between the sail fabric and the sky but I hope when it’s all sewn into a quilt top that will look OK.
Linking up with Angela’s Soscrappy RSC2020 blog

Teal Twinklers

I love making these Twinkler blocks - Cathy’s name for the blocks but I guess they are Friendship Stars. But I love the name Twinklers, because they do twinkle don’t they?
I was tidying up my 2.5” teal squares and thought I could manage to make two blocks, squeezing them in before the end of March.

Here they are:

Completed RSC blocks for March

I have finished the Teal/Aqua RSC March blocks which I had intended to make.
6 Ship blocks,  2 of each size.
1 x 49 patch block

When I decided to make Ship blocks for this year’s challenge I knew I had to buy fabric for the sea and sky parts of the blocks because I had very little in my stash that was suitable. So far I’ve used scraps for the boats and, of course, for the sails.

I also made a 49 patch block in last month’s colour Orange.

An amazing book

In recent weeks I read on several blogs about a book called “Where the crawdads sing” by Delia Owens.

I had no idea what the story was but felt drawn to read it and requested it from my Library. I collected it last week and over the past few days I read it. Initially I wasn’t sure if I would like it but that initial feeling soon passed and then I couldn’t put the book down. I have just finished it, a beautifully written book set in a part of the world of which I have no knowledge and where I will never visit. But in my head I can “see” that world and experience it because of the wonderful writing of Delia Owens.

I know someone else was on the waiting list for this book and am sorry that they will now not be able to borrow it and enjoy the experience I have had in reading it. Our Libraries closed as of yesterday due to the Coronavirus pandemic so no more borrowing for the foreseeable future. I hope all the people who requested this book will have access to it via Kindle or the library’s online system.

So, if you haven’t yet read this awesome book, please do so now, by whatever means you have at your disposal during these strange and difficult times. This book will transport you to a different time and space.