May is here and the flowers are blooming! After working in the yard, getting it ready for the growing season ahead, I got to thinking about making some flower blocks. I joined in on one of Amy Friend's swaps from her Petal+Stem book using FPP. She's into round 3 of the swaps, but I didn't sign up to swap anymore. Instead, I will make some from my fabric stash of ice dyes produced over the last year.
Here are 4 blocks I've completed. The flower pot block is an ice dye that gives rusty look. The butterfly on the bottom right used 2 hand ice dyed fabrics and the leaf block is also my ice dyed green fabric.
At the start of the year I signed up to do 2 BOM's, 2 mystery quilts, a challenge mini quilt, UFO challenge and this FPP swap. It's become too much for me so I dropped the mini challenge and one of the mystery quilts. This has helped me stay on schedule and focused, however I wasn't able to complete a UFO last month and I may not be able to complete one for this month. At the end of the year I will just have to carry some over and that's OK. It's satisfying to complete a project off the UFO list. American Patchwork & Quilting UFO group does this challenge each year. Go HERE to find out more.
The National Quilt Museum BOM- Round 3 - So far, I've kept my blocks to the theme I chose. Each month has challenged me to a degree. One of the challenges for me has been applying the Quilt-as-you-go method (QAYG). Here are my blocks so far.
January, February and March 2021 blocks.
January's block included machine piecing and inserting a circle onto the background fabric.
February's block included techniques of machine piecing wavy lines, appliqueing a circle and other elements into the block.
March's block used FPP (foundation paper-piecing).
April block
April's block uses FPP sewn inside a circle and inset onto the background fabric.
May block
May's block was created using paint sticks and thread painted on a white background fabric. This month's sample called for whole cloth quilting. This is primarily why I chose to paint and thread paint, then quilt it.
My May block was created in stages over days and days of work. Starting with my drawing and a white square of fabric that measured 15" square, I traced with a light box with pencil onto my square. I outline stitched the pencil with black thread. Using Caran D'Ache NeocolorII paint sticks and Permanent Tulip Fabric Markers (in the end), I painted each area letting the sections dry before moving to another section. I heat set the entire square and fused my stabilizer to the back. I inserted it in my hoop and started thread painting each section. I wanted my paint and thread to show rather than filling in completely with thread, so I only loosely painted with thread and left some of the details out like detailing leaves because the Shinto is to be the main focus. After all the thread painting was completed, the block was sandwiched between the backing and batting. Basting spray was applied to hold the layers together while I quilted the horizontal lines which are evenly spaced. Lastly, I trimmed the block to 12.5" square and basted close to the edge all around to hold the quilting stitches in place and keep the edges clean.
Each block is quilted and trimmed to 12.5" square and at the end of 12 months the 12 blocks are sewn together with sashing strips on the front and back with a strip of batting between (if needed). My sashing strips will most likely be at least 3" wide, so I will need the batting strips.
I'm looking forward to seeing next month's block and how I will fit into my theme. Since June's block will be the half way point, I will start to think about what fabrics to join them together with and start doing just that. I could wait to the very end and shuffle them around, but I don't think I will wait that long.
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