Wednesday, August 29, 2012

The Flock Block


Hi there.

How are things with you? Well, I hope.

Guess what?

I have returned.

I had such a great August Break. Oh so nice... And I will tell you about it later but for today I'm easing back into work with a short little post.


My blog friend Amy is having a cool contest called "Texting While Sewing" and I'm squeaking in at the veeeerrry last minute with this wee quilt block I designed. The goal of the contest is, in Amy's words, to use text fabric creatively in a 12" quilt block. This idea sounded like such a hoot to me, I could NOT not take part. My only issue? I didn't own a single stitch of texted fabric. This meant of course that I HAD to go out shopping. Woe is me, eh?



Despite the apparent popularity of texted fabrics (and there are some really beautiful ones out there) my little hick town fabric stores are mostly allergic to them from what I can gather. Hrmph. Among the stores I travelled to, I found a grand total of four texted fabrics. Four! And two of those were too ugly for words. No pun. Anyway, so I bought the other two.

Truth: You know your life is pretty darn sweet when all you're complaining about is the lack of texted fabric. 

So here's my block. I call it The Flock Block. See? It is puzzle of pieced birds with some playful word embroidery for good measure. The birdies fly blissfully round and round one another.  An ornithological merry-go-round, if you will.


I still have some work to do on the design. However my hope is to, one day, make it available as a pattern in the shop. I'm thinking it would be cute in a baby quilt and all solid colours... Comments, suggestions?

♥M

32 comments:

  1. Adorable and clever. I was about to ask you to COME BACK! And here you are. Missed you and your ideas.

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  2. Je suis heureuse de te retrouver !!!
    J'aime beaucoup ce nouveau projet !!!
    bisous
    Nadia

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  3. Great design Michele!! I see more each time I look at it. Thank you so much for fitting it in and joining the contest!

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  4. I love the way the embroidery resembles wing feathers. Perfect!

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  5. Oooooooooooooooooh - seriously cute...

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  6. SO clever. LOVE it.

    And, can I just say "...ornithological merry-go-round?" Genius.

    Well done!

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  7. This is totally awesome!!! It will work in any fabric and solids. Great design!

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  8. Great idea is an understatement! Wonderful block!

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  9. It's "tweet". I love the quilting, and the pattern! Good job.
    Hugs

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  10. Okay, this is totally awesome! I love the tessellating design! How cool! I didn't have much in the way of text fabric, either. What I had was NOT inspiring. I made my own text fabric, and I love how you made your own by stitching words on the birds. It is so neat. I hope you do make this a pattern. I think it would be fun to do!

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  11. Boy you come back in a BIG way! Love the block design! I second a previous comment by Night Garden Design, very clever how the embroidery resembles a wing!!! So happy to have you back!

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  12. You are so very clever Michele! Love the added embroidered text!

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  13. Such a fun design - love the boids, love them! And I think it's cool that you have math in a geometrically-inclined mathematical block. Welcome back to the webs, Michele!

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  14. Love your block! What a great challenge! Beautiful work!
    Ps. I hope back to school routines at your home go smoothly!

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  15. welcome back!
    love the tweets on the birds!!
    xxx Alessandra

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  16. Tweet tweet! Caw caw!
    So cool, Michele. Glad you took her up on the challenge.

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  17. That's a very cute design! Are you going to do a whole quilt with it?

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  18. Welcome back lady.
    I couldnt see the birds till youd mentioned them but then its still early AM here in the Uk......lol but they are smashing!
    Ravens and Doves, maybe even as Xmas Robins......you could do all sorts with the pattern.
    Its a winner this one even if you dont win the contest itself, this little block pattern will surely live on

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  19. Welcome back Michele,
    It is just lovely! You did a terrific job and I love the way you used all the fabrics...it's just lovely.
    big hug,
    Giac

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  20. This is Fantastic! Even though I don't sew I am fascinated by quilt construction and collage. Great job!

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  21. I love your flock block! I am all about some tessellations! I studied it until I worked the 'puzzle' and recreated it myself. I used a white tone-on-tone and a black with a simple designs, fyi. The words on the wings... that's just brilliant!

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    Replies
    1. I'd love to see your version! Feel free to send me a pic anytime. :)

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  22. I see! You ARE quilting too! So what's up with us?

    I love the irregular geometric shapes used to create the birds and your hand stitching is so precise. Caw and tweet! You HAD to be giggling so much - how did you keep your stitches straight?!

    I have had a little idea in the back of my mind forever for creating a block of trees (you know what kind) - your effort here has given me renewed courage to try!

    I LOVE your block to pieces.

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  23. Wow. I love it. How funny you couldn't find many text fabrics. The birds are wonderful. I love that they tweet and caw. And it's so nice to see some of your work posted on the blog again. Thanks for visiting mine and commenting on the weekly bunny painting project.

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  24. i could not see the birds at first {which is a good thing, meaning they are not too obvious} but now i do & WOW! this is amazing! their little faces are aDORable! ♥

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  25. Your block is just wonderful Michele!! I love it!!

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  26. I've got to be honest. I don't really say this about many quilt squares, since they rarely "speak" to me and a lot of them are, well, unoriginal. BUT, this is AWESOME. I love it.

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