Hive 7 July block for Mary

Hi, this is Carla (aka Granny Maud’s Girl) reporting in on my July blocks, made for Mary in Hive 7.

The bird blocks were a fun block to choose fabrics for as Mary wanted colourful. Each block is not very big, so I made four, using my favourite large-scale and brightly coloured prints for the wings.

Mary wanted us to identify the species. Clockwise from top left, we have a garden dicky-bird, a technicolour turtledove, a diamond-tipped parrot and a blue-chested desert hen.

I found it helpful to cut some of the background pieces bigger than they needed to be. Mary asked that we not trim our blocks, so all I did was tidy them up a bit, keeping them as large as I possibly could while trimming off any flappy bits of excess background fabric. For that reason, some blocks are bigger than others.

Mary explained that she is a birdwatcher and asked us what our life-long passion is. My passions are not that exotic, and I can only identify the really common birds in my area, but like Mary I had an uncool hobby in my teens, when I was sewing my own clothes and knitting. I guess I have two life-long passions: sewing and reading. Other hobbies have come and gone, but I have sewn and read since my early childhood. These days, I work in the publishing industry and have a house full of fabric and books.

I also made an improv quilt-as-you-go block for Kelly in Hive 5. What a tough time her in-laws must be going through.

I made the block and then quilted it to a text print backing with Quilters Dream cotton select or request loft batting. After quilting, I trimmed it to 12½ inches square. I thought it might suit one of the boys.

That has kept me busy on a cold and rainy Sunday!
Carla