Simple Folk Block of the Month Catch up

It's been a while since I blogged about my Sarah Fielke Simple Folk quilt.  It was one of her 2018 BOM and I was making good progress until around July when a mix of family commitments and a long work project took me away from regular sewing and it's taken a while for me to get going with it again.  I do sew sections of the quilt at the South West Modern Quilt Guild monthly meetings and I've just finished machine sewing border backgrounds which is dull but necessary canvas prep for the applique designs.  The bird is my final central picture block and is in part progress.  Choosing and prepping the fabrics for these blocks takes a long time and sometimes my choices change part way through if the colour or print isn't working; even the fabric texture can impact on the block.  In the bird block below, the legs were appliqued from some Japanese cotton lawn- anything thicker would've added to much bulk and frayed.  They are each about 1/8" in width. The tail fabric is a Denyse Schmidt print and is coarser than many of the other quilting cottons.  It was tricky to work with but I think I got away with it, despite the thick points.

This block has been tweaked a little from Sarah's original design- the top flower was redrafted.  I love the double leaves on this one, and the vase handles which I find much more pleasurable to sew than I first thought, curves are so satisfying, inner angles and points less so.

I am steadily working my way through all the tutorials.  That's the beauty of Sarah's BOMs, the tutorials and videos remain even though she's moved on to another quilt.  My aim is to complete the quilt top and have it professionally quilted before the year is out.

Meanwhile, Happy Easter!  We are having beautiful weather in the UK and I've been getting outside walking Joni, planting Alpines into pots to prettify my courtyard and spending time with my family.   It doesn't get better than that...I'm feeling very lucky.