An oldie...

Remember the bird with the Japanese fabrics?  Well....here's the very large center block for the My
Tweets project that was offered last year from Erin Russek.  I had decided not to do the entire quilt, only the large center block.  If you checked the link, you saw how Erin used a lot of very bright colors for her version.  After looking through the photos of all the WIP's, I decided that one of the ones I liked best was done with Japanese fabrics. 

My version of the center block is done mainly with browns, black, greys and dark greens with a few accents of the medium rose and gold.  I think I am going to finish this into a wallhanging by adding a border with a variety of the Japanese fabrics.

Here's (almost) the entire center block:

Playing

You know how it is....you have a ..(ahem) few projects to work on, but not one happens to appeal to you at the moment.  Tomorrow is another day for those....

For some reason, I wanted to try out some new fabrics I had purchased.  Wonderful, beautiful Japanese fabrics (insert swoon here).  I recently found a website that handles a large variety of those gorgeous taupe fabrics from Japan.  One World Fabrics.  Steve is the owner (who was very pleasant), with whom I spoke on the phone.  I had had a problem with the shopping cart on the website, so called.  I have to say that I received my order within three days, and am more than satisfied with the fabrics and the quality of service. :)) Anyway, I digress.

My Tweets, another free BOM, appealed to me from the very beginning.  However, I am not one to generally use those bright, colorful fabrics.  It's not that I do not like projects that I have seen done with them, but I have difficulty picking and choosing to make them work for me.  Then I saw this: 

Gorgeous, isn't it?  All those wonderful Japanese fabrics. mmmmm....

After a little playtime with my fabrics, I have this:

**  After coming back and looking at the picture again, I realized that the bird's tail is supposed to be under the wing and on top of the body.  I have changed it, which makes it look much nicer.  **

Quite different than the one above, but so far, I like it.  I'm not sure what will happen with the rest of the block...stay tuned. :)

Pretty Birds

Not my usual colors...every now and then I am trying to get away from the color palette I normally choose.  These bright colors are very different from my "norm," that's for sure!  But I did really like the original colors that Erin Russek is using in her latest free Block of the Month design called My Tweets.  I was able to locate a few of the same fabrics for this one.  Those I couldn't find, I tried to match closely.

 This is my Block 1m which I worked on in between all the pieces I have been doing for my Heart's Desire blocks for this month.  Those blocks are coming together very slowly, since I am trying to do all four at once.

Lotsa Little Leaves

All ready to be positioned and appliqued on the first block of My Tweets.  And, yep, they are resting on a paper plate (which coincidentally has leaves on it).  Erin Russek, the designer of My Tweets, had suggested the paper plates as a way to organize all the different elements to applique for the block.  You can then stack them, use the one you need and and rearrange all your little pieces easily. 

Erin recently completed a block for a different project where she shows you how to weave a basket with bias strips.  Beautiful!