Donation block for Go Teal it on the Mountain
December 2018

Back in September, Kate over at TallTalesfromChiconia was looking for contributors to her upcoming Ovarian Cancer Australia auction quilt. While I have not participated in a single-block donation project before, the timing of her request came at a significant time for me: a close family member had just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and I wanted to participate as a tribute to her and her battle.

Kate’s plan was that every block feature some sort of mountain idea, and that the color palette be the Ovarian Cancer colors of teal and cream. As an avid backpacker, I have hiked many miles, mostly in California’s Sierra Nevada. The image of mountains in either the early morning or late evening is breath-taking. I love how the foreground hills have deeper color and the farther, distant mountains are taller, more rugged and their color is more muted, almost blending away into the sky. This is what I wanted my block (shown above) to mimic: how a mountain range looks in the fading light of day. As with all my quilt projects, I used fabric that was a piece from the past. In this block, the fabric used at the bottom was from my Granny. To help achieve differentiation between these two mountains, I used the front side of the fabric for the mountain on the left, and the  back of the same fabric for the one to the right.

Kate received blocks from all over the world, and she then did the final layout, joining and quilting to achieve an amazingly beautiful quilt! I hope you take a moment to check out the finished quilt on her blog (click here). My block is the second block in the second row.

Three Little Birds
July 2018

I have been on a recent kick of digging through my scrap bins to incorporate whatever might work in the color palette I’ve chosen for my quilt. It’s my hope to diminish my scraps, but as you might have read in my last post, that doesn’t seem to be the case! I’m sure there is some complex calculation like, ((Gross – Net)/ Net)*100 = 100% that is the reason behind my scrap bins being full at 100% no matter what I do 😉

I keep my scrap bins sorted by colors, but that’s where my organization of the scrap bins end. I use photo boxes (eight in total) for each color and combine a few into one, like white, grey and black, to give you an idea of how many scraps I have.

The idea for Three Little Birds started with a sweet bird fabric found at the local fabric store. There are three birds in the design – pink, teal and grey. I sized them at 5″ (finished) and used them as the centerpiece for a recent quilt block I found called Bright Hopes. I sized the surrounding pieces at 2″ (finished). This is a really great pattern for a quick project or for someone just starting out, as it has few intersecting seams. You can get the pattern over at Red Pepper Quilts.

This block tutorial taught me a new trick: sewing the first and second pieces together with a partial seam. Wow – what a fabulous idea. I suspect many quilters have been doing this forever, but it was a first for me. My Grandmother taught me to sew over 50 years ago (mostly clothes), and since then, I took one sewing class in high school, and a quilting appliqué class several years ago. I would love to take more classes or join my local guild to learn even more cool tricks, but my current schedule doesn’t allow. Perhaps someday…

The name inspiration? The legendary Bob Marley, of course!

Three Little Birds

Bob Marley

Rise up this mornin’
Smiled with the risin’ sun
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin’ sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true
Saying’, (this is my message to you)

Singing’ don’t worry ’bout a thing
‘Cause every little thing gonna be alright
Singing’ don’t worry (don’t worry) ’bout a thing
‘Cause every little thing gonna be alright

This was donated to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, for a child in foster care in October 2018.