Splendid Sampler 2 - Tulip in Bloom by Nadra Ridgeway
This one looked a fairly easy block to complete. However, looks can be deceptive. It took me for ever to decide on the fabrics, as usual. I went with yellow for th flower head as I used to have lovely large yellow tulips in the border at the front of the house. They always put on such a show in the late spring after the daffodils had died down.. the flower head on this went together very easily and quickly, nothing difficult there. Then I got to the leaves. I don't know how I got so confused with how to line up those diagonal joins. Must be my poor spatial awareness kicking in. The seam ripper came in very handy. I sewed it again and had to rip it out again. Third time lucky! I finished it off with a bit of big yellow stitching around the inside of the flower, but it doesn't show up very well.
Time to make: 3 hours No. of pieces: 16
Splendid Sampler 2 - Free as a Bird by Irene Black
I decided to make my bird a yellow canary. I used fusible applique, sewn with machine buttonhoe stitch. The branch in the pattern was made from a bias strip but I used a bit of ric-rac for a bit of texture and added a flower to the end cut out from a scrap of fabric. the yellow fabric didn't stand oout so well from the grey stripe so I edged the bird in back stitch with yellow thread to give a bit more definition.
Time to make 3 hours No of pieces: 9
