Saturday, August 18, 2018

Orange Birds

I didn’t get too much orange sewing done this week because I really didn’t start on it until Thursday. My energies prior to that were focused on garden veggies and finishing a quilt. First, the vegetables. Bruce, for some reason, thought it would be a good idea to plant three yellow crookneck squash plants. Suffice it to say that besides eating it and freezing it, we’ve been passing it out to the neighbors and I’ve been taking a basketful (15-20 pieces) to Weight Watchers every week. Our WW leader even called me the Vegetable Queen, lol.

And speaking of Bruce, he loved his Groovy Guitars quilt that I finished this week. Thank goodness and hallelujah!!  You can read about it in the previous post, or click HERE. But I’m ready to talk about sewing on my orange scraps, and there are a lot of others who are too. You can check out their work at Rainbow Scrap Saturday over at Angela’s blog.

It’s been about 3 months since I’ve worked on my birds. That’s because the colors I’ve chosen are that of the focus fabric; rich blues, greens, pink, yellow and orange. My notes told me I needed to make four of these 10” (finished size) birds; two facing right and two facing left. I cut the pieces on Thursday and then set out to work yesterday, listening to my Aretha Franklin tunes in memoriam of the Queen of Soul.


Each bird is different, not only in the fabrics, but in little piecing variations. The pattern I’m using is my own adaptation of Margot Langedoc’s Feathers pattern, which makes an 8” block and a free online pattern here, which makes a 12” block. My birds are 10” (finished size) and have a rounded wing (suggestion from Sally) and a haphazard way of adding partial triangles at the bottom of the forewing.


When I do birds of a given color, some are all in that color, like the two orange birds above, and some are mixture of two of the main colors. I’m hoping this will help tie all them together. The bird below is the first one in which I used four different fabrics.


I will probably have one or two leftover birds (that sounds funny....) and if so, will use them on the back.


Here are all the birds of an orange feather, flocking together as they do.


And then I sewed up a couple more of the Irish Chain (“lattice” blocks) so I could lay out all the different colored birds. More than anything, I wanted to see how the spacing around the birds worked with the lattice blocks.


Hmmm.... yes, I like it. No, I LOVE it!!  There will be a total of 31 bird blocks and 32 lattice blocks. Next time we have a blue month, I’ll be sewing up the remaining 28 lattice blocks. And there are lots more blue (7) and green (4) birds to sew. This is on track to become a 4th quarter finish, at least the top.

Oh, and we had some orange interest in the garden this week. Sunflowers!!


These were taken earlier in the week; we have at least 5-6 open now and they’re always covered in bees. YAY!


We also have lots of pumpkins (large and Jack-be-Littles) turning orange already. I guess they want to match the still-smoky skies.

The front planters are looking pretty good these days....


And the flower pots along the front walkway are really doing well. You can click to enlarge... That little rose tree was planted just this spring and has already had two flushes of yellow roses. I’m sure we’ll have at least one more before the cool weather sets in.


Also new this year was this coneflower. We used to have these all over the garden, but the last few years they went away. So I’ve been adding them back in here and there.


Pretend you don’t see the weeds in the above picture. It’s been too hot and smoky to work outside any longer than necessary (to pick vegetables). Today our lawn guys, who are also arborists, are coming to trim the apricot tree, a couple trees in front, remove a few problem things and that da** umbrella tree that you can see two pictures up beyond the flower pots.  My roses and hydrangeas, among other plantings there, need more space and sunshine.  After they’re gone, I’ll be making plum jam and a huge triple batch of chili, using garden tomatoes, onions, peppers, etc.  And then I can sew all afternoon!!


21 comments:

  1. The birds look great with the lattice blocks. Great idea to pair them together like that. Your gardens are lovely. Hugs, lj

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  2. You know I love everything about this post. When I read the title "orange birds" my mind went to a funny story.

    Both of our grandsons were in the car with Terry and I. Terry has forever and ever made up stupid songs for the boys. There was construction on the road near us and the boys said Papa I bet you don't know a song about orange barrels. He said oh yes I do and began singing it. The boys said that it was the worst ever, but Terry told them it was a real song that was on the radio a long time ago. Sure enough, Kyle googled it and found the UTube video of the song from about the 80s. It's a forever joke around here.
    xx, Carol

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  3. LOVE your spin on the birds. The chain going through them is perfect. Can't wait to see where they all land. :) Have a great week.

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  4. I love all your birds, too! The orange ones remind me of the Western Tanagers that were in our yard earlier this spring/summer. The chain going in between the bird blocks is going to be a nice touch, too! Happy squash eating! :)

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  5. Your little birds always make me smile! And they do look spectacular in that lattice - like they're doing acrobatics!

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  6. Your garden looks great! I hear ya, with the smoke and the weeds...got plenty of both here, too.

    Love the birds! I just might have to make a few!

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  7. I'm also in love with your little flock of birds. Going to have to bookmark the pattern sites. I haven't been able to get outside much at all and I bet our air has been cleaner than yours. This has been a tough summer for practically everyone!

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  8. I'm with you on the Irish Chain alternate blocks for your birds... LOVE it!!!

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  9. Your birds are looking good. I'm looking forward to seeing your finished quilt with the lattice chain blocks.

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  10. What a marvellous post, Cathy. Like reading a story. All the garden photos and information were so interesting. Love your orange birds and your setting idea of alternating them with the blue lattice blocks is super - no wonder you LOVE it. Happy cooking and happy sewing!
    That's funny, just reread my comment before posting and found I had typed "happy cooing" - perhaps that's what your birds are doing!

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  11. I love your birds! I have also bought the Feathers pattern but have not started to make birds yet. I'm envisioning a quilt with a mixture of birds so I followed the link to a 12" bird. It took me to Quilting Support where I could purchase a pattern for a 10" bird foundation pattern. That confused me! Could you explain a bit more please Cathy? I did use the search box on Quilting Support but that only led to a 6" bird. I love all birds but really would love a free 12" birdie!
    The Irish Chain in blue is just right! Thank you!

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  12. I love your Irish Chain and birds together--superb pairing!! Your birds are SO pretty..my little grandgirls love bird watching (I got Willa little binoculars for her upcoming b-day and each of them a little Bird Field Guide for their hiking outings ...)
    Looking forward to seeing your birds all "flock" together... we are seeing flocks already here readying for their Fall flights South...hugs, Julierose

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  13. Your bird quilt is really coming along. It's going to be another stunner. Wish I could grow some sunflowers, but either the deer, rabbits, or squirrels nip the seedlings off before they have a chance.

    Pat

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  14. I love those birdies.

    FYI the link to the free birds are no longer free. They are 3.99 :)

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  15. Seeing your happy little birds today is just what I needed! I've been looking for ideas for two different projects, and I think bird blocks are just the ticket. One is a round robin, actually a row robin, so wouldn't robins be a cute addition? The other is blocks with the theme "sunshine" and so far everyone seems to be doing yellow suns. A few blue birds of happiness would make a nice bonus :) Thanks for the inspiration!

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  16. I think those little birds (in any color!) are my absolute most favourites. They just plain make me feel happy. I feel for you with the over-abundance of squash because Jack always insisted on planting at least four hills of zucchini and we ended up with bushels (truck loads?) of them. Now, of course, we miss them! Miss them enough that we talked to one of the vendors at the local farmers market last week and asked if he ever happened to have any big ones that he'd consider selling. He was quite astounded that anybody would be interested and told us that he had them rotting in his fields. We ordered 6 big ones (which have already been turned into lasagna, cakes, muffins and various other goodies) and we ordered four more yesterday. I think he thinks we're very odd to want the big ones!

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  17. that is going to be an absolutely beautiful quilt when it gets finishes! Already you get a blue ribbon from me!

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  18. I love your layout for the birds. And its amazing how much that little bit of beak adds. Buddy says your quilt looks yummy.

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  19. The chain makes a perfect setting for your birds. That will be One Happy Quilt!

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