Seeing the wood for the trees...

Johanna from my Bee Europa 2011 group asked for a block depicting a tree.
I thought about this for many hours (as I always do) and my searches seem to point to traditionally pieced tree blocks which are great but not quite what I wanted to do for her.
Following two prototypes done in very different ways (but both aiming to make a new fabric by joining strips together and cutting them randomly), I finally came up with the idea of an African type tree (I think it is called an African Savanna tree)...
I love how resilient these trees are and how they survive in extreme weather conditions.

Anyway, enough chatting and here are the fruits of my labour:

It is all made with pieces as small as 7/8 of an inch and it is a log cabin. Of course small pieces mean the block is fabric-hungry and although there is plenty of the green fabric left, we soon run out of the white and had to add some from my stash. Although not the same white, it adds to the whole effect of the block.

I used some pieces from my stash and there is a little owl and some flowers hiding in there too!!!

I loved making this block.

I hope you like it Johanna and i also hope your brother likes it too as it will end up on his quilt!!!

AHHH forgot to say that it is a large piece - i could not work out the maths of a piece like that to make it small scale...plus if I went any smaller with the pieces I would have lost the little mind I have left nowadays early on in the process!!!!

:-)

And last but not least, my patchwork group of lovely people in Patchwork Corner, run by Ferret, surprised me by giving me a quilt for Isabella last Thursday. I was extremely touched by that and very grateful that Isabella has a beautiful quilt made by a group of people that thought of her and quilted by Ferret. Very very grateful....

Here it is with the princess enjoying it!:

PS, my friend Jane who is an absolute genious, came up with Isabella's second name in Greek as it should be written!!! check out the bear to the right!!!! Jane you are BRILLIANT!!!!

Amelie x

You cannot keep a good woman down!

Sooooooooooooooo much has happened since my last blog entry I don't know where to start!!!
So here we go in order of events:

1. We moved to our new home and then two days later we went off to Greece for 3.5 weeks for Isabella to meet her Greek grandad!!!
Grandad got his first quilt to warm up his night in the coming winter:

Yep, another Kaffe Fassett quilt to feed my obsession! My dad loved it! yippeeeee!

2. We came back to find that our NOT-so-lovely builder had gone together with the cash for materials and the house unfinished :-(

Too trusting and too stupid. I don't know whether losing the money hurt me more than hearing that during this time he was sleeping in our bed!!!! Would it be an extreme reaction to hunt him down and boil his bunny rabbits (if he has any?)?

Since then I have spend my days between holding/feeding/playing with Isabella and painting/cleaning/carrying/organising etc etc....

3. I finally have a sewing room as opposed to a sewing cupboard! another huge Yipppppeeeeeeeeeee

Got quickly over my guilt about the amount of fabric I have and have been arranging the room bit by bit. When it is finished I will post some photos.

4. This week I managed to recover my sewing from the garage (covered in dust and plaster thanks to the rogue trader) and I completed the August blocks for my Bee Europa. I felt so blooming guilty for not managing to do this sooner but in the scheme of things it was impossible to sew....

Here they are, 6 batic nine-patch blocks for Patricia:

4. Isabella will be 6 months next week!!! Time flies and she is growing fast...and here she is!

Best get some sleep whilst I can as princess sleeps through the night (YES I know I am lucky, fingers crossed this carries on and on!) BUT wakes up nice and early :-)

Amelie x