January | 2017 | Simple Bird Applique

Is it just my imagination or did December fly by unusually fast? I can’t believe it is 2017 already and 2016 is a distant, fond memory. I did, however, manage to find some spare time to work on Block 5. I’ll be honest, taking time to stitch saves my sanity (and my family’s sanity). Along with the usual things to do in December, cooking, baking and entertaining, Paul and I have been doing quite a bit of snowmobiling. Yesterday was a beautiful day to be out in the fresh air! We hit the trails around lunch time and came back at dinner time.

I ran into a bit of a glitch with this block. I traced, I cut, I prepped and glued most of the pieces onto the background, hoping that I would find those rare pockets of time to stitch. And stitch I did. Almost everything was stitched in place before I realized I had grabbed the wrong background. What to do….what to do? I swore. Then I un-stitched every little leaf, every little strawberry, every little piece. Then I carefully pulled each piece away from the background, traced the right background and glued everything in piece again(!). Now I can sit and stitch and chuckle:)

Block 5 is another one of those blocks that go together like a jigsaw puzzle. Also, this blocks consists of a few layers, which means that some pieces get placed on the background first, and then pieces get placed on top of those pieces. Believe it or not, there is a very logical sequence to this block!

First, I traced the block on the background (the right background!) with a Clover Watersoluble Marker. I like the “thick” one for tracing the pattern on the background. I traced all my pieces on one layer of freezer paper and then ironed that piece to another piece so my templates are 2 thicknesses of freezer paper. I started to build the epergne.

Next, I started to add the leaves and the fruit.

You can see in the top right corner there are some 2-tone leaves. They are easy to make. Completely prep one side of the leaf, and leave the other side with the seam allowance un-prepped.

So, I just kept adding each piece, paying attention if it went underneath or on top of the next piece. Love the pineapple!

Now it is time to add the watermelon!

Next, I added the strawberries, blueberries and grapes. I still need to add the green little thingies that connect the blueberries and strawberries to the branches. I’ll do that after lunch:)

Here are the first 5 blocks in this BOM I launched back in September. If you are new to my blog, you can find the details of this BOM here. If you would be interested in stitching along with me, you can still sign up on my website, Simple Bird Studio. We have added another option for you to consider. You can sign up for the pattern and fabric, or you can sign up for just the fabric, for those that already have the patterns. You have until January 15 to sign up:)