Tuesday, February 02, 2016

Caswell Block B3

Oh my goodness, I'm so pleased to have finished this block. There were elements of it that were tough! Well, not that tough, but I did learn a new skill ... I'll explain shortly - here's the finished block:

Caswell Quilt - Block B3




As you know, my favourite technique for applique is needle-turn. I've been doing it for years, and I feel reasonably confident that I can tackle most things with it. But as I was contemplating the nest and the birds, I couldn't settle on which would be the best order to do the pieces. That's when I decided to try a technique I'd read all about at Teresa from Fabric Therapy's blog. She uses freezer paper and glue bastes. Do check out her fabulous tutorials - they're amazing!

I constructed the nest first:

It was pretty easy, and I was very confident going forward. Teresa talks about being sparing with the glue, but I got a bit preschool and used plenty, so it was a little hard to needle afterward, but I'm sure practice makes perfect. All confident, I tackled the blue bird next and it was much tougher, but by the time I put the pink bird together, I was super happy with how it was all going. I will definitely use the technique again for tricky elements. Thank you Teresa!

It's getting late here, so I should get to bed - I have tennis tomorrow morning if it stops raining. It seems we dash from major heat to major rain - just the extremes for us to deal with. I have some emails to catch up etc etc, but they will all have to wait until tomorrow. Chatter soon!

10 comments:

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

I love Theresa's patience in her work, I'm always in too much of a hurry. I think your block looks great!

Anonymous said...

Tazzie, this quilt is wonderful,
and your use of the fabric in the birds is amazing!
Thanks for the Fabric Therapy site,
I'm going to try it on the current applique I'm not happy with.
Judy in the Mitten

Tired Teacher said...

The adult birds are beautiful, and I agree with Judy that your fabric choices were perfect for the birds and the rest of the block.

Wendy Caton Reed said...

Oh oh, I think this is my favorite block! I too have watched Teresa's fabulous tutorials and wondered if I would ever dare give it a try. (I'm not that good with glue!). Thanks for daring to try and sharing it with us. Maybe I will give it a go.

Kyle said...

Great to learn a new technique and it worked out so well. The bird family is precious. Hope it stopped raining long enough to to go play. My exercise today was shoveling 15" of heavy snow :0(. The driveway seems to get longer and longer.

AnnieO said...

That is a stunner! Glad the new technique was a good match after all.

Janet said...

Gorgeous block. Your fabric choices are just beautiful. This may be my favorite block so far. Again,thank you for sharing.

Sue said...

Thanks so much for sharing Teresa's tutorials Tazzie. I'm going to give her method a try. Have you tried applique using Simple Bird applique way.

simplebirdapplique.com

Her method is excellent as well.
Love the fabrics you used for your birds.

Karen said...

I especially like the blue bird. Nice fabric choices.

Teresa Rawson said...

Your block looks beautiful!! Thanks for the shout-out...that is so sweet. I did find my Caswell Quilt pattern, but also found my Gorsuch Quilt pattern. Hmmmm... Now I need to find my tubs of large-yardage background fabrics. Then I have a decision to make about which one to start. I am tempted to re-draw some of the Caswell blocks...do you think that's horrible? I am so bad about wanting to do that, LOL! Keep up the beautiful work...you will have this pretty thing done in no time!!

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