Back in December 2015 the postman knocked on the door, and had the most wonderful parcel for me - block 9 of Bluebird Lane by Natalie Bird of The Birdhouse Patchwork Designs. I finally started the first block just a few weeks ago at the beginning of March, and finally it was time to make the final block, called Home. I'd bought this gorgeous BOM online from Patchwork Chicks here in the UK. They really do have a fabulous website, and Karen the owner is really lovely (I've met her a few times at FOQ in Birmingham when we were helping Lynette set up her stall) and my orders always arrive promptly with a handwritten note inside - it's the little touches like that that mean so much. Anyway, once all the fabrics were pressed and sorted I made the appliqued centrepiece. I'd been trying some new applique needles by Hugs 'n Kisses and they're really lovely to sew with. I used to sew with Clover Black Gold applique needles, and they really are VERY fine, but also tend to snap easily. The Hugs 'n Kisses one are a bit more robust...
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...the applique was all completed using the applique paper and glue stick method, and using apliquick rods. There are several videos on YouTube demonstrating this method, and the one that I'd recommend is of Lynette Anderson - she talks through each stage really well. Eeekkkk!!! More blasted hexies - they really are the most devillish things to make, and the eagle-eyed ones of you may have noticed that there are some hexagon papers in the picture with the fabrics and patterns - and you may remember that hexagons aren't my best friend - I really don't like them, and this block has a few that are pieced together to make a couple of blocks for the side borders. Well, I took a deep breath, had a cup of tea, and decided to tackle them head-on. Once they'd been pieced together I got my revenge on these pesky little blighters by cutting the edges off - yes, that's right - my rotary cutter sliced right through them and squared them up ready to be pieced together for the borders...
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...and here it is, the final block for this gorgeous BOM. Now I just need to piece the blocks together and then I'll have the borders to make. That will be rather time consuming, as there are 42 star blocks to piece together. I've got a Bank Holiday weekend coming up soon, so I'm planning to spend a bit of time on them then. Hopefully I can leave my sewing machine up for a few days without Mr F complaining too much!
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