Happy New Year!
It's the new year and the first month of the
It's the new year and the first month of the
2020 Monthly Color Challenge!
For this month's pattern and instructions,
go to Jen's Blog - Patterns by Jen
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January - Finch (Yellow)
This is such a pretty bird!
The Goldfinch is the state bird of New Jersey, Iowa, and Washington, and it is common at feeders that offer sunflower and nyjer seeds. It is the Spring male (the Breeding Male Goldfinch) that is such a brilliant yellow with shiny black and bits of white. The females are a bit more dull yellow and actually look olive in color. It too is a beautiful bird!
Goldfinches are usually easy to find around much of North America, and it's their "po-ta-to-chip" flight call draws attention to them in open areas.
Click HERE to listen to the beautiful sounds of these birds.
If you want to attract Goldfinches, plant native thistles and milkweed, as well as other composite plants. These beautiful birds are attracted to almost any kind of feeders, including hoppers, platforms, and hangers. They are also happy to feed off of the ground, so sprinkling seeds is just as good for them.
There are many thoughts regarding the symbolism of Goldfinches.
They are considered to be a sign of exuberance, liveliness, and enthusiasm; and their arrival is meant to remind us to enjoy life and savor every moment and not waste time or energy on negative thoughts. What a beautiful idea!
Speaking of beautiful, yellow is a wonderful color to use in quilts. I used to be afraid to use yellow because I was afraid that too much of it would be distracting, and too little would look out of place.
I don't feel that way any more and enjoy adding pops of yellow to a number of my projects. I think it works perfectly in these quilts.
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So let's take a look at this month's color challenge block.
Here are my fabrics.
(Remember that I am making two blocks -
one with a black background and one with a white background; and I am using batiks for my colored prints.)
Isn't this yellow wonderful? I purchased it, along with all my batiks at Once Upon a Quilt Shop in Ft. Lauderdale when I was there back in December.
FYI
Once Upon A Quilt opened in 1998 and features the full line of Bernina machines, a 1500 square foot Event Center, a machine service center, longarm quilting services, and 2500+ bolts of the finest 100% cotton fabric - just like the batiks I bought for this project. :-)
The steps to making this block are very simple and straightforward.
Go to Jen's Blog for cut sizes and the instructions.
Be sure to press well, so as to avoid any misshaped strips.
I chose to match up the strips before cutting them so they would be ready to sew in the next step.
And they are ready to sew!
Nice looking four patches!
I did the "twist and spin" thing for pressing to help my blocks lay nice and flat.
I love these blocks! The batik yellow looks like it is a solid, but it's really not.
Check out the other bloggers who are making this block. I just love how the change of fabric makes that blocks look totally different.
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2 comments:
Beautiful blocks!
Love your round quilt. Thank you for sharing various uses for yellow. I also appreciated your step by step photos.
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