Introducing April's block: A Rainy Walk Home! Ever get caught out in the rain? This
month Sue did! (Click here for pattern)
I had fun working with these colors. Initially my thought was how in the world can I turn these colors into a rain theme! Yet, as always it came together.
Side note: To give credit where credit is due, the color palette comes from Design Seeds. As a designer, I am totally in love with this site!
I knew that the block would contain a Sunbonnet Sue. The obvious idea is to have her with an umbrella. That was pretty simple. Looking at the color palette, I decided the best option for her dress would be the light green. I went to my scrap fabrics and pulled out options. There were a couple on the table but I decided this combo was the best.
For her shoes, I felt like black was just too bold so I went with a scrap of solid brown. Wanting her to look like she was walking, when attaching her shoes I slightly angle the back foot. I decided to hold off on picking the umbrella fabric until I knew more about the block...again all of those greens!
Next the obvious thought is for the blue to be the sky. That was simple enough! I contemplated incorporating the cream here as appliqued raindrops. I remembered I wanted to explore new (to me) embroidery stitches. I decided to incorporate that here by embroidering raindrops using the Satin Stitch.
Even though I have hand quilted for years, I never had really explored the world of embroidery. To be honest, Charisma Horton inspired me to do so. Her wool pennies are beautiful! She has some adorable patterns incorporating them! (Click here to explore them in her Etsy shop.)
I thought about stopping here... rain, Sue & grass. It just felt too simple though for my other blocks. How could I add in that cream I was hesitant to use? Where was Sue going? Why, home of course! Recently I made a block for Patterns by Jen 2021 Monthly Color Challenge, which used really thin strips fabric strips. Hmm... what about a house with cream siding? Perfect. Another challenge what about the roof? Ummm? Green, duh. I decided to use the forest green and make a half square triangle roof. No, the chopped off tops isn't a mistake. I wanted make the house look taller, so I thought, how about chopping off the roof so it would (hopefully) appear to larger than the block. I 'think' it may have worked.
Ahh, finished...almost. After getting all of the individual components together, I went back to my color palette to see what greens I hadn't used yet. I think they could be classified as a Sage and Kelly green. I wasn't sure which to use for umbrella and grass. I let my scrap box be the deciding factor. I found this fabric from Benartex that fit the grass bill.
I'm thinking about embellishing this block with a water puddle and maybe adding a window to the side of the house. What do you think? I can't wait to quilt this block, I think I will simply stitch raindrops all over!
Here is the collage of the other designers #QuiltBlockMania April blocks! Totally love the creativity!