I finished the second Not So Silent Garden block.
Pressed it. Graded the seams. But something just wasn’t working – my Not So Silent Garden needed to be more colourful and vibrant, not muted in any way.
So back to one of my original choices I went and made one new Not So Silent Garden block using the blue batik I had initially thought of for the kites. This time I decided on a bright pink for the triangles and a background fabric for the hexagons that has a rosy pink tiny dot. And I was much, much happier with it. It’s definitely not silent in any way!
Pressed it. Graded the seams. I know, I know – you can see extra lines printed on the back of the irregular hexagons. When I printed that sheet of the hexagons, I immediately realized I had made a mistake by choosing to print in portrait mode rather than landscape but, as I know my ink will wash out, I wasn’t worried and just reprinted on the same piece right away.
Given that I decided I wasn’t content with the look of the fabrics I first picked out for the Not So Silent Garden only after I’d finished the second block using those fabrics, I decided I’d best sew a second one with the new fabric choices just to be sure. Or was it because I was just having too much fun with these wonderfully cheerful and bright fabrics on a cold, wintery weekend? I’m not telling!
Pressed it. Graded the seams. And I love it. It’s brighter, and more cheerful. There’s an added benefit to this change of fabrics I hadn’t thought about – using batiks for the triangles and kites makes for a lot less bulk and the block is easier to press flat.
I’m going to sew one or two more of the Not So Silent Garden blocks right now, but then it’s back to working with a new rotation of one brown & blue Silent Garden block, a Harpsichord block, a Tranquil Garden block, another Harpsichord block, a Not So Silent Garden block, another Harpsichord block and then a 9-patch block. I don’t think I’ll have the Harpsichord blocks or the 9-patch blocks done when the brown & blue and Tranquil Garden blocks are finished, so they will continue in a rotation with the Not So Silent Garden blocks.
I will have a lot of printing to do of the kites, triangles and irregular hexagons for the Not So Silent Garden, but if I do a few pieces every evening or so, I’ll quickly have what I need printed.
On Wednesday, April 11th I heard a wonderful sound – a robin! I immediately went to look out and sure enough, there was a robin out on the roof garden. Of course I had to take a photo and of course you can’t really tell it’s a robin so we added the arrow and commentary, but that is the first robin of the so-called spring out on the lawn.
Why so-called spring? Because of this! Saturday morning we woke up to the sound of ice pellets hitting the window. Ice pellets on April 14th? Is this winter ever going to end??
Around 1:00 p.m. on Saturday I took this photo – while that may look like snow, it’s not. It was ice pellets that had accumulated. A while later on Saturday afternoon we had a bit of snow, but not much.
Sunday we heard more of the ice pellets. And I took this shot at about the same time as I had on Saturday – now we had ice pellets on top of the dusting of snow on top of ice pellets. And all I could think about was that poor robin – it must have figured it had gotten its months mixed up. And we’ve not heard it since Friday. Perhaps it decided to head south again.
Then yesterday it was snowing again. Although it’s not really obvious in this picture, it was a very fine snow that was falling. On April 18th! At this rate, I’m beginning to wonder if this is just going to be one long winter that never ends until we get one weekend of summer-like temperatures before it’s fall again.
“Here’s Your Change”
Jake was intently watching that robin on April 11th. Since the weekend, he’s not been very interested in looking out there and who can blame him!
Monday was Baxter’s 7th birthday! I can’t believe he’s already 7 – it really feels like almost yesterday we brought home that tiny, tiny kitten. He got a wonderful new toy and lots of treats and after all that, he had to have a rest in one of his favourite spots – his carrier.
Quilt Obsession 
I agree…the pink brought the block to life! And I am not a pink person. Ha, ha!
Still waiting for spring here, too, but at the least the snow has gone!
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Pink always seems to work for me – I think I must subconsciously choose other fabrics with a view to how well they’ll work with pink!
Cathi
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I love your blocks! And winter is here today, but after today I think we might have an end to it? I said that last week after the 80 degree day and then a day later it snowed again. We have a fire going in our wood stove this morning, burr! But the yard is full of robins and the bluebirds have arrived so it has to happen one of these days!
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I wish we’d have a day in the 80s! But there’s hope – I think we’re to have a couple of days in the 60s this week! Cathi
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Love the color change
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Thank you – I’m really glad I kept trying ideas as now I know I’ll love the finished top!
Cathi
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Hi Cathi….we too had ice and snow and then torrents of rain here in Massachusetts!! The snow and ice are gone, but it is gray and gloomy today. We have seen robins twice in between the bad weather. Like you. I think we will have no Spring and jump right into summer eventually!! I love all of your Not So Silent Garden blocks. The soft colored ones are lovely, but I do love the bright and cheerfulness of the brighter ones. I also love that you show the backs of your blocks….inspiration for me to trim mine!! Like you, I also work on different projects in rotation. It keeps me on my toes and doesn’t allow me to get careless. Therefore, I have many projects in progress and few that are completed!! lol Betsy
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I love the new blocks. You don’t deserve the weather you’re having. After all its past mid April. Hopefully the warm weather is just around the corner. Our spring has been very wet and cold but despite that the cherry trees are full of bloosoms. Summer is coming.
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It appears spring may have finally decided to make its appearance. I just hope that long-range forecast that says we’re to have one of the typical hot and humid Southern Ontario summers is right because the last two years we basically had a very long warm spring but no real summer and then fall came back.
Cathi
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We’re finally seeing real signs of spring but there were times I wondered if it would ever happen.
Thank you – I really prefer the brighter, more cheerful fabrics for the wild floral kaleidoscope stars.
I think having many projects in progress keeps any one project from becoming boring. At least that’s my excuse for sticking with a rotation sometimes!
Cathi
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Well, Jake and I view this “spring” with the same comment, “bah-humbug”. Is it ever going to end, this winter? Although I have a few more birds to look at, and they are staking their claims to real estate. Torby was looking out the window at a robin yesterday with a mouth full of dusty miller leaves and straw. Wonder what was on its mind?
Your fabric gardens are growing, one flower at a time. I’ve been stitching on my rose stars the last couple of nights.
Happy birthday, Baxter.
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I think our winter has finally moved on. Lots of signs of spring – finally!! I hope you’ve got even more signs of it now too.
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How many stories tall are you? The roof garden looks like a great place for a lonely Robin, maybe just in flitting by. It does look COLD, and your bright batiks are perfect for the blocks.
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The building itself is 51 stories high but the roof garden is actually the roof of the retail mall part of the complex, so that puts the entrance to the roof garden for us at the level of the third floor of the residential building. The roof garden is magical – we’re right in the downtown of a huge city, yet the roof garden makes it feel like we’re anywhere but there!
Cathi
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It maybe cheerless outside your snowy window,but there’s lots of cheerfulness is those blocks inside.
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Thank you! What a great way to look at it!
Cathi
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It is going to be a beautiful quilt. Here in the UK the winter has been a constant grey and all of a sudden we are having a heatwave with 23C in April. Crazy! I expect it will be shortlived.
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That summer teaser is always so welcome after a grey dismal spring and winter, isn’t it? I hope you had a few days of it to enjoy.
Cathi
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