Crow quilt block | Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

I had a lot of fun sewing the crow blocks for Velda last month. She blogs over at Granny Can Quilt. Those crows took on a personality by themselves. By the time I was done, fabric had flown all over and a huge mess was everywhere.

So I wrote Velda a letter to introduce these feisty crows and included it when I mailed them to her.

You can read more about my April Bee Blocks here.

Here’s a peek at the letter I sent and then you can see if you can pick out who is who.

Hi, Velda!

I really don’t know what happened but I woke up this morning and a whole murder of crows were flitting about my sewing room. Unfortunately, they are not a quiet bunch. So I shut the window fearing anymore would fly in, opened the envelopes (there are two) and shoved them in. Such a ruckus they had so I am warning you as you open the envelopes that “all hell will break lose” in your house.

Let me introduce you to (you’ll have fun picking them out or at least I hope you do):

Charles: This is one sophisticated “he” crow. He’s dashing and debonair, and very stylish although his pants never seem to match his other attire. He tends to choose pants that make him appear taller than he actually is.
Sharlamane: She prefers going by Sharla and gets rather snippy if you address her formally. She’s a sister to Millie and one colorful bird—both with her attire and her language. But rumor has it that she’s got cold feet with the fellas.
Henrietta: This is one sassy old crow; probably stemming from the fact that she was raised by a bunch of chickens. She’s always poking her nose err beak into other’s business and turns green with envy. You can tell when she’s going to throw a fit as her beak starts to turn color first.
Millie: She’s an entomologist. Birds, bees, and other insects just seem to follow her everywhere. You can barely tell she’s Sharla’s sister as they never see eye to eye on anything but they do have some similarities.
Harry: Now he’s a navy man err crow. He’s always loved the sea. Some of the ladies think he’s rather a “stuck in the mud” kind of guy. Once he’s made up his mind about something there’s no changing it. Watch out for this one. Once he’s attached to you, there’s no way to get him to move on.
Roberto: This dashing dude crow thinks he’s hot stuff. The ladies really swoon over him. When he starts talking and flapping and doing his little crow dance, he gets everything and everyone stirred up around him. I think you’ll fall for him too. I had a hard time saying goodbye as I was smitten from first glance.
Gertrude: This sweet crow would do anything for anyone. Unless you call her Gertie. Then you’ve made her bad side. She’s always cleaning up around her. Her little beak is always so busy with tidying up that it often looks sore. Dust seems to follow her where ever she goes.
Harvey: This delightful crow is rather a noisy and nosey fella. He’s always poking his beak into other crow’s business so much it often looks like it’s sporting a bruise.
Abigail: She’s always running late and always in a hurry. She doesn’t seem to mind wearing two different socks. Don’t get in her way or she’ll run right over you.

And there you have these delightfully noisy crows to stay with you forever. Sorry, but I don’t sew quietly. I know you said you didn’t want more but I couldn’t help myself as this was such a fun project. Maybe you can use the extras on the back or just make your quilt larger. Thanks for helping me out.

Have fun, Karen

Now it’s your turn to have a little fun. Can you tell which crow is which? Click on Crow Quiz below to take you to my quiz to see if you can correctly identify the names of these feisty but oh so colorful, new, feathery friends of Velda’s. Thank you to my newly college graduated son for creating this quiz for me (I guess 4 years of college really paid off) He was able to graduate in 4 years with a degree in Computer Science AND another degree in Electrical Engineering. This is one proud mama!

Crow Quiz

What I Learned Today:

When the fabric speaks to you, just go with it.
My quilting is more a matter of enjoying the process and less about creating the finishes.
It’s always stress-relieving to include a little fun in the process.
When it comes to computer stuff, it’s so much easier to ask for help or in my case let a kid do it for me.

Question: What have you done for fun lately?

Linking with Sew Fresh Quilts, Wednesday Wait Loss, Midweek Makers, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Sew Can She, and Em’s Scrapbag.

My husband asked me, “Why do you participate in those Bees and then mail away your hard work?” So I thought I’d give you a list of the reasons why I choose to do so. Feel free to add other reasons in the comments sections why you participate, if you do so.

It gives me a good opportunity to try out block patterns to see which ones I’d eventually like to include in a future quilt. I can honestly say that most of the blocks I’ve sewn so far are ones that I probably would not have thought to use but now I see that many would make a beautiful quilt.
Sherry from Tennessee received this 16 1/2″ block. Those 40 little blue squares were not so little as they started out at 2 1/2″. She asked us to use any shade of blue including navy and turquoise but limit the use of pastels. I had to ask my mom for some of her blue fabrics to get a nice variety. Sherry’s daughter is getting married and these quilt squares will be part of her wedding quilt.

You can read more about this quilt here and get the pattern and tutorial here. This envelope cost me 70 cents to mail because it was overweight.
I learn new techniques (such as improv when I made Kate’s trees and gnomes block) that I probably would not have tried on my own. Yes, it puts me out of my comfort zone.
These Bee blocks allow me to use colors that I’d never put together on my own.
Lis from Nebraska asked for Tic Tac Toe using orange, pink and white. I probably would never have chosen to use those color combinations but it did look really nice when it was done. This block was 12 1/2″ unfinished.

If you are interested in making some of these Tic Tac Toe Blocks, you can find the pattern here. The postal attendant brought out the slot to check for its size and it didn’t go through. Thus it cost me 98 cents to mail. If you’ve read about my other blocks I’ve mailed each month, you probably agree that there appears to be no rhyme or reason behind the postal rates.
I get to “meet” other quilters from all over the world. I’ve shipped blocks to Canada, England, Australia as well as many states in the U.S.
Velda from Prince Edward Island in Canada asked for 4 crows for her block. She asked that we not sew them together so she could incorporate our crows along with hers in the quilt. Each little crow block was 6.5″ and really went together well. There were some improv parts such as the beaks. It was a good thing that I had already lifted the lid on my comfort zone box or these crows might have really been a stumbling block.

Velda’s got some crazy crows living close by that have been causing her such consternation as they create such a cacophony and conundrum around her house that she decided to embrace the chaos and celebrate them by making an incredible crow quilt. But these are not just your typical crows; they are a colorful bunch.

You can read Velda’s post here. Free downloadable patterns for birds or crows can be found here or here (this one is paper pieced but could be easily adapted to piecing).

Velda graciously volunteered to take my Bee month for April so I thought I’d send her some extra crows. I don’t know what happened as I cut out enough for 8 but as you can count there were 9 when I finished. But I didn’t stop there, I had some fun with these crazy crows and let their personality shine as I named each one and sent Velda a letter introducing them. I will share more about my unruly crows in my next post.

I put 4 crows in one envelope along with the letter and 5 in the other envelope. Evidently sending mail to Canada is expensive as each envelope was too thick to go through the 1/4″ slot (yes, they were checked), each was overweight (yes they were weighed), and each was leaving the country. Thereby, costing $2.50 to mail each envelope.
It allows me an opportunity to improve my sewing skills. I’ve become much better at matching seams and sewing an exact scant 1/4″ seam especially when it gets sent to someone else.
I get to participate in something bigger than just making a quilt for myself. I look forward to seeing those blocks I sent to others made into a quilt.
It’s fun!

What I Learned Today

I miss those crazy crows. I will have to make some for myself.
I need to sew up the May Bee Blocks early this week.
I will be Queen for one of the Bees next month which means I have to decide on a block pattern, sew one or two blocks, and write a post.
I do have a plan.

Question: What’s got you excited today?

Linking to:

Monday Making and Main Crush Monday. Buttons are on the sidebar, too.

I’m trying a new linky party this week. Show & Tell Monday with Bambi