June 2022 #focuscuttingsewalong

Hello everybody!

This month in the #focuscuttingsewalong out theme has been Sound. This is a good theme, and while I have had lots of ideas in my head, I don't seem to have got many of them out into fabric form, and the ones I have done aren't particularly colourful, particularly after the bright oranges, reds and purples I worked with last month. I managed 6 blocks in total across the 4 weeks, and overall, I am feeling pretty flat about them as a set, even though I don't actively dislike any individual block. 

But as this is Sounds month, you also get a sound to listen to with each block! Do you agree with my choice of sounds? Do you think of any different sounds when you see the blocks? Let me know!

Week 22 was identifiable motifs. I went very literal on the theme here! I made two blocks.

The first block features these animal sounds:

I'm glad I didn't use this fabric last month for the animal theme, because it's a better fit here.

And for your sound, enjoy this amazing, very dated piece of Disney history.

And secondly, the one bright spark in this month is these superhero/comic book sounds:

I always love an excuse to bring out this fabric, it makes me happy.

And here's your sound! My kids used to play this one on repeat.

Week 23 was obscure motifs. I just made the one block.

Here's what the fabric looked like before I cut into it - the motif is cut from a saxophone.

For some reason, quite a bit of my musical instrument/musical notes fabrics are light brown or beige fabrics. This really contributes t the feeling I have of my selection of blocks for this month being a bit dull, even though I only used these fabrics twice. It also meant my go-to natural-light photography background (which is the decking in my back yard) didn't work very well.

Here's a song with a classic saxophone solo for you to enjoy:

Week 24 was pattern matching.  I made one block.

I think this is the first time I've done a single motif matching all six pieces. I'm fairly happy with the job I've done. but the last piece is slightly wonky and it bothers me.

It was harder to think of a specific sound for this one, as a treble clef is a pretty generic melody symbol, so please enjoy this performance of a Chopin Nocturne that I used to play. 

And finally, Week 25 was freestyle. I did 2 blocks, both of which could have fit under identifiable motifs. 

First up, more animal sound fabric.

A bit wilder with the animals this time, so I went with a nice big Roar! I like that the shape of the word gives a windmill effect in the block.

And here's a defiant, roaring song for you all (I've actually never actually watched the video before, it's not Katy Perry's best acting performance. But it's a great song for singing at the top of your voice.)

And for the final block, some French horns.

This is another beige coloured fabric. There's nothing wrong with beige as a colour, it has its place, but classical music is a lot more than the beige of manuscript paper. There could be some more colourful fabrics out there.

However there is no way I can look at these French horns without getting this stuck in my head:

Along with the Flanders and Swann version:

We have one completely freestyle week to celebrate being halfway through the year, and then the July theme is Water. I'm happy with the theme, I have plenty of fabrics that work with it, most of which have a good deal of colour in them (especially my favourite blue!), so hopefully that will get me out of this dull colour rut.

Thanks for reading!