May 2023 #focuscuttingsewalong

Hello everyone!

Another month has gone by in the sewalong. In keeping with Naomi's plan to have a colour theme every other month, May's theme was Pink. I made six blocks in total on the theme.

We finally had some decent sun at the end of the month for pictures. Although taking pics around kids playing has its drawbacks.

We actually started May with a freestyle special week to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III. I made one block.

I used one of the same fabric last year when were celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. This is the only crown fabric I have, and I have now reduced it to scrap, so if the royals give us anything else to celebrate in the near future I will need to be more creative with my idea.

Week 18 was the start of the Pink theme, with the prompt of identifiable motifs. I made two blocks.

First up, these teddies.

This is an old fabric that came from my Mum's stash. I also have some of it in blue.

And secondly, Alice in Wonderland.

Obviously, Alice wears blue, but the background of this fabric is a pale pink so it counts for this theme. This fabric is a licensed Disney one from Aldi.

Week 19 was obscure sections. I made one block.

I think I did pretty well on the obscurity for this one. And I like the cross shape in the middle. Here's the original fabric.

So this pattern is made of Tinkerbell's legs. Again, it's a licensed Disney fabric from Aldi.

I think this one looked good before I basted the pieces, it had a sort of rose effect in the centre.

Moving on to week 20, and pattern matching. Again, I made one block.

I made it easy on myself and just matched two pieces. The bee fabric is by Maureen Cracknell, I bought it at the start of the 2019 sewalong as it was a close match to Living Coral which was the Pantone colour of the year we celebrated in January of that year.

 This triangle arrangement of motifs is one  that our host, Naomi, regularly uses. Indeed for this same week, she did pink butterflies in this arrangement, so I was very much taking my cue from her.

And finally, week 21 was pink freestyle. I made two blocks.

Firstly this paisley pattern.

Another Aldi fabric. I am never sure as to whether a shape like this really counts as an 'identifiable motif' so I tend to use them for freestyle weeks.

And lastly, these ring-tailed lemurs.

This is an old Rashida Coleman-Hale fabric from when she was with Cotton + Steel. For some reason my husband has taken against this fabric. But I like it, and the strong lines in it work well for focus cutting. You can see it in blocks from previous years here and here, 

So that was May! The theme for June is Lines, which I am very happy with, it's been one of my favourites in previous years.

Thanks for reading!