I have been excited about this one because I had a specific project in mind to do and this gives me a reason to DO IT. To explain, I shall have to start at the beginning...
I had won some fabrics designed by Amy Bradley
Along came the announcement for this Blog Hop. I was so excited! It gave me a reason to get this quilt made for my step-son. I have made it in secret and have decided that it will either be a birthday present for him in August, or a Christmas present.
In designing this quilt, I decided to start with H blocks since his name is Heron. I debated whether or not to actually put a Heron on the quilt, but decided against it as it would not go well with the adorable multi-colored birds in Amy's fabrics.
I wanted to feature this cute white fabric which had the singing birds on it, so I added a square in a square block.
This blue "birds on a wire" fabric was just so adorable, that I wanted to let as much of the birds be seen, so I cut 6" squares and added them to the over-all design.
In order to get the most out of my "bird" fabric, I calculated how many blocks I could get out the fat quarters, using every last scrap that I could. I decided to go with a layout of 4 x 5 12" blocks consisting of 4 six inch blocks in each.
I had to add a few mismatched blocks here and there to complete the layout, but I really liked the look of how random it was, so I actually ended up adding a few more in the mix.
I concentrated on using colored fabrics from my stash to compliment the colors that Amy's birds were in her fabrics.
The border is made of birdhouses that I simply made up as I went along. Didn't bother using patterns, I'm kinda a miss-matched kind of girl, so I just MADE them, again, using fabrics from my stash and a ripped sheet that I chose to "up-cycle".
I had a spot where the fabrics did not quite meet together, so, (considering that I live in a suburb of Portland, OR), to quote the skit from the show Portlandia, I "put a bird on it". I picked up the blue fabric and simply free-handedly cut a bird out of it, sewed it on, and gave it thread details.
Here is the entire quilt.
The back of the quilt consisted of solids that I had in my stash.
I quilted by machine in yellow thread using a simple meandering stitch all over. I completed one or two strips at a time to avoid too much bulk and it being too heavy to maneuver with my machine. I think the back makes for a pretty cool modern-looking quilt all on it's own.
I am pretty proud of myself for completing this Bird Quilt. I love the fact that I did not have to purchase anything to complete it and simply used what I already had. Makes me want to see how much more I can make and finish just using that which I already have here at home. I think my next project that I would like to start is a "modern" style quilt because I have never done one, and I think it might be pretty cool to do so. I have another step-son that would need a quilt too... hmm...
Thanks for stopping by! A BIG thank you to Madame Samm and to Mary for putting this Hop together.
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Thursday, May 9
Have a very Tweet day!
Lavonna ZWB
