I have started putting together a quilt for my niece. She works at a Wild Bird store and has developed a real interest in birds. I received a new bird feeder for Christmas, and she and I got to talking about birds. The bird feeder is supposed to appeal to Chickadees, and she said they were favorite, which was a surprise as they are also my favorite wild bird. I think they are just the cutest birds with their little top notch,
So I had told Joy that I would make her quilt and I had a Chickadee block I had made in a David Taylor class that I could incorporate into her quilt. I showed her the block and she loved it.
So I started using EQ to design a quilt around this block which is approx 14 1/2" square. In the meantime I came across the beautiful panel of bird pictures. The selvage says Tracy Lizotte for Elizabeth Studio, Pattern 4309. It has 12 images, one of which I have already prepped to use in the quilt, but here are the other 11. They are so realistic, look almost like paintings.
In EQ I decided to use the Birds in the Air block for my quilt and intersperse the bird pictures and my Chicadee block. Here is the EQ drawing I came up with.
I spent a couple weeks cutting out blue fabric for the blocks, as I really want it to look scrappy. Joy did tell me her favorite color is blue, all shades of blue. My blues can be prints with other colors, as long as the blue is the most prominent. Also, I wanted true blue - no teals. I think I accomplished that for the most part. I started making the blocks, but since there are 10 in the first row, it took me a few weeks to get 9 blocks of different fabrics for the first row, which also includes one of the bird images. I need 104 Birds in the Air blocks, and so far I have 52 made. I raided my stash, and got between 2 to 8 blocks cut from each fabric. I may need a few more, but will see when I get closer to have it done. I finally put the first row together on my design wall, and must say, I like the way it is looking.
3 comments:
Lovely birds..nice post.
Hope you don't run out of blues!!!
Love bird block you started with it goes so well with the panel you are using.
Oh my! I doubt that when you offered to make Joy a bird quilt, you had any idea that it would become so involved. Your EQ8 design is really wonderful, but so much piecing! Still, it's great to use stashed fabrics and scraps, and if you can get the whole quilt from your personal inventory, that's great! I'm sure she will love it, as the concept, design and colors are perfectly suited to her. Good for you!
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