Birds of a Feather – Complete!

Woohoo! And only, ahem, about 2 weeks late, I finally finished the wall hanging for my parents’ 40th anniversary. Here it is (click on the picture for the full size):

The Birds of a Feather Wall Hanging

It’s about 42″wide by 28″ tall. It was (almost) completely handmade. (The only lines sewn by machine are the “structural” lines that have to carry a lot of the quilt’s weight. There are eight lines of them: The four lines attaching the white fabric to the black and the four lines  on the border attaching the rod pockets to the back. Basically, the piecing is machine pieced because it’s stronger.) So all of those little stitches you see in the fabric? Hand stitched. Every single stinkin’ one of them.

I quilted a puzzle (or vermicelli) pattern into the background around the two big red flowers and an echo pattern into the two squares around the big birds. The backgrounds around the pears and stars were quilted with a 1″ diamond pattern. Here’s a close up of the right pear (click for the full size pic):

The Right Pear

I’m done and I’m pretty happy with the results. I could be a bit happier with the border, but I think I know how to fix that with the next quilt.

Next up, I’m making either a color wheel sampler or some appliqued patriotic fruit to go in a framed collage.  We’ll see. I want to do a really quick project next. And of course, I’ve got to quilt my Home Sweet Home quilt sometime. Oh wait! Mother’s Day is in a week or so. Hmp. Looks like I’m making a purse this week.

I hope you have a happy May Day!

End in Sight (Sorta)

The Birds of a Feather wall hanging I’m working on for my parents’ 40th anniversary is coming along. (Thank Gods! The anniversary is in early April. Yikes!) Here’s what the Birds of a Feather quilt looks like in the book:

The Birds of a Feather Quilt by Barb Adams of Blackbird Designs

That quilt, full sized, is a queen sized quilt. I don’t have time to make all of that. Plus, my parents don’t have the space to hang another quilt that big. (I’ve reserved the only large enough space for my Home Sweet Home quilt. When I move out, they’ll just have to deal with the big blank space where my quilt used to be.)

So I’m taking the parts of the Birds of a Feather quilt I really love and I’m mixing them up into a 24″ x 36″ (or thereabouts) wall hanging based on that quilt using the same pattern pieces.

Here’s the sketch on onion paper of my overall (re)design. Click on the picture to see the full size:

Sharpie Sketch of the Wall Hanging

It’ll be mostly in rich greens and browns with a small touch of blue here and there (for the birds) and red (for the berries). The border will be a wide 4″ black border print with hints of brown and gold. Here’s a close approximation of what the interior appliqued part will look like. Click to see the full size:

The Rough Sketch on Onion Paper

 

I’m changing the stars in the top right corner. They’re not big enough and I don’t like the placement. I’m also changing the pears in the lower left corner. They need to be darker. Also, the petunia blossoms will be brown. All in all, I’m happy with it.

I don’t think I’ll ever make another quilt as large as the Home Sweet Home quilt. That was a lot of work. (I write “was” like I’m finished with it. I wish. The top was a lot of work. The quilting will be more work. And I don’t look forward to it.)

But with this wall hanging, I can see the end of it near. I like that a lot. It’s gratifying to be able to finish more pieces than to labor away at one piece you never can make yourself complete because you’re just so sick of it. But then, I think that the end of the Home Sweet Home quilt will be all the sweeter because of all that labor and time and back-breaking work. And I won’t mention the tender fingers. At any rate… We’ll see.

In the meanwhile, I’ve got an idea for another wall hanging after I finish the Birds of a Feather wall hanging and the Home Sweet Home quilt. This time, I think I’ll try my hand at using my own design…

Paper Lilies

Upon the fine art of procrastination.

Instead of finishing my Home Sweet Home quilt like I ought to, I’ve been messing around with crepe paper and glue. And the Home Sweet Home quilt’s top is only 3 red scallops away from being complete. Here’s what it looks like right now, hanging over my big floor hoop:

Three More Scallops!

 

So instead of finishing my quilt top, and instead of working on the wall hanging I’ve got planned for my parents’ 40th anniversary coming up (in early April, for crying out loud!), I’ve been putzing around with making crepe paper lilies for the entrance hall table. I made three of them:

The Entrance Hall Table

It took about 45 minutes to make each flower. It takes about an hour to applique each scallop on the quilt. So in the time I was messing around with the paper, I could have finished my quilt top.

Oy.

But they are pretty.

Pretty White Paper Lilies

I gave each of them a different colored interior: red, lilac, and yellow. To give you a sense of scale, those yellow candles are 4 inches wide and 6 inches tall. They’re full size, big lilies. Here’s a close-up of the red one:

Click on the thumbnail for the full size picture.

OK. Back to the HSH quilt. Then, on to starting my parents’ 40th anniversary wall hanging. Oy.

P.S.: Oh, and I made those four tags hanging around the candle pillars yesterday, too. D’oh!

Home Sweet Home Quilt

I’ve been quilting like mad lately. I’ve been working out of the Home Sweet Home book by Barb Adams and Alma Allen from Blackbird Designs. I’m working on the No Place Like Home Quilt. Here’s what my finished quilt will resemble.

No Place Like Home by Alma Allen

I’ve used different and mostly darker fabrics, but the general folk look is the same. I’m almost done with the top to mine. I’ve got the center nine blocks together and three of the borders on. None of those million or so red scallops have been appliqued on yet. Though, they have been ironed into shape.

Since I’m doing the entire thing by hand (except the piecing) it’s taken me some time to get this far.  Ahem. I started it in September 2006. Don’t laugh! In my defense, for all of 2006, all of 2007, and a good bit of 2008, I did have tremors. So stitching was impossible most of the time. But now, I really don’t have an excuse not to finish it since the tremors are gone.

The downside of doing so much hand stitching lately is that my fingertips are sore from the needle, both from pinching it and from sticking myself with it.  Also, I’m sitting more than I usually do, which can make me a little stir crazy at times.

The upside is that my quilt top is almost complete! I’ll post pictures of what I’ve completed thus far in future posts.