Just a little later than planned - the bird watching quilt

I really did mean to post over a week ago, but technical issues got in the way.  I know it sounds like the modern version of "the dog ate my homework", but I really did have tech problems! I sat down to download the required pictures and couldn't find the necessary cable.  The likely culprit in the disappearance was not home, then I forgot multiple times to interrogate the likely culprit when he was home.  I finally remembered to ask if he had seen it, he returned it, and the internet promptly went down. By the time that was resolved, I was busy in the garden trying to divide plants before the heat hit, then baking for the culprit's high school graduation party coming up this Saturday.

So now, without further babbling, here's what I said I would post over a week ago.

I have struggled with this quilt and I am still not sure I got it right. A customer came in to the shop where I work with a pretty quilt that used these soft bird panels and the floral.  On impulse decided to make one too. I bought the same fabrics and rushed to start...and couldn't remember the details.  That's OK, I thought I'd just use the general idea as a starting point and run with it.

I don't mind this picture at all, but I hated it on my wall in real life.  The floral wasn't popping as much as imagined, and the whole thing looked very dense and busy.  How about more floral in the borders?

I rather liked this, so I went ahead and finished piecing the center of the quilt. Then I looked at it and felt it looked too much like a checkerboard of birds.  I also couldn't decide what fabric I should use for an inner border before the floral.  Looking at this picture now, I think I could have just used the floral as the inner border.

However, I didn't see that then, and  I decided to extend the diagonal lines of green rectangles into the border to distract from the checkerboard effect.

This still looked very busy to me and adding a floral border just added to the crowded look so the floral border had to go.  In the end I just added a wide blue border to float the whole center on a blue background.

Now I need to decide how to quilt and bind it.  I still want more floral, so maybe I'll use it for the binding.  As for the quilting...I know what I don't want better than I know what I do want!  I do not want to trace those birds in free-motion quilting! An all-over loose swirl design might look good, but I'm going to have to overcome a mental block about quiting willy-nilly over those birds!  Also, I think I still want the borders to be distinct from the center somehow, while still floating the center.  My mind's eye really doesn't ask for much!

Sometime this week I will baste this and hope I have a plan by then.  Tonight, I'm going to step away from this one and play with sunflower fabric.  The kitchen table needs new placemats!

It's not really for the dog...

After finishing the pattern for the Canada 150 quilt (you can still download it free here)  I had a stretch of extra workdays at the shop, a miserable cold and a complete lack of quilting drive.  Last week I finally perked up a bit so I have something to share again.

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge color this month was "multi-color", fabrics that don't read even mostly as a single color.  I skipped my butterfly for the month and dug through the scrap bins to make this instead.  I think the setting triangles and the centers of the squares qualify as multicolor.

I made this to live here:

The point of it is this:

Believe me, this looks so much better than the ratty old towel we used to have there to protect the chair from dog hair and prints!  Well, the dog looked equally cute, but the ratty towel...not so much!    So, there we have it:  it looks like a quilt for the dog (and didn't that earn me a few horrified looks from a couple of ladies at the quilt guild who overheard me talking with another pet lover) but it technically is for the chair!  And as far as protecting the chair by keeping the dog off the chair...Sigh. We're marshmallows and that ship sailed about 3 days after Rosie moved in 2 years ago.

It wasn't on the list of things I should be working on, but it was quick and easy, just what I needed to draw me into my sewing corner again.  Now I'm playing with these pretties, also not on my list! (I think I need to move away from "should" in the sewing room so it continues to be a happy place.)

This isn't my usual fare of bright colors but I really like the soft quilt taking shape.  I'll share more next week.

Linking up with

DrEAMI at Musings of a Menopausal Melon

Canada 150 Quilt: It's your turn!

Here it is!  My Canada 150th quilt design is now a top!  Dancing a happy jig over here!

Canada 150 quilt top - 58.5" x 69.5"

There's a pattern too!

"150" by Canuck Quilter Designs pattern cover

I'm sure you noticed there isn't a finished quilt on the cover.  Generally speaking, I don't like EQ drawings as pattern covers.  I like to see a finished quilt that proves it's doable and looks decent in actual fabric.  However, I know some folks want to get started on this to have a quilt to show off on Canada Day in July, so I focused on the pattern writing before the quilting.  I figure those folks can see the flimsy here for proof that it's doable! As soon as I have the top quilted, I'll have a photo shoot for the pattern cover quilt and fix that cover.

You see that thin little maple leaf border?  I bought a ridiculous amount of border print to get that stripe of maple leaves.  I needed a length of fabric equal to the length of the quilt, so I bought 1 3/4 yards.  That thin little border isn't very wide.  After cutting four strips of maple leaves and discarding the print in between the strips that I didn't need for this, I still have 36" of width left! Still, I love the look.  The splurge was totally worth it!  I'll find some other celebratory project to use up the rest.

Still, if that splurge is not in your budget, you can substitute another fabric, such as polka dots, small stripes or a solid,  and get by with 1/8 yard (1/4 yard as stated in the pattern if you prefer wiggle room in your cutting).  Or, you can find quilty friends who might want to split that border strip yardage lengthwise with you!  You can get 5 quilts' worth of that thin border from the 1 3/4 yards.

Here's a list of the Northcott Sesquicentennial Collection fabric I used for my quilt:

• Newsprint print (21359-11)
• Red texture (21341-24)
• Off-white (21341-11)
• White-on-red leaf print (21361-24)
• Border print (21362-11)
• Backing will be the Canadian trivia print: 21360-11) 

In a previous post I offered to suggest a sewing schedule, so here it is. It really doesn't take long to put this quilt together, but I'm spreading this schedule out over 8 weeks to help folks fit it into small chunks of time here and there and still get a finish by Canada Day.

Week 1 - Cut fabric

Week 2 - Assemble large leaf 

Week 3 - Construct short leaf tip units for small leaf blocks

Week 4 - Piece long leaf tip units for small leaf blocks (super simple unit to paper piece,  just 3 pieces - I'll post a tutorial if you ask for one)

Week 5 - Piece the small leaf blocks' stem units

Week 6 - Assemble small leaf blocks from units made in weeks 3-5

Week 7 - Assemble all parts into quilt center

Week 8 - Add borders

If you start this week, you can be done by the first week in June and have 4 weeks lft for the quilting and binding.  Easy peasy!


In celebration of Canada's 150th birthday this year, I offered the pattern free for a limited time in 2017.  The pattern is now available to purchase in my Etsy shop.

Linking up with

Celebrate - Fêtons 150 at Quilting and Learning 
Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Let's Bee Social at  Sew Fresh Quilts