Hummingbirds and Bluebirds

Welcome! Today is the 3rd day of the "It's For the Birds" Blog Hop and this is my day to present my projects. I would first like to extend many thanks to Madame Samm of Sew We Quilt who comes up with all these great blog hops and works tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure they happen successfully. I would also like to thank Mary Winegar of I Piece 2 for being such a wonderful cheerleader for this hop.

It seems like most of us love birds and I'm no exception! My particular favorites are hummingbirds and bluebirds, although I like almost all of them. (We also own chickens, turkeys and guineas, so I like those kinds of birds too, but none of my projects include them!)

We celebrated my mom's 80th birthday this past weekend. I'd already given her a quilt for her birthday, but she also wanted a triple zip pouch. Mom loves to feed hummingbirds and I figured I could kill 2 birds with one stone (ha! no pun intended--I don't really want to kill ANY birds!) so...

I put a paper-pieced hummingbird on the back! This was a pattern from the book, Backyard Bird Quilts by Jodie Davis. I've been wanting to make some of the projects in that book and this seemed to be the perfect opportunity. This particular pattern is rather unique in that the paper-piecing actually includes curves. You stitch the pieces on as you normally would, but then press creases into them when you turn them. I was quite pleased with how it turned out.

When I was considering projects to work on for this hop, I remembered a class I took back in about 2007 from Susan Brittingham called, "Upside-down Applique." At the time, I was rather intimidated by all the free motion stitching and I thought working from the back was confusing. Now that I've done plenty of free motion quilting and lots of paper piecing, I figured it was time to give this project another try. It really is sort of to applique what paper piecing is to piecing. I had just barely started working on this when I took the class and then set it aside for "someday."

Someday finally came when this blog hop was announced, so I pulled the project out of storage and finished it. There are net overlays on the wings and tail, which is one of the reasons for using this particular technique. You can't really tell from the photo, but I used iridescent threads on the wings and tail too. The fabrics I used were the ones that we were originally given when I took the class. I'm a bit a disappointed with some of the lack of contrast, particularly with the hummingbird's bill, but I guess this is just one of those "learning experiences!"

This was another unfinished project that I finally got done. It was a kit I had bought years ago and just never got around to making. It's such a relief to have it completed! I'm not sure if those birds are supposed to be bluebirds, but they look enough like bluebirds to suit me!

Finally, while I had some momentum going with working on bird projects, I decided it was time to make this paper-pieced bluebird that's a free pattern offered on Craftsy and designed by Liljabs. This was another project that I really wanted to make. I noticed that one of the blogs on Tuesday included this same block. It wasn't difficult to make, except for the feet--those are the tiniest pieces that I think I've ever paper pieced! I ran out of time to make it into a project, but I think I'm going to use it to make a cover for my sewing machine.

It wasn't until preparing for this hop that I realized just how many bird patterns and projects I have! There are so many more I would have liked to make, but I guess they'll just have to wait for another hop!

Thanks for coming and visiting today! I enjoyed sharing my birds with you!

Be sure to visit all the other blogs and their wonderful bird projects today too:

http://englating.se/wp

http://lauraluvsloons.blogspot.com

http://marjoriesbusycorner.blogspot.ca

http://ruffhaven.blogspot.com

www.pigtalesandquilts.com

http://debbykratovilquilts.blogspot.com

http://why-knot-kwilt.blogspot.com

http://beaquilter.com

http://gwenbru.blogspot.com You are HERE!

http://pccrafty.blogspot.com

http://pumpkinpatchquilter.blogspot.com

http://sherry-blessingsfromournest.blogspot.com

http://zellerwear.blogspot.com

http://crafting365days.blogspot.com.au

http://charlottescreationsanew.blogspot.com

http://Janesquilting.blogspot.com

http://Ipiece2-Mary.blogspot.com   Robin Sheaffer