Bloggers Quilt Festival - My Twitter Feed

My Twitter Feed is my second entry to the Bloggers Quilt Festival.

Who knew that making one bird would start such a tweet storm?

I found the bird pattern at Block Lotto. http://www.blocklotto.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/BirdBlockDirectionsV2.pdf

I made the first bird in January 2017. And nothing was ever the same again.  I was obsessed. I blogged about it here.

I modified the pattern slightly so that the birds could be made in pairs (facing each other). I enjoyed picking fabrics - matching fabrics, solids, stripes, contrasting fabrics, small prints, floral prints, and even novelty prints.

I set up an assembly line of bird-making.

I enjoyed making each bird and would do it again, in a heartbeat.  No quilt has given me so much joy as these birds. I enjoyed making them, naming them, and definitely showing them off.

I staggered the layout to avoid the ordeal of seam-matching/nesting.  And added a skinny border in background colors.  This was to make sure that the binding did not cover any portion of beaks/tails.

Made 64 birds. The quilt uses 63 (arranged 9 by 7). I sent the leftover bird to Mary and she made another, combining them into a little mini quilt.

I received many oohs and aahs at the Quilters Unlimited Quilt Show in June 2017.  My Twitter Feed also enjoyed its moment in the sun as the cover of the Quilters Unlimited Facebook page.

My guild members asked for the Birds Block as the Block of the Month.  I happily modified the pattern to make larger birds at 9" by 12". 

 

Entering My Twitter Feed in the Bloggers Quilt Festival is the ultimate joy.

The finished quilt measures 53" by 63".

Quilted with wavy lines, thanks to my Walking Foot and Jacquie Gering's Craftsy class.

 So joyful and bright!!!

Birds with attitude - they tweet a lot :-)

 Some sing, others chirp, but they all make me happy.

And a few more close-ups.

Because I cannot get enough of them.

Showing off my label!

Here is hoping that this will bring you joy, inspiration or just a smile to brighten your day.  Please do check out the quilty feast of color and beauty at the Bloggers Quilt Festival. There is so much to enjoy. Thank you Amy!!!

He Tweeted, She Tweeted...

...and they lived happily ever after.

Welcome to my Twitter Feed.  Some birds tweet, some chirp, and others sing and coo along!

I found the bird pattern at Block Lotto. Here is the link - http://www.blocklotto.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/BirdBlockDirectionsV2.pdf

I made the first pair of birds on January 9.

And I was hooked. If two were fun, eight would be a party.

I played with dots, stripes, prints and more.

After that, I went into an assembly line mode.  Since the colors were so energizing, there was no boredom that is normally associated with assembly line work.

Lots of Color

After the first step of block preparation, I stepped back to admire the colors and my handiwork!.

Throats

Legs

Blue Throated Warbler and Fuchsia Woodpecker

I chose pinks and greens, blues and teals, aqua and fuchsia, spots and stripes, but I also used prints and batiks too.  This is an extremely fun quilt block to make, because you can play with so many combinations.

All colors welcome

As I stepped away from the design wall to admire the birds and take in-process pictures, I noticed that there was not enough contrast in the yellow dotty birds' throats and beaks.

Brown Beaks - MEH!

So I changed the beaks from brown to orange.  What a big difference that made.  An orange beak would make it a Cardinal. Meet my Yellow Dotty Cardinals!

Orange Beaks - WOW!

The birds were made in mirror image pairs.  I made 64 birds and the quilt uses 63 arranged nine across by seven down. I finished the flimsy last week and it was a terrific feeling because it meant that I completed at least one of my goals for the OMG link-up.

Finished Flimsy - Yeah!

Since the block is rectangular, I chose to piece in columns.  I realized that it would be impossible to nest the seams, since all blocks are oriented the same way. Therefore I chose to stagger the columns by just a couple of inches to avoid bulky seams.

Can you spot the Chipotle Chilebird?

Once the flimsy was done, I realized that the binding would cover a portion of the beaks/tails on the birds in the edge columns.

My Twitter Feed - FINISHED!!!

So I added skinny strips of background along the sides. That way the Teal Batik Woodpecker (top left) is not pecking away at the binding :-D

So happy :-)

The wide backing fabric came from Connecting Threads.  For binding I chose a sea-green solid.  Since any color binding would look fine with the quilt front, I chose to match the binding with the backing fabric.

Quilted

Quilted with wavy lines, thanks to my Walking Foot and Jacquie Gering's Craftsy class.

The push to finish this Dreamy Tweety Chirpy quilt comes from the fact that I want to enter it in the Quilt Show. The registration ends on February 28, 2017.  There is nothing like a deadline to set my behind on fire and get it done.

What started as a Dreami moment, ended as a lap size quilt.  Finished Quilt is 53" by 63".
Let's get closer to the birds - admire them and name them, maybe.

There is the Green Breasted Fiesta Bird on top left and the Flashy BlueBird next to it.  Do you see the Noella Songbird on the bottom? We also have a Peachy Dotty Cardinal and the Green Beaked Checkbird.

Can you see the Green Throated Bugcatcher in the picture above? And next to it is the Autumn Songbird.  The Pink Striped Woodpecker is facing the Teal Batik Woodpecker.


You see, making them is fun but naming them is super fun too.

A change of perspective

Lap Size - 53" by 63"

A lovely finish, even if I say so myself.

Getting Close

The Black-Winged Greenbird, the Green Breasted Autumn Warbler, and the Red Breasted Finch in the top row above.  The Yellow-Breasted Fuchsia Bird is so bright and the Pink Breasted Purplebird is so regal in her bearing.

Orange Flamebird, Green Winged Thrush, Blue Beaked Chat and Green Breasted Finch occupy the top row in the picture above.

Oh yes, I labelled it and I will put another label to make sure it is ready for the show.  Do you see the Chipotle Chilebird peeking from the right?

Labelled

All names are made-up.  As much as I would like to, I am not a birder, although I have enjoyed bird-watching with dear friends Annie and Hans when I lived in Florida. They would often invite me to accompany them to St. Marks Wildlife Refuge where we enjoyed many lovely afternoons - watching birds, eating oysters and pointing out alligators.

When I made Angel's Midnight Quilt, I had a favorite block and I even had a favorite house in the Homeful quilt. But I cannot pick one favorite bird in My Twitter Feed Quilt.  And that works perfectly because I would not want any jealous tweets here :-D

But please let me know - which one is your favorite.  And if you want to name a bird or two, I would be so tickled :-)

I will be linking with OMG, Sandra's Dreami Linky Party and all my other favorite linky parties.