Birdhouse Quilt

[Gayle B.]

Here is my background. Wonky stripes. I included a closeup of one block. Now, on to pinwheels.

[Helen W.]

Just starting to think about my background. Decided to draw it up in EQ8 so I can see if I like green or sky background. So far just did the sky.



For those that are thinking about a vertical layout because the area on the wall is long and narrow, this is what it would look like. HelenW

[Denise A.]

This is what I did. I zoomed in on the sample quilt. Took my phone to my fabric store and picked out colors from the kona fabrics displayed on the shelves. They may not be exact but I picked colorful fabrics that were pleasing to me. I bought 1/2 yard of each and the 1 and 1 1/2 yards of white and a dark gray. I wasn't sure a quarter of a yard would be enough so rounded up to the 1/2 yard.

[evelynspaulding]

Alex suggests to attach border of pinwheels before adding appliqués as it might shrink. Won't this make it wavy or will that reduce the amount of shrinkage? Also, when pre-washing my fabrics, I found several colors other than the black to bleed at least a bit.

[Helen W.]

Alex suggests to attach border of pinwheels before adding appliqués as it might shrink. Won't this make it wavy or will that reduce the amount of shrinkage? Also, when pre-washing my fabrics, I found several colors other than the black to bleed at least a bit.

evelynspaulding There are always a number of different ways to get the same results in quilting. Myself, I would make the background half inch wider and half inch taller
so I can trim to exact size after adding the appliqué. The applique might pull it up or shrink it a little, and this extra half inch wiggle room will allow you to square it up to the
exact size needed to fit the pinwheels. I think Alex was worried if it did shrink a little, the border that is pieced would no longer fit properly. The fact that she will have you
rip border spots to put tuck the post ends into the border makes me think, just put the border on after the main section has been made. HelenW

[Helen W.]

Beautiful! I wanted to do hexagons, but chickened out.

MommyG1, These hexagons are for another project, but I thought I would audition around a single piece of fabric to see what it would look like
with a hexie border and then just build the applique on the the single piece for the bird houses, etc. I tried all hexie layout and it was way, way to busy to
add applique on top of. Just playing around. HelenW

[evelynspaulding]

Helen, I agree with you and that is what I was thinking just needed clarification. Also, I can use birdhouse posts or flowers etc. to cover any finagling I might have to do.

[Alex A.]

go here
https://thequiltshow.com/learn/projects
then click the button and scroll down on the next page
learn > project > click the button > scroll down

[karonray]

Tried a background with the solids that I have and didn't like it at all. Then I decided to make it half sized and made the center from my collection for applique and liked the results. Someone had asked about Flying Geese and that sounded fun. Made them but they were way to big even to fit on the background correctly but worked around that. Didn't like the size and with all of the white, white flowers wouldn't look right. Next try, make the smaller Flying Geese 1"x2" with a blue background. Finially ready for the next step.

This is the back ground I chose, the discard are below.

[Monique L.]

My version of Jen Kingwell ‘long time gone’. I added a row all around because I wanted it bigger. I called it ‘stash busted’

[Yolanda C.]

Absolutely Gorgeous.. very pretty..

[Yolanda C.]

What size is the quilt? Is it the same as the original birdhouse 32x40?

[Gayle B.]

I have the background and pinwheels done. The bottom row of pinwheels will be added after the applique has been added. The second pic are the petals of my first flower made with satin taffeta.

[Helen W.]

Won't have time to do a birdhouse quilt til later in the year, but I am taking some time to practice my EQ8 and get ideas for later.
A tip for keeping your glue stick from drying out while doing Rosa's Appliquick method. I take a saucer and get a wet paper towel, folded.
Set it next to where I am working. Each time I use the glue stick, I just set the open stick so the glue is on the paper towel and it does not dry out the glue stick.
I have done it for a couple hours without having the stick dry out. HelenW

[Helen W.]

Finished my background made it 75% smaller and scaled everything else down as well. Will be using AccuQuilt round flower for my flowers