Saturday, January 22, 2022

Quilt Reveal: Flight

 

I tried to avoid temptation by not looking to see what the challenge for Project Quilting was for this week. I want to finish a quilt.

But I won a prize from Project Quilting last week, and I accidentally copied and pasted my 15-minutes-to-stitch stats last week without deleting the sentence that said I was working on the Project Quilting challenge. So what else could I do? I had to take a peek to see how hard it would be do do.


The challenge seems easy enough - silhouette. 

Birds learn how to fly, never knowing where the flight will take them.” -Mark Nepo

 


 I had some black fused fabric left over from the Halloween House quilt when I realized that I didn't need half of the tree that was going to be cut off the edge of the quilt. I could just slap it on some fabric and call it done.

The more I look at the picture above, the more I like it. But I was worried that it would make me look lazy. I wanted to make something where I could be lazy, but not look like I was lazy. I think it would probably require match stick quilting, and I don't want to take the time to do that.

I didn't want to take too much time to look for a background, so I decided to use the scraps from Lansing Leaves. I really like the way the bird looks on this fabric.



Then I realized that the whole piece looked like a kimono. Mary Fons was talking about the time period where quilters made a lot of kimono quilts. Why was there an obsession about kimono quilts? Was there an Olympics in Japan in the 70s, 80s or 90s that started the rage?

I decided to go with the kimono, so I folded it in half and cut so both sides would be somewhat symmetrical. It looks more like a dress than a kimono. Once I decided this was going to be a dress, I liked the bird on the top and not on the skirt part.

I had just thrown the fabric on top of the yellow fabric and I liked how it looked so I sewed it on. My girl is modest so the bottom of her dress needs to be closer to her knees.


To make it quick, I knew I wanted to birth the quilt. So I sandwiched it and sewed all around the shape. If you look carefully, you can see I made a slice where the bird will be since I need it a place to turn it right side out. I love that I could do this because I have a hard time keeping the edges neat when I have to close off an opening.


The batting was exactly the right size, and wasn't big enough to fill the entire quilt, but the missing parts are in the seam allowance so I don't think it will matter.


I had to be careful when turning the quilt right side out to avoid tearing the small cut that I had made, but as you can see, I was able to do it.


 

I poked out the corners, straightened out the opening, and pressed it flat. Here you can see that I had sewn in a piece for the neckline.


 

Finally, I added the bird. I quilted in the ditch, and sewed the bird and sun down.

So far this year, I have started two quilts and have finished two quilts, so although I don't have more finishes than starts yet, I don't have to play any catch up.


Linked with:

Peacock Party

Finished Or Not Friday


13 comments:

Nancy said...

You are so creative! And fast, too! Well done.

Robin said...

You make the most amazing stuff. It was a delight to walk through the process with you.

Queeniepatch said...

You are so good at coming up with new ideas and solution as you work. The bird looks very striking against the red flamed fabric.

Emily said...

Wow! From not wanting to do the challenge to a completely out-of-the-box thinking dress quilt with applique bird! It's amazing!

Kim said...

Oh wow, your black bird in flight upon that fabulous dress, is stunning! The fabric of the dress couldn't be more perfect. Love the way your mind imagines and then clever you goes on to translate those thoughts onto fabric. Loved reading about the process. A most wonderful finish, Shasta!

The Joyful Quilter said...

What a pretty project, Shasta! Aren't you glad you forgot to erase your Project QUILTING intentions? :o))

Sally Trude said...

Love the call back to Project Runway. And yes, this means for the next challenge I expect to see wearable art.

Kate said...

It's interesting to see how your idea evolved into the final quilt. A very fun finish.

Kyle said...

Ideas evolve and finally take flight.

PersimonDreams said...

oooh! neat! I'm glad you found time to play along with the challenge ;)

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

Oh How unique!!! I love the kimono look - and now I too wonder what started the trend! that is a great piece~~

grammajudyb said...

It was meant to be! Creative interesting entry for Project Quilting! Wonderful!

Tanya said...

The bird fabric really catches your eye and up close looks like feathers! Nice idea to decorate a dress shaped quilt!