A Student's Story... Barb

My pal Barb is more of a math person than an art person. She knows all about sewing and tailoring. She told me once that "everything I've read about quilting tells me it is as addictive as crack cocaine," and for that reason, she would never get into it. Alas, she succumbed. She took a class with me at QT a couple of years ago where I taught the birds along with asterisk flowers, wonky hearts and butterflies, and loved it. "This is entirely YOUR fault" she wrote to me later.

She sent me an email on Friday and I want to share it with you.

Hi Lynne,

I wanted to take your birds class in May, but the timing didn't work out. But I did want to make some birds, so I started looking around for a project where they could fit.

Have you ever looked at your kitchen curtain and said, "How did it get to be THAT color?"

Maybe not, but I did.

The window is about six feet across, so I thought that birds marching along would make a cute curtain. I thought I would make a family of birds so I got a piece of fabric I love and fussy cut some wings.

Clark [her husband] says Hi.

I wanted three different sizes of bird, and since I am more of a mathematician than an artist, I made some patterns for the wings, and used the pattern I got from your birds, butterflies, etc class to size everything.

Then I picked some other fabrics to go with the wings, some of them bought on purpose, and some from my stash, plus background fabrics.  OK, enough obsessing, time to make some birds.

Mommy and Daddy Bird.

So, soon I had birds in three sizes. But then one of those things happened and the project took on a life of its own. Momma bird flew up and whispered in my ear. Apparently there was one more child I had missed. We talked about him, and then I made him, and then put it all together. So while the piece was supposed to be named "Flocking Together," it wound up being "A Different Drummer" or "There's One in Every Family."

 I've got a new curtain for my kitchen, and you can tell your students that even an amateur can do it.
 

Oh, and by the way, here's a picture of "the special child."

Did I laugh when I read Barb's email. I think her new curtain is terrific, and I loved her "special child" so much I asked her to make me one.

Thanks for sharing Barb!


***PS Barb often comments on my blog, and her login name is 'the Selvage Fairy.'        

****My bird tutorial, Lynne's Liberated Birds can be found in my Etsy shop, here.