All Lined Up!

I wanted to line up all the chicken birds in a row at the very bottom of the Colorado quilt, underneath the big barn block. I made all the chickens with grey legs and red beaks. I wanted there to be a big boss chicken facing the rest of them. "They don't call it the pecking order for nothing," my brother told me when I asked him if there was one chicken who ruled the roost.

Here you can see the row of chickens at the bottom, and the big chicken to the far right.

 Everybody always asks how big the finished bird blocks are, but since the size of the bird can vary, so can the size of the block. Besides, I usually have to add fabric to make the block fit where I want it to go. The more important thing, however, is that the block is SQUARE and the edges are STRAIGHT. This ensures the flimsy lies flat.

When you have a really big block though, it can be tough to get it right.  

As you can see it takes some really big rulers to do this.

Now you know why I always make things BIGGER. (Please notice the long blue straightedge, the long metal triangle and the two plastic 90 degree triangles that help me get this thing SQUARE.)

 When it comes to sewing a seam this long, I use pins, and lots of them. It's too easy for a long edge to get a bit distorted.

 This is what is sewn together.

This is what will go on that top edge of the barn block.