35 Birds

Back in July I noticed this review on my Etsy shop about my Liberated Bird tutorial:

5 out of 5 stars    The pattern was very easy to follow and customize. Decided to make just one bird to try it out and ended up with 35 before I stopped. Perfect way to use up various scraps. 

 

 

 

WELL! That was pretty cool and it made me laugh because I know how addictive the birds can be.  I wrote to Joan and told her how much I loved her review and asked if she would  be willing to donate a bird to my student bird quilt. The bird she made for me is above. Very pretty color combination.

 

Joan also sent me pictures of the quilt she made with 34 of those birds. Two things struck me. One was how simple the arrangement of the 34 birds is. It's simple but it is very elegant. The birds are by and large similarly sized, so arranged left-right-left like this creates a repeating negative space around the birds that is very pleasing. The other thing was Joan didn't really fussy cut her wings.

Joan had this to say about the quilt:  

 

"This project was really one that I started as a stress reliever (sure has been one HECK of a year all around) with the idea of using up some scraps from my ever overflowing scrap bin and making a few birds for fun without sending for any new fabric.  So you are correct - there was no fussy cutting or chopping holes in large pieces of fabrics to get just the right cut.  I agree that would make the birds extra fancy, and, who knows, maybe I'll do that someday with a future quilt, but for this one, if the pattern piece fit the scrap it became a bird.

"It just kind of grew and grew and it really was fun revisiting pieces from quilts I had made in the past.  One day I realized that making a quilt for my cousin would be the perfect use for the big pile of wild and crazy birds but it needed something for extra oomph and so the paper pieced squirrel was "born".

"It was a fun project all around.  Your instructions were really comprehensive and very easy to understand.  Definitely a great stress relief project!  At one point I sized a bird up to a 12 1/2" block but he didn't look as cute and the pieces were getting too large to fit on my scraps so that monster bird is sitting in the unfinished projects box.

"You can't stop with this crazy birds pattern!  I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with next!"

 

 

The birds are flying fast and furious to my mailbox. There were FIVE there today. I'll write about them very soon. If you are interested in joining the fun, email be at PatcheryMenagerie AT Gmail DOT com.