Working in the Studio

 

I spent the last couple of days cleaning the studio and preparing backings and bindings for the quilts I have been making.

Next up I'll be sewing the binding on the Green birds quilt.

For those of you who haven't made birds yet, you can get my tutorial for them here at my Etsy shop.

Back in the Studio

 

I finally got back into the studio. It was messy, so I was avoiding it. Anyway I cleared off the crap that was all the tables and put it all back where it belonged.

And you know, in for a penny, in for a pound. Having done my work table and the ironing table, I just went back in after lunch and did the rest. I love it when the studio is all nice and neat. I washed all the tables and I even washed the cutting mats. (I feel so virtuous! LOL)

 Then I got some actual work in. I prepared the bindings for each of the green quilts. I'll add the binding to the quilts tomorrow.

Updates

I've finished the Needle in a Haystack quilt. I haven't taken beauty shots of it yet. I've been preparing for my talk in Connecticut, gathering up the quilts I will show and putting finishing touches on my speech.

Here are the quilts I will bring, all labeled and sorted. It's amazing how heavy this many quilts are!

I've got the Green Deco quilt back from being quilted and I really love the quilting on it.

The Green Birds quilt is back too!  I love them both.

I will have to choose bindings for each of these, but I won't get to them until after I get back from visiting the Connecticut Piecemakers Guild.

Major Surgery

In yesterday's post, Julie pointed out that the two birds I have circled were on backgrounds that were too light, and they looked like a hole in the quilt.

She was absolutely correct. I'd have to remake both birds. 

Not a problem at all for the bird at the very top, as I hadn't sewn him to anything yet. You can see the revised bird above.

For the pink bird in the second row, however, it was a different story. I had to completely remove that bird block, create another one, and sew it back into place. I thought it would be easier to remove it and the adjacent bird first. This is one of those times where there is more than one way to do something.

Here is the replacement bird. I found those pink striped legs in my recycle pile and just had to use them. Otherwise I tried to duplicate the original bird.

Once I made the new bird, I had to cut it to the exact size of the original, and then sew it to the other bird I removed, and then sew them back into the row, and then sew the row to the other two rows.

Surgery complete. I am pleased to say the patient made a full recovery. I had thought the yellow bird to the left of the new pink bird was overwhelmed by the fabric surrounding him, and had previously made the decision to change that. I made that fix when I replaced the new bird.

I'm really wrestling with what to use to fill in the spaces between the birds. Sometimes a similar toned fabric just looks blah or dreary. I had to order more of some of the greens I had because I was literally running out of what I considered suitable options.

If you want to make birds, you can come to NH and take a class at the Night Owl Quilt Studio in Goffstown NH, or you can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop. It's an instant download, so you can get started right away.