There are less than three hours left in 2018. I am happy to share that I was able to finish one last quilt before the ball drops in New York City. This quilt is extra special to me because it's going to my new niece who is due to be born in a few weeks! It is my sister's first baby and she is the last of my six siblings to become a parent.
My sister's last name is Burd, so birds have been a theme in her wedding and married life. Liz is smart and beautiful and kind. Her husband Chris is strong and funny and good. They will be wonderful parents!
When they were married, I made them a bird-themed wedding quilt.
I felt so bad that they already celebrated their first anniversary by the time I finished, so I wanted to be sure that I didn't slack off with Baby Burd's quilt so I made it my December One Monthly Goal. To be honest, it was my November One Monthly Goal, too!
The hardest part was coming up with a pattern. I was at the Houston International Festival on the day of Liz's shower. Our sister called me so that I could say hello, and so that her daughter could give me a tour of Liz's new house, including the nursery. She was a quick tour guide but I was able to get a screenshot of a pillow that inspired me.
I knew I wanted to do something with the quarter square triangles. My initial idea was to make wonky birdhouses and birds.
But then I saw Susan from Quilt Fabrication's adorable birdhouse pattern and changed my mind.
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Her Eichler-inspired houses reminded me of Elizabeth Hartman's Neighborhood quilt (featured in her book, Modern Patchwork). That quilt was the inspiration for my sister Carisa's quilt.
I doubled Susan's design to make a square.
I quickly thought better than using a white background on a baby quilt. I went to Joann to look for a gray tonal when I found this print called Black Birds on Branches. Perfect! And it saved me from having to applique birds by the birdhouses.
I was able to pull most of the fabric from my stash. Liz lives 13 hours away, so I couldn't pop over to see the pillow in person. Hopefully, my color matching is pretty close!
The hardest part of the quilt was getting my poles to match up. It took a few tries before I got the hang of it. Also, I didn't do true fussy cutting, but I did try to avoid chopping off bird heads. It was fun to see where the birds would pop up.
My favorite part is that my (not so little) baby slept with the quilt to make sure it has extra love in it before we mail it off.
I don't know baby Burd's name yet, so her label is simple.
All that's left now is to wait for baby to arrive!
To see more photos of this quilt in progress, look for #BabyBurdQuilt on Instagram. To see what I'm currently working on, follow me on Instagram at deJongDreamHouse.
Linked to:
Linky Tuesday @ Free Motion by the River
To Do Tuesday @ Stitch All the Things
Wednesday
Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts
Midweek Makers @ Quilt Fabrication
Wednesday Wait Loss @ The Inquiring Quilter
WIP Link Up @ Silly Mama Quilts
To Do Tuesday @ Stitch All the Things
Wednesday
Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts
Midweek Makers @ Quilt Fabrication
Wednesday Wait Loss @ The Inquiring Quilter
WIP Link Up @ Silly Mama Quilts
Friday
Saturday:
Monday
Wow! Love this bird quilt. The background is perfect. The fussy cutting so as not to cut off the birdie's head made me laugh as something I too would be worried about. Such thought went into this. No white background for baby. Yay for that! The four triangle blocks (hourglass? I forget the name) are a perfect echo to your screen grabbed photo. Fast thinking. Good work. Very effective. It will be hard to give this one away.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE those birdhouses!
ReplyDeleteI love your fabric and color choices for the bird houses. That pillow was a great inspiration! BTW, I had to point out the birds in the background print to hubby as he was disappointed there were no appliqued blackbirds.
ReplyDeleteIt was fun when they called me to open up the box. My BIL was really impressed that I matched the colors so well. And the mint green matches the walls! The funny thing about the birds I that I purposely picked your pattern because of the appliqued bird that reminded me of the ones on their wedding quilt. But when I saw birds on the gray print, I was happy to skip that step! :-)
DeleteLove everything about this quilt and the other blue bird quilt as well. The gry and black bird print works perfectly.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great adaption of Susan's pattern. Always loved Susan's version, love yours too!
ReplyDeleteKudos for getting the quilt done before baby Burd's arrival! Thanks for sharing on Wednesday Wait Loss.
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