Monday, October 28, 2019

QUILTING BIRDS OF A FEATHER

I finished the quilt top of my Birds of a Feather a few weeks ago.  I talked with several friends in my small group and all agreed I would have to quilt it myself.  Let's face it to take this to a quilter would drive them insane along with me and cost me a fortune as well.  If and when I quilt something myself I usually spray baste.  However, in this case I decided to take it to my quilter and have her baste it on her long arm six inches apart in a grid side to side and top to bottom.   
I spent a good deal of time trying to figure out what thread to use.  My original idea was 28wt Aurifil.  Well, not all their colors come in the small spools and there will be tons of thread color changes.  So I decided on using Mettler cotton 50wt and ran into the same problem.  At last I just decided to go with the Mettler that I had in my thread stash and use Coats and Clark poly along with it, as they have such a wide range of color choices.  
So the quilting begins.  I am finding since the appliqués fill  their backgrounds so heavily that in many of the blocks I will only have to quilt the leaves and other appliqués and not have to do much outside quilting on the background.  
I am using some pretty heavy stitching in the leaves.  I thought I liked this stitch as it stands out well and has little nubs of texture.  
However, I ran into a bit of a problem with it and ended up picking them out.  I found the stitch on the brown leaf actually showed up better and was easier to control the stitch starts and stops.
This is going to take a while.  I am quilting one block at a time.  I am pretty sure with all the appliqués if I don't I will miss something. 
For those of you that are fans of my daughters chickens.  Here are two of the last ten hatched by mother hen.  Look at that fancy hairdo on the black one.  They are standing in a new coop that my 13 years old grandson made for them.  
Since the population explosion of just 4 chickens to 27 there now is a new chicken yard.  Here are some of the new chicks enjoying a larger yard.  My daughter's husband loves her very much, he hired their contractor to build the new yard.  There was a deal struck though, they no longer free roam. He said 4 chickens pooping on the patio was one thing, but 27 was a way too much.   



11 comments:

  1. How funny!! That hairdo reminds me of my hair when I get up in the morning lol...yikes!!
    Your quilt is fantastic..just beautiful..I can see how you have a quilting puzzle to work out...
    hugs, Julierose

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  2. Such a beautiful quilt! Looks like your quilting ideas are going to make it even more beautiful!
    Love that crazy hairdo chicken...looks like "bed head"...lol!

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  3. Hi Donnalee! You're a saint for making all those thread changes, but it will definitely be worth all the trouble! I don't blame your son-in-law for stopping the free roaming. That's a lot of poop on the patio. HAHA! Thanks for linking up. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  4. That's a beautiful quilt! I love the combination of pieced blocks and appliqued. Hope your quilting goes smoothly! The chickens are fun to see - and I can understand how your SIL's feelings about the patio!

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  5. The quilt is beautiful. Wow, you're talented.

    I love that chicks hairdo. That's very unique.

    That's a lot of chicken poo.

    Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.

    Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday. ♥

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  6. Oh it is going to be so cool when you are all finished tho! Beautiful quilt!

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  7. 27 chickens certainly is a very large chicken family!

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  8. Your Birds of a Feather is almost finished! I have one in the UFO pile. Are you using the buttonhole stitch on the stems as the quilting through all three layers? Your color selections are so pretty. Good job! Thanks for linking with Design Wall Mondays, Judy

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  9. Love the chicken pictures and glad your daughter & husband figured out a win-win. Your Birds of a Feather is beautiful and the quilting will be wonderful too!

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  10. Sorry that your plan for the leaves didn't work out. Picking out stitches is NO fun!!

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