A few days ago I introduced you to my little Geese at Sunset mini quilt that I created for the
Project Quilt Flying Geese Challenge, but I hadn't loaded the in-progress pictures off my phone at that point, so since I finally did today, I thought I'd share them with you! (
Public voting is still open though tomorrow, so be sure to head over and look at all the great entries! Mine is listed as "Sarah B.")
When I read the challenge I knew just what I wanted to do! But I didn't own a single scrap of batik fabric! I made a special trip to my local quilt shop and found fat quarters of just what I had in mind along with a half yard of some the blackest black fabric I've ever seen! (I need to learn how to photograph black fabric without it looking like a mistake!)
I sketched out my paper piecing pattern on reclaimed Christmas wrapping paper. If you squint you can see I numbered for a while there with the larger triangles but then quit. There are about 30 small pieces in the bottom and 30 more in the top row of geese.
I then cut the this pattern in half (top & bottom) and started piecing.
The pic below is just before I gave up on Saturday night, so the lighting is cruddy. The paper pieced geese are all together in a triangle section and I was trying to visualize how I was going to inset them into the partially done strip-pieced sky. I cut each strip 1 1/2" wide. (That's a big kid's book acting as a design tray of sorts.) Instead of doing strips all the way across the quilt I pieced angles in here and there for a little more interest.
By the time morning rolled around I was in such a rush I didn't take any more in-progress photos. I basically did a Y-seam to inset the geese, fiddling a bit to get it sitting flat and in the processes ended up chopping off a few points off a couple triangles which thoroughly annoyed me, but I knew if I tried to fix it I wouldn't get it entered, so I just pushed on. I quickly hand cut a landscape out of black fabric, fused it on, then machined stitched along the edge. I did the quilting in coordinating sky colors so it wouldn't stand out too much, and took care not to sew on top of the geese. Then I quickly machine stitched on the black binding, took my photos and finally breathed, shocked that I managed to get it done! :)
If you haven't yet, remember to
VOTE! Be sure to take a look at all the great entries and comment to enter the public drawing too!
I couldn't finish this post without including a photo of what my 6-year-old daughter created with my scraps! She did this while I was attaching the binding on my Geese quilt and insisted that I not turn around until it was ready. I've always known she had an artistic flair, but this makes it clear she has a talent for modern quilting! I've promised her we would turn this into a real quilt together. :)
