Friday, March 18, 2011

Geese at Sunset - behind the scenes post

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. :)


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