Sunday 23 March 2014

Here come the birds


Last year my quilt group had a talk from the textile artist and quilter, Elizabeth Wall. I absolutely adored her work so you can imagine my excitement when there was not one but two workshops with her on our 2014 programme!

First up was 'little birds' which was an evening workshop. I made one of these last year after seeing it in her talk and used her curly wurly tree shape.


I would have been happy to do the same again but she brought a different, spikier tree design which she said she'd created specially for our workshop. All the fabrics and templates were provided and we had a choice of which ones to use for the birds.


A happy buzz descended over the room as we traced and cut out shapes.

Gradually rows of trees and birds emerged and, by the end of the evening, we'd all completed the design to take home to quilt.


I really liked Liz's latest samples which included small flowers, so I later added daisies from one of my own fabrics.

Are you ready to see the final design? Ok, here come the birds...


Ta-dah!

I'm really happy with the result again. It was such a good evening - so satisfying. You could easily make this little quilt in an afternoon and that's sometimes what I need in the middle of bigger projects to keep my enthusiasm going.

The second workshop was yesterday and I'm still buzzing! I'll probably show you in a couple of weeks when it's been quilted.


To finish though, here's a real bird, a Nuthatch from a walk in the woods a couple of weeks ago :)

Enjoy the last few hours of the weekend. x

PS. Joining in with Chrissie and her Stitching Sundays.

11 comments:

  1. What a great piece you made, it turned out so well!

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  2. Your little quilt is darling! Take care!

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  3. I love your little bird quilt! The daisies add a nice touch:)

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  4. Oh wow, I LOVE this quilt, are you kidding me? I would treasure it forever!!
    I think I remember your post about Elizabeth Wall, I think I remember the vibrant colors, what a great artist!

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  5. The tree full of birds is wonderful - the fabrics are perfect. Cute little nuthatch too.

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  6. What a fab day and what a gorgeous design to come home with. I love your choice of colours for the birds :)

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  7. It looks so very pretty - so does the one from before, I popped back to have a look! - glad that you enjoyed your class, I hope that the next one is as good. xx

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  8. what a lovely effect they look great. Looks like a really fun class. Your photo of the nuthatch is lovely too x

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  9. Thanks for your comment :) Chris Packham doesn't hate cats, in fact at the talk he said he admires them, but he does disapprove of their killing birds for fun! It was a really interesting talk, I'd highly recommend it and there are more shows throughout the year. I'm not exactly sure where you are but he's on at Bolton Albert Hall and in Rotheram in July if those are not too far. I loved it so much, Dave and I are going again to the Bolton one - there were loads of seats left when we booked. Here is the list of shows -

    http://www.chrispackham.co.uk/live/talks/chris-packhams-wild-night-out

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  10. Hi Julie, it sounds like you really enjoyed the workshop! I love the quilt top you have made, the little birds are very sweet and great choice of fabrics used too. I wanted to thank you for the lovely comment you left on my giveaway post....I think it is the nicest comment I have ever received, so really, thank you so much, it made my day.
    Marianne xxx

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  11. Oh now, that is beautiful. A great pattern, and you've executed it so well. The birds are charming and the fabric delightful but it's the little daisies I like the best. x

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