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My kids gave me this mug for christmas.

Everytime I have my morning tea in this cup I’m not only reminded of my kid’s thoughtfulness in giving it to me, but it makes me think of all the “squirrel moments” I’ve been experiencing. You know – it’s like when you’re talking about one thing and then your brain switches gears and you do a topic u-turn.

This got me to thinking about quilts I’ve made with squirrels on them. When my niece was expecting I made a woodland creature quilt for Josiah Thomas. The creatures were quilted in from drawings I found online.

Squirrel!

Every place we’ve lived there’ve been squirrels. The high numbers were probably due to my love of feeding the birds. A few weeks ago you might remember that I shared this photo of a quilt featuring bird feeders, birds ~ and the resultant squirrels (click here for that post).

I found squirrel photos at the library and stitched them with my repliqué technique (this was made long before I was able to find these things on the internet). The post with this quilt asked for readers to share quilts with birds, and those bird quilts were shared in last week’s post. So… does anyone have squirrel quilts they’d like to share? I’m sure they’re not as plentiful, but thought it was worth asking.

I couldn’t remember any other squirrels on my quilts, but I have a friend who makes the most delightful paper pieced animal patterns. Her name is Mary Hertel and her business is Quilts by Marney. I met her when I participated in an event entitled Top Stitch a few years ago. It was sort of like a sewing version of the British Bake Off (click here to visit that post).

Mary’s the one with the hummingbird umbrella. I figured she would have to have a squirrel pattern. Well – she didn’t. But did she have bunnies!!! They are adorable, and just in time for Spring!

Marney also has loads of other animals, each one cuter than the last. To visit her site click here!

As I was looking up squirrel quilts online I found squirrel bedding that is just too cute, and available on the Walmart website.

Isn’t it hilarious? And the perfect bedding for someone who is REALLY into squirrels 🤣!

Do you have a squirrel quilt to share? A bunny quilt would be fun to share too! If so, please send a photo my way 😁.

Thanks to everyone who sent me photos of their bird quilts! When I originally posted about the ThreadBender’s “Birds Eye View” challenge, I received quite a few nice comments. One was particularly interesting. I met Tomi Fay when she took one of my classes many years ago. She was the one who shared the history of Seminole dolls with me (click here for that post). Since then she has shared quite a few fascinating tidbits of information that have found their way into my blog. Her comment to the “Birds Eye View” post was another I knew I needed to share with you! This is a portion of it:

“are you familiar with Birds Eye maps? An artist would visit a community, walking the streets and sketching each building. Then he went back to his studio and drew the town in detail from his sketches. The view of the town was not directly overhead but at an angle.”

I was intrigued by this information and did an online search which led me to a delightful video about this type of map. If you’re intrigued too, please click here.

Thank you Tomi Fay for once again enlightening us 😊!

And now for some bird quilts. First, I wanted to start with the blocks at the top of this post which were made in classes I’ve taken over the years. What follows are photos sent to me by some blog followers.

My friend Laura and I took a class on recreating photos of animals in raw edge appliqué. This is one of the quilts she made using the techniques from that class:

“Here is my Snowy Owl quilt. I started making it all white but, thought it would be too boring. I added color so I guess it’s really not a snowy owl.”

Wonderful! I love her choice of background fabric!

I met Margit in Arizona, and have shared many of her quilts here over the years. This is the bird quilt she sent me:

“In my early quilt years in MA I made a quilt with leaves. I was running out of fabric for the border so I added leaves and a paper pieced cardinal. The female cardinal is hand appliqued and is hiding in the bushes. The title of the quilt (44″x44″) is ‘Looking for Mrs. Cardinal’.”

Beautiful!

Kathy Hughes sent me this:

“This week’s subject of birds brought to mind a quilt I made recently that I call “Bluebirds” of Happiness. The BEST part of my Bluebirds of Happiness was that it was made of ALL scraps – except for the backing !  A friend shared the bird pattern…and I just flew with it ! The bright colors just make me happy!”

Delightful!

Then Diane emailed me with this photo of her prize winning bird quilt!

“I just won a 3rd place ribbon on my Pretty Birds (Elizabeth Hartman pattern)quilt at the Southwest Florida Quilt Guild show in Punta Gorda , FL“

Congratulations on the ribbon. It was well deserved!

And here’s a photo of another prize winning bird quilt. Carolyn mixed piecing and appliqué into a captivating collection of birds and flowers.

“I made this in a class with Roberta Williams. Loved her dearly and miss her. Got a Blue Ribbon at State Fair 2014. It is raw edge appliqué and free motion quilted on my home machine It hangs in my dining area.”

It is so lovely. I miss Roberta too!

My friend Judy sent me her “Birds in the Windows” quilt, and it’s a lovely way to round out this week’s collection:

The rest of this post isn’t about quilts, but it does have something to do with birds. Over the years we’ve had cardinals decide to peck at our windows in the Spring. We learned that when they are mating they become very territorial and when they see their reflection in a window, they think it’s another bird and they attempt to scare it away. It usually lasted for a few days and it was interesting to see them up close through the window.

Last spring changed all that. We had robins that pecked at all the windows in our home mercilessly. They spit slime all over each one, and did this for a few weeks. When they stopped we were so grateful!!! I washed the windows ~ and a week later they started all over again! This went on all summer long. Mike and I thought we were going to lose our minds. We placed plastic owls around the windows, and they ignored them. We taped newspaper on the windows (was it ever dark in the house!), and they pecked it off so they could continue to peck at the window. We hung aluminum pans from string so they would ratttle with the wind but that didn’t work either. Finally Mike hung tarps over our windows and from the ceiling of the front porch.

By then it was September and their visits began to wane. I am no longer a robin fan. So when they appeared in the yard this Spring I wanted to cry. Instead, I did some more searching online for solutions and found one we hadn’t tried. It was recommended we cut blackbirds out of black paper and tape them in the windows. Sounds easy enough. Mike ran to Walmart to get black card stock, and I found a few silhouettes online and scanned them into my Brother Scan and Cut.

It worked beautifully ~ so I taped them in all the windows. The one on the back door was in front of the macrame hanging our daughter-in-law made, and it looked great (this is where we saw the first robin pecking this year – and pooping all over the stoop – grr).

The trouble was, the reflections in the windows caused them to disappear from the outside (no matter how hard you look, you won’t see it)

When I blocked the reflection with my body, I could almost see it (thus the arrows).

I took them all down and taped them to white paper, cut them out again and put them back.

We’re hoping it will work. I’m tired of living in dark rooms all summer, and listening to that annoying noise. Stay tuned.

Last week’s Crazy Quilters show was sew well done. As usual I like to go through the show and pick a few of my favorite quilts to share with all of you. I look for the little things that make each one special. As always, I wish I could share every quilt because I love them all, but that isn’t possible. So here are the ones that intrigued me. To start with, I had the privilege of giving a Judge’s Choice ribbon. As I’ve said before, this is fun because I can take off my judge’s hat and just pick a favorite. This year I chose Peggy Otto’s “My Lifetime Sewing Journey”.

She starts in the upper left corner with a gingham apron, and a photo transfer of the pattern ~ with “Peggy Sue” embroidered in chicken scratch.

I’ll let her tell you the rest:

I think it really appealed to me because back in the 90s I made a sewing journey quilt for a contest entitled “Reflections”. I chose to name my quilt “Reflections of My Quilting Heritage”. It was my first “Accordion Door” quilt, so it was made from three quilts: two were cut into strips and sewn together into the accordion part, and they hung from the back quilt via Velcro (I wrote a post about this technique back in 2021. Click here to read it). At the top of this photo you’ll see the view from the right. It includes hand mirrors with the faces of the my great, great grandma Mary who was the only quilter in my family tree. Then there is my mom who taught me to sew, my friend Sharon who taught me to quilt, and me; along with sewing tools and garment/quilt motifs.

The view from the left (at the bottom of the photo) begins with a replica of one of the log cabin quilts made by grandma Mary. The artsy stripes in the upper right are done in my Parallelisms style, which I’d just started doing at that time. The back quilt is sprinkled with shisha mirrors to add more reflection. What a blast from the past! I haven’t pulled that quilt out in quite a while. Maybe it’s time has come 😊.

I apologize for making you join me down that bunny hole ~ let’s get back to the CQ show.

If I could have given a second place “Judges Choice” ribbon, it would have gone to “Tulips and Butterflies” by Linda Schubert. Her color gradation of fabrics through both the flowers and butterflies is delightful, especially on the colorful confetti background.

The quilt which won the Best of Show ribbon was “Forest Galorest” by Mary Enge. Everything about this quilt was well done! And each and every animal is delightful! I took my photos right after the judging, and before all the signs were pinned to the quilts, so I don’t know if this was a pattern or Mary’s original design. Either way she did it so very well!

Congratulations Mary!

One of the first quilts I saw when I entered the show was “Jo Morton Mini” in honor of the book Little Women. This is my granddaughter Sommer’s favorite book, and we’re going to a local production of the Broadway play for her birthday next week. So I had to snap a pic, and then I realized it was made by my friend Karen Moore. I didn’t know she made minis! Great job Karen! ~ and congratulations on the ribbon.

Around Town by Lois Smith is simply striking!

The colors, fabrics, appliqué and piecing are all well done… and there was a mariner’s compass in the middle! I love it! Here’s the story:

The “United States Bird and Flower Quilt” by Nellita Lee brought back memories of quilts from long ago. Her story makes this quilt even more special.

and here’s a close up of the Wisconsin block:

Such lovely embroidery. Well done Nellita!

Suzi Bank’s quilt “Viva Las Vegas Mystery Quilt” had an intriguing feel about it that drew me closer to discover why.

It turns out that the border and many shapes in the center of the quilt were made from a very interesting digitally printed fabric of used watercolor paint trays. Her color choices made it come together beautifully.

The colors in “Grandeur” by Nancy Andritsch drew me in too (I really am a color junkie!)

Then I realized her “ad lib” border was another reason this quilt “grabbed” me.

“Starburst” was made by 12 year old Millie Lebeck. Wow! You’ll love reading about it in her own words.

Great job Millie! Keep up the good work 😁.

“Posh Gobble” by Lori Migliaccio is covered in fun quilting, and the piecing is great too.

As I was putting this post together I realized that Lori did the quilting on the next two quilts also. All three quilts demonstrate her skill and versatility.

“Sparrows” is Barb Lancelle’s quilt. She wrote on her attached card: “The “Sparrows”‘ pattern called for all the birds to be the same. I made mine with Wisconsin birds instead!”

They certainly are cute… and chubby!

“Hope and Harmony” by Juli Meeks got my attention because of the lovely and unusual block. It’s like a clamshell with feathers, and they were appliquéd beautifully. But what amazed me was the way she pieced the binding to match the border, right down to the mitered corners. What wonderful attention to detail. Well done Juli!

“Dog Family” by Melody Ryddner was made from an Elizabeth Hartman pattern. Her dogs were just so cute I had to take a photo, and the spiral quilting was a great choice. I guess I’m not alone in liking it – “Dog Family” got one of the other “Judges Favorite” ribbons.

Patriotic by Nancy Gruenewald is a wonderful mix of wool and cotton; and appliqué and piecing. Her embroidery is lovely too!

At first “Ombre Geese” by Carie Bronson looks like it has a bit too much background ~ but just imagine how amazing this quilt looks on a bed! Especially with the rounded corners. Modern and marvelous!

Brooke Furmanek’s “Bargello” is one of the nicest I’ve seen in a while. The pattern and fabrics are all so happy together.

And I’ll conclude my pics from the show with Ivy’s Butterflies. When my daughter was little she called them “butterbugs”, and I love that each pair of wings contains a different pair of blocks. The color palette is a bit unexpected – and lovely.

After noticing all of the above, I read the story ~ and I knew I had to share it. What a special memory quilt.

I was disappointed to realize I hadn’t taken a photo of the quilt tag, so I don’t have Ivy’s Mom’s name. I’d love to give her credit. If you’re reading this and know the maker, please share her name in the comments. Thanks!

I’d like to extend a big thank you to everyone at the Crazy Quilter’s guild for once again putting on a great show!

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And one more thing…

Lori and I just hung the ThreadBender’s “Word” challenge at the Watertown Public Library. Please make plans to stop by if you’re in the area.

We also have a new store in town ~ Madison’s Crafts and Fabrics. Click here for the link to their site!

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Wishing you all a blessed Resurrection Sunday!

I shared the ThreadBender’s recent challenge “Birds Eye View” a few weeks ago. This weekend those quilts are hanging at the Crazy Quilter’s show in Mukwonago, WI. The photo at the top of this post shows them all hanging together and they look great! (if I do say so myself 😊). The show is open until 3pm today, so if you live nearby and have a free Sunday afternoon, please head to the middle school in Mukwonago.

Those who are very observant might have noticed a quilt in the above photo that wasn’t previously on the ThreadBender’s site. A week before those quilts were due, I was on a Cattail retreat with friends. While Mary and I went for a walk through the melting snow I came upon a moment when I just had to snap a photo;

It was a close range “Birds Eye View” type image, and it really intrigued me. I’d already made my challenge quilt ~ “Kansas City Departure” (click here to read that post), but I had this strange desire to make another. A week after those quilts were due for jurying at the guild meeting, I changed the photo to grayscale,

and enlarged it to the proper size using MS Excel™. I then printed many 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper sheets using a technique I’ve posted about before (click here for that post), and taped them together to make my full sized pattern. I knew I needed a good leafy fabric and found the perfect one online.

The rest of the fabrics were pulled from my stash and the fun began. I chose to sew directly onto the printed photo using raw-edged Repliqué, beginning by adding the snow to the leaf fabric (you might notice – I forgot to take photos while making the quilt, so these were taken later and include quilting).

Then the tree trunk and the rake were stitched in place (I liked red better than the green on the original photo).

I knew that doing this all raw edged would result in some fuzzy edges ~ and I’m trying not to let it bother me 😂.

Finally my boots and legs were added. I enjoyed the entire process and had it finished quite quickly ~ simply because I was having fun.

It was done in time for the Crazy Quilter’s show and I named it “Spring Thaw”.

I was thrilled to have it hanging with the entire exhibit.

I always love the Crazy Quilter’s show, and have been honored to be one of the judges for the show many times over the years. This year had an added blessing. My friends and I were at a retreat at Tall Pines in Mukwonago this week. The retreat ended on Friday ~ and I was to judge the show at one o’clock that afternoon. The judging was a joy, and the quilts were wonderful. I took pictures of my favorites and I’ll share them with you in next week’s post. Until then… I have a true confession that I hope will make you laugh, or at least help you to remember what not to do the next time you’re basting your quilt sandwich together.

I chose a Wisconsin “Shop Hop” fabric from may stash to put on the back of the Spring Thaw quilt.

It seemed like the perfect choice. As I was beginning to pin the layers together I actually said to myself “Chris, check to make sure the back is positioned so the top is at the top”. I checked and decided I had it right. WRONG! Thus the sleeve is at the bottom of the quilt in the above photo, and when hanging the back is upside down 😩. It was all quilted before I noticed. I’ve decided to say I wanted it that way 🤣.

Last week I enjoyed sharing part of my adventure at the Indiana Heritage Show. This week I’d like to feature my wonderful students. I was invited to teach my three favorite classes (although it’s hard to pick favorites 😊). I started the show with Architectural Repliqué, arriving early to arrange everything.

None of the students had done this type of appliqué before ~ and they all caught on fast!

Because I was able to drive to the show I had room in the car to take all the samples I wanted. Each time I teach this class I make a block along with the students ~ and I have quite a collection of them. In 2015 I did a post about the 70 blocks I’d collected up to that point (click here to read that post). I’ve added many more since then. Hopefully they’ll become a “neighborhood” quilt (or 2, or 3) someday.

The following day I switched gears and jumped into drafting and stitching Mariners Compasses. It was a special group of quilters for many reasons, not the least of which was the kindness they all showed me when I tripped over my suitcase and landed face first on the floor. I’d never done that in front of a class before, and I don’t plan on doing it again. Thankfully I only had minor injuries and I learned some good lessons (“watch where you’re going” and “slow down”). After a brief break we were back at it and the students did great.

I have two additional sweet memories from that class. Prior to it I ran into Mary Ellen. She and her friend Maureen traveled with me to the Tokyo Quilt Festival in 2020. A few years later they invited me to come to Indianapolis and teach Mariners Compass for their guild. Mary Ellen didn’t need to take my class this time, because she really caught on the first time (see photo!) I’m so pleased she thought to bring her quilt so I could share it with my students. Isn’t is amazing?!?

And this is her label. Thanks Mary Ellen!

Also, I had a husband/wife sewing team in class. Bryan and Denise were so much fun, and their compasses were each beautiful ~ but definitely different. Don’t you just love Bryan’s red background?!?

It was a wonderful day in spite of my clumsiness ☺️.

The Saturday class was “Where Do I Start With Fiber Art”, and it was the perfect finale. I was joined by a group of very creative quilters.

And here are some of the fascinating designs that resulted.

I’m so blessed to be able to share my passion for quilting with wonderful, creative people.

Each day we were blessed with a long lunch, and I was very grateful because I wanted to visit the vendors too. I was able to catch up with a few of them who have become friends over the years, simply because we’ve met at different shows. One who was new to me was Chris Schulte who owns Green Light Quilts. Her patterns and quilts were lovely, but what intrigued me was a new line of fabrics she’s designed for Marcus Fabrics.

Each segment of fabrics on the sample card above represents what is printed on a bolt. The segments are 8 different fabrics in one hue (color). So, when you purchase yardage, you get 8 different coordinated fabrics. The card above was for her brights, but her more muted pieces were lovely too. The collection is called “Strip-It”. According to the Marcus Fabrics website the brights won’t be available until July,

but the softer colors were in her booth. I decided to buy a yard of off-white prints. It will be a blessing the next time I want a variety of background fabrics in a quilt (I apologize for not pressing the fabric first).

After class on Saturday I went for a walk and had a lovely stroll on part of the Indiana University campus (praise the Lord ~ the rain had stopped). A block away from the Convention Center was a parking garage with oodles of half square triangles decorating the outer walls. I started my post about this show last week with quilt designs on carpet, and now I’ll end with more hanging from buildings.

Sunday’s ride home was bright and sunny! It was a wonderful trip!

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And one more note for the ladies in my fiber art class on Saturday. I mentioned a fused binding technique that I like to use on my art quilts, and I said there was a tutorial on my blog. I was so sure I’d written one, but I can’t find it. One of the quilters in the class wrote to tell me she’s finished her piece and wants to know how to do the fused binding (I hope this encourages others to complete theirs 😁 – atta girl Tearle!) Since the technique is not original to me, I went online and found a video that’s similar to the way I do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrrARxm9JH0. The only change I’d make is to use a wavy blade cutter on both sides of the strips so that none of the long raw edges fray, on the front or the back.

Last weekend I had the great privilege of teaching in Bloomington, Indiana. Every aspect of the show was delightful. It was held in the Bloomington Convention Center near the campus of the and Indiana University, and I stayed in the hotel connected to the Convention Center. This was such a blessing because they were experiencing a lot of rain last week (some students couldn’t even attend my classes because of flooding 😞). As I checked into the hotel I couldn’t resist taking a photo of the carpet outside my room – loads of blue half square triangles!

Upon my arrival on Wednesday night I was able to help hang my “faculty” quilt. I brought “How Beautiful Liberty” in honor of our nation’s 250th birthday. It hung in a hallway, which was perfect because of it’s 3-dimensionality, and it got a lot of attention. I enjoyed standing near it and sharing the story when I could.

After hanging “Liberty”, I was able to wander through the competition quilts without the crowds.

The image at the top of this post is of the top three prize winning quilts. They were made by Barbara Clem, Marilyn Badger and Margaret Solomon Gunn. It was impressive to see quilts from such prestigious quilters in the show, hanging with so many other wonderful quilts made by local and “not-so-local” quilters. And there was so much more!

I was honored to be asked to choose one of the quilts in the show as my favorite. I LOVE these opportunities! I don’t have to put my judges hat on. I can just pick a quilt that makes my heart sing. I chose “Dutch Whimsy” by Judith Craddock. Judith did every aspect of this quilt well: fabric choices, appliqués, embroidery, prairie points, and her quilter fit the design perfectly.

My favorite part was finding all the sweet critters she lovingly stitched throughout the quilt.

It brought back many memories of the quilting tour/cruise Wendy and I led to Holland way back in 2007.

So, as I walked through the show before the crowds (without the wooden shoes 😁), I snapped a few photos of some of my other favorite quilts. This one also reminded me of a previous quilting adventure. Wilhelmina’s quilt “Nature’s Garden” is a beautiful tribute to Mt. Fugi during cherry blossom time.

In January of 2020 I took a group of quilters to Japan. We spent a foggy winter night at the foot of Mt. Fugi. The next morning the fog broke for only about 20 minutes – but I was able to see the mountain from my balcony:

I loved seeing it again through Wilhemina’s work.

I admire hand piecing, but am not very good at it. So, I’m often drawn to quilts by piecers who are. “Milli” by Jennifer Hope is a stunning example:

Her fussy cutting was also very well done.

“1,196 Ways to Go Wrong” is a sweet little quilt, and Marty’s description made me laugh out loud.

And while I’m on the subject of great piecing, “Radiance and Stone” by Annie Bullock-Yoder has flying geese galore, along with a spikey center medallion. I really like her color palette.

And I think my favorite pieced quilt was “In Search of Lost Time” by Julie Parmenter. She chose to use leftover scraps to make the hour glass squares in 4 different sizes, and arranged them in a very pleasing way. Imagine my delight when I discovered that Julie was in 2 of my classes!

I loved her simple use of a very traditional block.

And one more pieced quilt just had to make my list. “My Sampler Quilt” by Mary Wahle does something that always fascinates me. It’s a sampler quilt in a setting that doesn’t scream “sampler quilt”. It obviously is, but there is so much additional piecing that it really draws all the diverse blocks into a pleasing whole.

I think she accomplished her goals.

And the last quilt I want to share is a wall hanging of flowers with fun quilting and delightful tiny yo-yos. Jackie’s hand-quilting “knocked my socks off”:

And that was just the show quilts! There were also special exhibits and a fantastic array of vendors. And then there were the wonderful quilters! I think I need to save the rest for next week’s post. Stay tuned!

Last week I did a silly post about birds, and in it I had a link to view my video of a starling murmuration. I didn’t realize I’d posted it to YouTube as “private”, and some of you weren’t able to see it. I fixed that problem – so if you missed it please click here.

Thanks to my many readers who have sent photos of their bird quilts. I will be sharing them in a future post, and if you have one you’d like to have featured in my blog ~ there’s still time to email them to me 😊. Please send them to .

This week’s post isn’t silly, and it’s not really about birds. It’s the theme of our current “BIG” challenge at ThreadBenders. I got the idea for this challenge when I was flying home from Florida last winter. The South had been hit with an unexpected snow storm, and the view out my window as my second flight took off out of Kansas City was fascinating!

The snow showed off the texture of the fields in such an interesting way. I assumed the dark branching lines were water, but upon closer examination I discovered they were all tree lines. And the jet engine gave the the photo perspective. This type of photo could be called a “birds eye view”. I presented this idea to the group and it was voted in as our current challenge theme. I was pleased because I really wanted to make this into a quilt. I began by enlarging the photo to the correct size on paper in order to repliqué the different areas. I chose a bunch of fabrics from my stash to accomplish this:

Once the fabric was ready I began, but after quite a bit of stitching, the results of my efforts were disappointing (sorry – no photo). I was still excited about the project, but there had to be a better way. That’s when I decided to have my photo printed on fabric at Spoonflower.com. Wouldn’t it be even more fun to thread paint and embellish the photo I loved? And it was. I began by covering the shadows of the trees with tulle and stitching in the tree trunks. Then I repliquéd the wooded areas in a dark fabric. Next I machine quilted around many of the furrows in the fields and made them 3D by running yarn through them with a large needle – trapunto style.

This photo shows the yarn tails sticking out of the furrows.

The main highways were added with fusible bias tape.

The jet engine was repliquéd with a “black to gray” gradation fabric. I noticed the photo had a “seam” inside the engine with rivets. The seam was easy enough to stitch from behind on the pattern, and then widen with satin stitches on the fabric side. But how would I do the rivets? I found a stitch on my Janome that might work.

But after stitching it I didn’t like the stitches that connected each “rivet”. So I placed a dab of glue on the back of each one to secure the threads, and then removed the stitches between them.

It was looking good. That’s when I measured it and found the entire quilt was 1″ too short. Ugh – how do I do this to myself? I decided the frame of the plane window (which I’d cropped off of the original photo) needed to be put back in. And that worked! All that was left was some sort of an edge finish. Binding or facing???

I decided facing this quilt would be the best option. And it’s finished!

We had the big reveal of our Birds Eye View quilts at our last meeting, and it’s a fascinating collection. To see them all together click here. Oh, and they will all be displayed at the Crazy Quilters Quilt Show in Mukwonago, WI, March 28th and 29th. Click here for the show information (and a map with information about parking because of construction issues).

PS If you ever want to put a facing on a quilt rather than a binding, please go to the previous blog post about my favorite facing technique. You can access it by clicking here. The advantage to this method is that it has a slick trick for removing the bulk in the corners.

Before I get to my “Topic of the Week”, I want to mention an upcoming event. I’ll be teaching at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show this week! It’s taking place at the Bloomington Convention Center in Bloomington, Indiana.

The show runs from March 5-7. I’ll be teaching all 3 days along with a great list of talented instructors. If you live in the area, or want to get away for a fun adventure, you can click here for all the information! Maybe I’ll see you there!

And now for “the Birds”!

Last summer after we spent months cleaning out my parent’s condo, we spent quite a bit of time cleaning out their cottage too. My dad always referred to himself as a “depression baby”, and that was his excuse for keeping everything!!! Since emptying their condo I’ve become quite good at tossing or donating stuff. Mike, on the other hand, has a little of my dad in him (please don’t tell him I said so 🤣). On the cottage’s screened porch I found 3 stone birds with parts missing. The cardinal and blue jay no longer had beaks, while the terra cotta bird was missing it’s head. I took them home to dispose of them, and the next thing I knew they were standing in front of the garage. I gently mentioned to Mike that I didn’t want to keep broken bird statues ~ to no avail. So there they sat. After about a month I placed them around a bush on the north side of the garage. At least they weren’t the first things I saw when coming home.

A week or so later they disappeared. Mike said they must have flown away. The next day I went down to sew in my studio and was a bit startled when I looked out the window.

Mike had painted the broken spot where his beak was supposed to be, attached a greeting, and placed him on our overturned canoe. It made me smiile. A week or so later as I started the hot water for a relaxing bath, I turned around and was surprised to see the headless terra cotta bird ~ “peeking” at me from behind the Victorian tissue box holder..

This one really made me laugh out loud! Now where would I find the cardinal??? I waited for weeks, and Mike claimed innocence. Months later, on the evening I returned from Italy, I went in the master bathroom and was greeted by… you guessed it… the avian welcoming commitee:

My parents always said that the secret to a good marriage was to keep it funny. My husband certainly does this!

So what does this story have to do with quilting? Nothing really (unless it counts that the blue jay was outside the window of my studio). But it’s a good segue into bird quilts. Have you made any? I have a lovely vintage quilt from the 1940s with embroidered blocks of the State birds and flowers:

I’ve also made a number of bird blocks in classes I’ve taken with other teachers. They ended up flocking together in one of my Modular Memory Quilts:

I made this next quilt when we moved from Sun Prairie to Dousman in 1994. As a birthday gift many years ago, Mike and the kids built me an aviary post with feeders hanging from it and a bird house at the top. I loved it, but couldn’t take it with us when we moved because it was set in concrete. Sew I made a quilt about it using my Repliqué technique. I call it: “The View From My Window”:

The squirrels always make me smile.

And I think you’ll enjoy a fascinating video I took of a group of birds while in Rome. Will and I had just finished dinner and were walking back to our hotel from the Colosseum when we noticed everyone around us looking up. There we saw what I now know is a murmuration. We walked on for a while and the murmuration continued. At first we thought it might be some sort of drone thing. But when we realized it really was birds – starlings to be precise – I had to take a video. Here’s a photo, but it doesn’t give you the full effect. To watch the short video click here.

To learn more about starling murmurations click here.

Do you have any bird quilts you’d like to share? Please send photos to me at: .