A few weeks ago, "Gillie" literally flew into our yard. Dave just happened to be on hand when this little budgie parakeet arrived. We searched for his family with no luck.
So he's part of our feathered family now. It's all good. He seems to be happy with his new habitat, view of the backyard, interesting toys, and daily menu.
But he needs a cage cover.
I don't know why my mind jumped here - goodness knows I have plenty to do in the sewing room. I have two quilts I really need to finish quilting - the stitched alphabet quilt for one, and a baby shower gift for an upcoming shower.
But Gillie should have a quilted cage cover instead of the old towel I'm using.
All the other inside birds have one. So Gillie needs one, too.
So I went stash-diving.
I thought of a project I started YEARS ago, called Boogie Birds by Linderella's Design Studio. And was able to unearth the under construction blocks quickly.
I don't even think the pattern is available anymore. It's copyrighted in 2001, two years before I learned to quilt! I still have the sales receipt from 2003. Very early in my quilty life.
At that point, I had only recently started to quilt. Any new techniques, like applique, were the Wild West to me! And I experimented a with a lot of different techniques before I settled on my favorite.
But here's the thing. All the shapes and background fabrics were already cut and prepared for sewing. Just a few more steps, and two goals would be achieved: A cage cover done! and a stash item FINISHED!
Excitement ensued. I'm committed. Let's get it done and put it to use!
Four blocks completely finished with applique in place and sewn.
However. . .
What the heck technique did I use?
It's machine applique. Okay, not my first choice, but it'll work.
That looks like freezer paper. Okay, that'll work too. If I were doing this today, I might have put the shiny side of the paper facing out so I could heat-fuse the allowance to the paper. But the shiny-side was inside, and I glued the allowance to the paper side of the freezer paper.
Glue.
Holy heck!
I suspect I used glue stick. But the years of setting on the shelf turned the adhesive into SUPER glue!
I broke a couple nails trying to lift the fabric edge away from the paper. The fabric frayed quite a lot.
Fortunately, paper removed, a bit of pressing, and those frayed edges were hidden like a pile of dust under the carpet.
For this block the wing shape looked great!
The tail on the main body piece, didn't fare as well. At least not at first.
Amazing what a little pressing and spit can do.
That space between the tail shapes is really narrow, so the fraying in that inner section isn' really unexpected.
A nice round of blanket stitch, and this block is done!
Only four more to go! I already added a red border on the top and bottom.
I keep reminding myself that this is for a birdcage cover. I have to assume Gillie's standards are pretty low.
Late in the game, I found this handy tool - it's a hand-turned wooden pressing tool. Saved my finger nails for the last few rounds of super-glued-paper removal. It also helped keep the fraying down.
At this point, I have the applique sewn onto 9 blocks. I'm in the process of adding a simple border to each block.
By next week, I hope to declare this project done!
And I'll be back to regularly-scheduled projects.
This project came out of no-where. Well, it came out of a thought, then a stash-dive for a sidelined project that was waiting for its moment.
Its moment came.
And it's always such a HUGE bonus to finish an unfinished object. Especially one that has been around for so long.
I love new stuff. I love shopping for new stuff. I love starting new projects.
And I also love finishing stuff that never lost their sparkle for me. Maybe a proverbial 'Squirrel!' crossed the path just as momentum on Boogie Birds was building, and the project got pushed aside, temporarily.
Here's what I know: 'Temporarily' is a relative thing.
Have you gone stash-diving lately? . . . Squirrel!
Pin Cushion #24, Shut-down Series
For this week's #24 I borrowed a favorite stitch combination of chain stitch and fly stitch in a leaf shape. I love the citrus-y colors on this one.
16 left! I counted, yet again. I think I am finally on the right track, numerically. Here's what I know: The finished stack is growing, the on-deck stack is shrinking.
Make your own four-patch pin cushions. For the step-by-step tutorial, jump over to the blog and scroll down to the first Puffy Fours post from March 5. That's when I started, about the same time the world was shutting down to contain COVID 19. And that'll bring you to the beginning of the four-part tutorial.
Happy Stitching!
Wash your hands!
Joan Ford
Head Hummingbird
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