Mar 10 12

Thanks, and New Bird Blocks

I forgot to post this bird block a few weeks ago and today I made another new one:

Both of these should end up as digitized machine embroidery designs, but more on that later.

This has been a rough week on a number of levels, but one thing that has really helped is the incredible support from our wonderful quilting community. I received so many kind and understanding notes that it truly warmed my soul. I also heard from many people who had quilts meet far worse peril than mine…like floods and fires. Kinda puts my situation in perspective, you know? So thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for all your compassion and empathy and caring. It’s hard to feel alone with all of you special folks out there!

And now it’s time to get back to quilting! I’m working on fine-tuning what I am affectionately calling “Bird Block 1;” how’s that for a catchy name?! I guess I need to come up with something that sounds a little more snazzy. In the meantime, here’s what the machine embroidered version looks like:

To put it into perspective and see how much MEA can add to a quilt block, here is a photo of the non-embroidered prototype I made for bird Block 1:

Now to really whet your appetite, here are some closeups. This first one shows the tail feathers:

…and here’s what the tulip triad at the base of the block looks like. I’m especially fond of how the stem came out:

And last but not least, the whole bird section:

This will be available in the store once I’ve made some more headway on Bird Block 2 and also once I’ve had time to shoot a tutorial about it. That was planned for this week, but life got in the way…

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Filed under Sizzix.

11 Comments

  1. Rosalind Says:
    March 10th, 2012 at 5:05 am

    They all look so different in the different colourways.:o)
    Is the turquoise round the tail feathers a stitch in the machine or the software? It looks just like braid doesn’t it?
    Hope you are stitching again soon

  2. a1angiem Says:
    March 10th, 2012 at 7:58 am

    Lovely birds…and that background fabric is SOOOOO BEAUTIFUL! I love it!

  3. Martha Says:
    March 10th, 2012 at 1:32 pm

    Love the bird blocks and your embellishments are so amazing!! Beautiful!! As for names, when I was growing up I named my doll Dolly and our cat was named by me also, Kitty!!! hahahaha!! I am trying to be a little more creative with my quilts!!

  4. Doreen Says:
    March 10th, 2012 at 3:41 pm

    I am definitely in love!!! These are so beyond words once the embellishing is added! Your “creative well” continues to flow…you go girl! We are all here for ya….Hugs!

  5. Debbie St. Germain Says:
    March 10th, 2012 at 9:40 pm

    I am so happy to see your recreating your wonderful pieces, I just love how you stitch around them. I was in the pfaff store today and loved the work done on the quilts. I really need to learn how to use my machine.

    Debbie

  6. TheaM Says:
    March 10th, 2012 at 9:42 pm

    Glorious Birds! Love the extra stitching – you do amazing things to super applique! more, more, more!!!!

  7. jean Says:
    March 11th, 2012 at 11:24 am

    Stunnin as always! I love how you finish these edges!

  8. jean Says:
    March 11th, 2012 at 11:25 am

    oops, meant stunning of course!

  9. Kelly Jackson Says:
    March 12th, 2012 at 9:38 pm

    The stitching really makes the blocks jump…ME is way too fun.

    Smiles,
    Kelly

  10. 2ne Says:
    March 17th, 2012 at 5:16 pm

    I love your blog :-))))))))))))
    It has given me a lot of inspiration all evening all back to 2006……… Great work you are doing and thanks for showing us how you do it.
    Have an creative and nice day.
    Quilthug from 2ne

  11. Diane Giveins Says:
    April 2nd, 2012 at 8:20 am

    These bird blocks are stunning! What beautiful digitizing, fabrics, colors! Definitely on my ‘to do’ list! Thanks for sharing and inspiring us.