I've Heard the Birds Singing for a Year

I just love this collection of fabric prints from Riley Blake's collection called Summer Song 2.  It's been singing to me for two summers now, meaning I started it last year.

That's okay though because I've been putting off the quilting part until I became better at free motion machine quilting.  This is the biggest quilt I've machine quilted and I'm pretty happy with it.



The beginning: sewing strips together.

Cutting the strips into squares.

Laying out the rows how you like. My bed is the only surface I have big enough for this except for the floor. My back and knees tell me, " Please, NO MORE FLOORS! "

Sewing white strips in between. It's really easy. 

Piecing the rows together and labeling them. 

It's coming together. 

A year has passed before I felt comfortable enough to machine quilt this beauty. One step at a time, right? And take your time.

Finished in two days rather than rush to finish in one.  Goodnight quilt. 

Not many people like to do this, but I love to do the binding. 

Embarrassment! Yes, it's been in storage since last summer. But, good things come to those who wait, right? 

Viola! Finally finished. I just love the colors. If I had a grand daughter I would not be parting with it. 

Can you picture a young girls room with this laying over her bed? In a field for a picnic? On a fort floor? Or just curled around her to keep her warm? 

I call it Pinkalicious because the colors that stands out to me are the delicious pinks. They remind me  of ice cream, pink flowers, funny pink birds,  and pink cotton candy. Yes, summer it is.

 

I love this picture on the rail fence with Vroman's Nose in the background. The greens of summer and the blue sky are truly a wonderful background for this quilt.

Lessons learned: 

1. I've mentioned before how I enjoy using jelly rolls. The ease in which they go together is wonderful.  I have learned, however, there is more to quilting than strips. I will experiment with more designs when I can. 

2. My greatest learning experience from this quilt came from the year long wait. I knew I wanted to machine quilt this with stipples, or meanders, but I just wasn't ready. I wasn't totally confident when I started to do this, but once I started and relaxed my neck and shoulder muscles, the process became much easier. 

This 60x60 quilt is for sale. Visit my FB page at From One Twenty Seven for more information. 

Thanks for visiting on this beautiful sunny day.