Sunday, May 12, 2013

It's For The Birds~Cardinals

Welcome to my day of,  It's For The Birds Blog Hop!!! This is the quilt I chose to share with you today!!
I started this little quilt over a year ago!!!! When I saw this blog hop I knew I had the perfect little quilt to share with you. Now I just needed to get it completed!!!

Here is the pattern by Connie D Roys.
I bought the pattern in a quilt guild yard sale. Someone had already started the quilt and gave up. The back ground moon was appliqued on to the two background fabrics. I added the little red border and brown border. I think I paid about $1 or $2, what a great find!!

I did hand applique using the glue stick method. You may notice that my quilt is opposite of the pattern. I didn't have time to trace all the pattern pieces as we were getting ready to go on a trip to Phoenix to see our son. So I copied the patterns using freezer paper and my copy machine.

I adhere the freezer paper to the right side of the fabric, cut out each pattern piece leaving a small edge to turn, apply a little glue, and fold the edges back using two seam rippers instead of using my fingers, until I see the freezer paper edge. Works for me!!!

Here's the quilt ready to layer and pin.
I add quilt extensions to the edges of my quilts. They are basted on using the same  seam size that I will use when putting on the binding. That way, I can quilt to the edge very easily. Once the quilting is done, they are removed quite easily!!!
Layered and pinned and ready to quilt!!
I drew  lines on the background to help me keep my quilting lines fairly straight on the the horizon.
I was trying to get the feeling of a haze in front of the moon. This took awhile to do and the blue lines did help!!
Almost done with the moon!
The background is totally done. Just need to finish a little more on the birds and branches.
Thank you for visiting!! I hope you enjoyed this little quilt. I am so glad to have it done and off the to do pile. I now have another quilt to hang for Christmas. Although, I think this one could be hung any time of the year!!!

If you have time, there are many more birders out there!! I've seen some awesome projects on this blog hop!

Enjoy your visit with the others who are participating!!!!

68 comments:

  1. Beautiful work. I especially like the red cardinal. Love the wingspan.
    Thank you.

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  2. Love your Cardinals and your beautiful work! Thank you for sharing.

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  3. Beautiful quilt and the quilting adds such a great touch! Loove it!

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  4. Absolutely beautiful quilt and needlework.

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  5. Awesome--just the kind of quilt that I love!

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  6. Awesome--just the kind of quilt that I love!

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  7. I love the detailed and creative quilting on this piece - beautiful!

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  8. What a lot of details and very skilled work, thanks for sharing!

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  9. Incredible work - love the red

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  10. Beautiful work, amazing quilting.

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  11. You have made a wonderful work with all the details quilting. Thanks for sharing and being part of this hop

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  12. How lovely! The quilting behind the birds looks beautiful. It really makes the birds POP! Keep going!

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  13. This quilt is absolutely stunning!!! Love your quilting too.

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  14. Beautiful wall hanging! Your applique and quilting are stunning!

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  15. Very nice piece of work - thanks for sharing!

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  16. Hey you! I recognized your fabric post card from Connected Threadz!! ;) Gorgeous, gorgeous quilt - I want to ask, how do you get your applique so poofy? Do you add a little tuft of batting or did you just use a nice lofty batting under the top? Thank you for sharing your beautiful work!

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  17. Beautiful quilt. The quilting is perfect. What a great find for you too.

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  18. Love your birds. You do beautiful work. Enjoyed looking around your site at all the eye candy. Sewgratefulquilts.wordpress.com

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  19. I love the three dimensional effect of your background quilting around the appliques. Beautiful finish, as always!

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  20. This quilt turned out amazingly beautiful!
    Congratulations on a fabulous finish!

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  21. Wow! You did a great job on the cardinal. The quilting is so well done. Thank you so much for being part of the hop.

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  22. You've made on of my favorite birds and it's just stunning ! Congrats on being in the top 2, you totally deserve that honor !

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  23. Your work is lovely. This blog hop has motivated many people to complete projects, your project is fabulous. Thanks for sharing and congratulations.

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  24. Your pattern was a bargain at twice the price. Your quilting has made this a stunning piece of work. Just gorgeous!

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  25. Martha....you did soooo well you will see....this is a lovely pattern...your fabric choices are perfect

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  26. Lovely project. What a great find. I have found a few nice things at my local church sales, but nothing that nice. (One year I got 2 pincushion kits for 25 cents)

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  27. What a great little find...that is gorgeous! Your work on it turned it into something so beautiful and amazing...love it!

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  28. Wow! I love cardinals, and you did a great job on this find. Thanks for sharing.

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  29. Martha what a great find & at such a great price too. You did such a wonderful job finishing up this rescue that if it was me, I would have it hanging all year. Thank you for the joy of seeing your cardinals.

    Sicnerely,
    Tricia

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  30. That is beautiful and your quilting in it is so impressive.

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  31. Thanks for explaining your process I love hearing how others accomplish their quilt goal. Your project is lovely.

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  32. This is fabulous! I love cardinals although I've never seen one!! Is it only the male bird that is red??
    Thanks for sharing!

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  33. Such a beautiful quilt ... love the quilting.

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  34. I agree...birds are for all seasons! :) Beautiful job!

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  35. What a gorgeous quilt!!! Wow!
    That is my favorite applique technique, too! SO much easier than the other methods!

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  36. Great tip about extensions so you can quilt to the edge----the quilting looks amazing! The cardinals are lovely and what a find for you at the garage sale. I wonder what the previous owner would think if she saw it now!

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  37. you did a great job love your quilt. Cardinals are my fav. bird thanks for sharing

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  38. Martha,
    What a wonderful find. You did an amazing job of finishing someone else's start. It is beautiful. Your quilting certainly makes the project. You have a beautiful quilt to hang at Christmas. Thank you for participating and being a great inspiration for finishes. I love Cardinals. It is the state bird of WV, my birth state and home state for many years. I now live in OK and just last week I was looking out my French doors and saw a beautiful red cardinal in my back yard. I think they are beautiful birds. I hope to see you in future hops.

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  39. Beautiful. The holly does make it look like a Christmas hanging but the cardinal makes it work year round. I like your appliqué technique.

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  40. I love your quilt. Cardinals are my favorite bird. I just started using the extensions on my quilts so I could get right up to the edge without all that waviness.

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  41. Outstanding! Gorgeous workmanship too.

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  42. Beautiful! I have a habit of adopting orphan UFO's, too. Unfortunately, I have many of my own, too!

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  43. Very pretty quilt. I love cardinals. They are such pretty birds. Thanks forvthe quilting tip.

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  44. It is beautiful! The quilting and the birds are just gorgeous!

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  45. Wow what a great buy. Love, Love it. Cardinals are such a beautiful bird. Great job.

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  46. Absolutely gorgeous! Thanks for sharing!

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  47. What a lovely pattern. And a treasure to be able to finish it. But a lot of work - and worth it! Thanks for sharing so many beautiful pictures of your progress.

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  48. Hi!!!! Beautiful!!!! Love your birds!!!!

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  49. That is really beautiful. Love the birds.

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  50. Love it Martha! Can't wait to see it in person :o)

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  51. So beautiful. You did a great job!
    cheers
    maggie

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  52. So glad you finished it. It's absolutely beautiful.

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  53. Your quilted picture is fab! I have a sister who loves all things cardinal. Great job on the moon quilting.

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  54. What a great job finishing up this project! Don't you love to find quilt bargains! Lovely job on the moon and other quilting.

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  55. What a beautiful quilt, you did a wonderful job on the applique and on the quilting.

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  56. Beautiful, simply beautiful! I love the applique and quilting. Lovely work!

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  57. Beautiful the cardinals are my favorite.

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