Birds Of A Feather

Several years ago, I found a pattern for this quilt in Quiltmaker magazine. The bird blocks look like they are paper-pieced, but they are actually made out of squares and triangles with a few odd-shaped pieces thrown in. I made templates out of template plastic for those.
I raided my stash to find fabrics that I could use to make the blocks look like birds that come to our feeders here in north-central Pennsylvania. It won a ribbon in our small county fair, but I was a bit disappointed to see it hanging vertically rather than horizontally, so the birds looked quite strange. They weren't even recognizable as birds unless you tilted your head sideways! I guess the fair organizers were trying to save valuable hanging space...

I had initially made the quilt in the above picture for my own house (my husband is an avid birder), but decided to sell it (with my husband's OK) during my guild's exhibit in 2004. Someone else saw the quilt and asked if I could make them one as well. So, in the early spring of 2005 I completed my first (and I think only) commission quilt.

The birds are a Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch, Eastern Bluebird, Tufted Titmouse, Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Baltimore Oriole, and Blue Jay.
The quilt below was actually the first one that I had made from the pattern back in late 2002 for my college roommate and dear friend Holly. The photo was taken with an old digital camera, so the quality is so-so.
Someday I hope to get around to making another one that we will keep!