A Friday finish - Flipping the Orange Birds

At the last meeting I attended of the Las Vegas MQG, we had an "orange" swap in honor of the Year of Tangerine.   Anyone who wanted to participate brought a yard worth of 2 1/2" strips in a Ziploc bag (or multiples) for exchanging.  We laid out all the strips in piles and re-sorted them into 1 yard of assorted strips per bag, and gave them back to the participants. 

I took two (or maybe three) yards and came home with this:

A couple of months later, I added some additional pieces and this book:

...and went to the Bernina store for a class with Jacquie Gering of Tallgrass Prairie Studio on the "stitch and flip" technique from the book.   

I used 6 1/2" white squares and used the orange strips for the 'flip' triangles. As usual, I didn't make a plan before I started, so I cut the fat quarter of  Aviary fabric into strips and then decided to use it for a focal print.  I was unaware that it had become out of print and hard to find so I ended up paying $20 to an Etsy seller for a half yard before it was all said and done. 

 Add wasting money to time and fabric by skipping the planning stage... 

This was where I was at the end of the workshop:

When I put it up on the design wall at home (some weeks later, after the design wall was created and installed) I wasn't sure I liked the 'diamond' effects so I turned them around and made stars.  I finished the top last fall and set it aside with some of the remaining orange strips for a scrappy  binding.

When I went to the Closet of the Unfinished, this week, having the binding already made clinched the selection. And this week - it's a finish!

The quilting is not dense. I used a pattern from a skill builder panel for the star nine patch sections and used an orange peel design for the rest.  I briefly considered trying Elizabeth Hartman's 'no marking' technique, but I was afraid I would not be able be consistent, so I made a little half circle template and marked the quilt lines. 

Since I have a bit of a heavy hand with the marker, I tossed it into the washer when it was complete.   It came out snugly soft!

As usual, lots of technique refinement happened in the process of finishing this quilt  Also,  I discovered a new binding superpower tool that I will post about tomorrow.  You probably already know about it, bit I think it may have changed my (binding) life!

I'm linked!
Finish it up Friday