Friday, February 1, 2013

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

5 comments:

a maidenhair fern said...

a beautiful finish! and inspiration to get out my fmqing book by Angela. thanks for sharing.

Gaynell said...

Orange is not a favorite color for me...but I like what you have done with it! Very nice.

Sharon M said...

I love this quilt! You know me, anything that looks like it didn't come from a pattern will catch my eye. I bet you have plenty of orange left!

Chris said...

Lovely finish!

Vic H. said...

Wow...you are so lucky to have taken that class! We miss you so much...your quilts are always guaranteed to have a "kick" to them! Good job...