Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Birdie Stitches: Finishing off Blocks

'Fess up.  Was yesterday your first day back at work?  You guys are cracking me up!  I had nearly 4 times as many visitors to Fluffy Sheep Quilting yesterday as I do on a normal day and the only reason I can think of is that we are all returning to work, but want to be home stitching.  Well, best of luck readjusting to the work day and I hope we all make it through our first week with sanity.  I love that you're all visiting when you need a break! xx


I am participating in FairyFace Design's Winter Stitching Goals right now.  Sarah keeps threatening  suggesting we do a mid-point check in to assess where currently stand.  This makes me nervous to no end, so I'm trying to check projects off my list ASAP.  






For the past 9 months I have been embroidering Birdie Stitches blocks.  My goal was therefore to:


"...make up a June template [because I didn't like the one that was suggested in the stitch-a-long], tweak my October block to make me happier and complete the November and December blocks.  I want the top finished in January or February as I have all of the materials and its pretty straight forward"


Finally I have finished embroidering my blocks and am ready to piece a top together.  As many of you already know, I have enjoyed this stitch-a-long, but am tried of it and ready to see it finished.  I'm sure I will make a quilt top, but it will sit as a UFO for a while until I am inspired again.  I don't want to finish this off begrudgingly.  



October was OK when it was finished, but it needed a little something more.  Someone suggested adding in leaves, and that did the trick.  I think I needed a darker color in there.  I tried like crazy to get a witch on a broom, but the stitching had to be so fine and delicate that I am just not skilled enough. Anyway, we'll call it done.


June.  I hated the June template that came with our stitch-a-long, so I skipped the month.  The same was true of August, but I took the birdies on vacation to dive/snorkel and I was happy with that.  Thought about what I'd stitch for the past six months, but was uninspired.  My brother suggested that maybe the birdies had chicks in June, so I tired to stitch a little family.  It looks pretty elementary, but I was running out of green floss to finish off the tree!  Again, we'll call it done.



November again needed a little more.  With just the turkey and the birdie it was a little lacking in color and something to integrate the two little birds.  So, I tossed in a little grass.  It's better, but I wish I thought of that before hand to distribute the colors a bit better.  A blue or yellow bird would have been nice in the green grass.  Oh well. 


And December was finished not long ago.  So, that's it!  I'm done stitching and need to just get the top finished off.  A little sashing and a border won't take long, so I'll check this off the Winter goals list in no time!  





19 comments:

Manda said...

Your birdie stitches are cute!

Susan said...

It's okay to shelve something if we don't love it! Putting some time and space can work wonders for 'unloved' projects! Could you add some red apples to you Summer Tree?

cheeky monkey said...

It looks great! I am excited to see how you finish the quilt.

Judith, Belfast said...

They look lovely altogether! It's going to look even more wonderful when it's all stitched up as a quilt - then I think you'll fall in love with it again! Jxo

Sarah said...

Yay! Its finally done! So happy for you :-) I think you should bag it and hide it for a (much) later date :-)
(great guest bit on Quoka Quilts by the way!)

Kathy said...

These Birds are so sweet - your finished quilt will look wonderful.

Elisa Black said...

I love the Birdie stitches-- they are so sweet. It is going to be a wonderful quilt. Wish I knew how to hand stitch. I'm [allegedly] going to try a little project with an embroidery hoop with a short saying-- keeping it simple for my first attempt. I agrree with Susan above that if if you're not really into, focus on something else until you feel a little more inspired. But I Love themm!

Jennifer said...

Woohoo! Great finishes! I like these kinds of projects, but like you I tire of them so I'm kind of leery to jump right in -- it came out beautiful, be proud of your work!

Katy Cameron said...

Quick, get over to Rhonda's and join in the Finish Along, then you can be in with the chance of winning a prize when you do finish - double incentive!

Lucy | Charm About You said...

I'm sure you'll come back to these and love them again! They are so cute and I love that you added your own touches! It will be a great quilt :)

Mrs Flying Blind... said...

Can't wait to see this one all done.
(PS problems with my email - will get back to you and Suz later xxx)

Judy said...

Those birds are so cute! You must have been having a great time creating them.
Have a great week,
Judy

Needled Mom said...

Yeah...now onto assembly. I still have to finish my December one.

Kelly said...

Love the birds!

CraftyGardenMom - Tanesha said...

Oh I am so behind on my birdie blocks! Yours are adorable and can't wait to see your finished quilt.

Archie The Wonder Dog said...

Love the tweaked blocks!

Lynne said...

Return to work? Wouldn't dream of it; I'm having too much fun being a retiree!! LOL

Unknown said...

How beautiful. I just love your birdie blocks. I so wish I could do that kind of needle work by hand. So beautiful. Great work.

Rhonda the Rambler said...

OMG So many things are funny about this post!!! First off let me start by saying that not everyone has had time off but it explains why I am struggling to catch up on blog reading - y'all were home writing while I was working. Second, I was looking at your June block and thought "why is that tree so angry?" don't look at the nest, look at the tree. Sorry, I had a good giggle over that one!!. Finally, I am so glad you mentioned we are supposed to do a check in because I have about 325 blog posts to read (I told you y'all were busy) now I know where to go from here.

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