To Everything There is a Season Bird Quilt

I finished a new birdie quilt last night. I only had the pumpkins (or apples, as everyone here seems to think they are) and bird in mind when I started it. Then I thought I'd like a tree with Autumn leaves. I wanted to have a few falling from the trees but wasn't in love with how that looked. As I was stitching down the hexagons I was thinking. I was reflecting on the past months and then started think about one of my best friends who past away a few years ago. I started thinking about this scripture that was read at her service. I find it very comforting.

P.S. I apologize in advance if you get the song stuck in your head. I sang it the entire time I stitched the words on the quilt. :)

P.S.S. <---(that was fun, haven't written that since middle school) I find it funny that the song was sang by "The Byrds". Yes, I am very easily amused :)

 

Ecclesiastes 3

 ¹To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
 ²A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
 ³A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
 ⁴A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
 ⁵A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
 ⁶A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
 ⁷A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
 ⁸A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
 ⁹What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
 ¹⁰I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
 ¹¹He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
 ¹²I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.
 ¹³And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.
 ¹⁴I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.
 ¹⁵That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.
 ¹⁶And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.
 ¹⁷I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.
 ¹⁸I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
 ¹⁹For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
 ²⁰All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
 ²¹Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
 ²²Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?

Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2011

For my entry in the Blogger's Quilt Festival I chose my Birdies Holding a Quilt quilt. I thought I should go with a bigger quilt but finally decided on this one. I've made quite a few of these and I think this is my quilting niche. I feel so happy and creative when I make them. For this quilt I used hexagons for the leaves which I really had fun with. All of my birds are on a line or branch. I thought for this I had to include my favorite thing in the quilt, a small quilt. I love the freedom of doing anything I want with these quilts. The free motion applique is like drawing. I really love that technique.

All of my quilts have special meaning to me. This one I keep in front of my sewing table. I think one of the reasons I love it so much is because of the pure joy I experienced making it. Absolutely no frustration. It's what I think quilting should be. FUN!!! I hope you like my entry for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

Please Stop by Amy's and check out all of the other entries. Take care :)

Aqua Crosses Finished

 I finished the Aqua Crosses quilt. I free motion stipple quilted it.

I used a vintage sheet for the backing. I love the print on this sheet. I thought it was a perfect fit for the quilt. I bound it with Kona in Aqua.
Now it's ready to be sent to its new home. But first should I wash and crinkle it? or send it as is? What do you think?
I think I have to make one of these for myself!

Catching Up....

It's been too long since my last post. September was quite a challenging month for our family. Hopefully this roller coaster we call life will stay calm for a while. I'm very thankful for all of you who checked in on me and had kind encouraging words. It is appreciated more than you'll ever know.

So I really didn't touch my sewing machine for well over a month. The last thing I made was this little doll quilt for one of my nieces in the beginning of September. I pulled all of my purples which turned out to be mostly feedsack reproductions. I really loved how it turned out. All the purple fabrics looked so pretty together.

And then I didn't sew again until the week before last. I wanted to catch up on my bee blocks. These blocks were for Christine and Shanna in the Aqua and Red Bee.

These were for Holly and Jenna for the {Sew Bee It} bee. These bees are a lot of fun because we get to play with other peoples fabric. But that can make me nervous sometimes too because I don't want to make a mess of fabric that isn't mine. But it all works out fine usually ;) All the girls I've been in bees with are really sweet.

My next bee block was for the cocorico bee. For this bee we use fabric from our own stash for the others blocks. They are mostly paper pieced original designs. This bee has been a lot of fun too. It's always good to try new creative things. This was Annabel's block. Her theme this month was Annabel's Orchard.
I really feel privileged to be apart of these bees with all of these talented ladies. They really blow me away with their creativity and skill.

I was also in another swap but with all that was happening I couldn't meet that deadline. So when I finish this Aqua Crosses quilt  it will be going out to my partner for that swap. I hope she likes it.

That was a quick little recap of what I've been doing. I still have plans for the paper pieced Kitchen Aid mixer tutorial and the Topsy Turvy sashing tutorial for the Little Apples quilt. Both are in progress but it's a slow go right now...life happens :)