The Scandi Bird quilt is finally finished! It has only been 5 years in the making but the final result is worth it.
Scandi bird patchwork quilt
Each of the birds was first appliquéd onto squares of plain off-white fabric. They weren’t difficult to do, just very time-consuming. Whilst I’ll never say never, I can’t see me rushing to make another appliqué quilt. They are not my zone of genius. Still, it was good to step outside my comfort zone and give it a go.
Initially I was planning to have 41 birds in the final quilt separated by blocks of four fabrics. Given that it was taking me so long to complete the birds I then changed tack to have fewer birds and more co-ordinating fabrics. This meant I had to raid my fabric stash for some additional fabrics since I only had a limited amount of the initial fabrics and what I had would not stretch that far.
Fabrics used in scandi bird quilt
On the left are the fabrics initially selected for the quilt and on the right are the extra fabrics I pulled to add to the quilt.
Smaller squares in coordinating colours were added as a frame around each appliqué bird to form a block before sewing the blocks together.
Scandi bird quilt block
The coloured squares have been placed in a scrappy arrangement. Many people think that scrappy quilts are easy to do when in fact they take a lot of careful planning. I’ll share some tips on how to create a good scrappy quilt in a later post.
Scandi bird patchwork quilt
At 64 inches square, the quilt brightens up the bedroom and is easily big enough to cover the top of the bed.
Scandi bird patchwork quilt
It is perfect as a throw when reading,
Scandi bird patchwork quilt
Or daydreaming in a sunbeam.
Scandi bird patchwork quilt
Quilts don’t have to live solely inside. They also make fab picnic blankets.
The quilt back features sassy 1950s ladies, carefully pattern-matched as always for a seamless look (I think the recipient secretly likes these ladies better than the quilt front). For the binding I used a bright blue floral that also features on the front of the quilt.
Scandi bird patchwork quilt – detail
Wavy lines were quilted horizontally across the quilt which gives it a lovely, cozy texture. I’m quite proud of the quilting on this quilt as it was done on my domestic sewing machine – the largest quilt I’ve quilted so far.
This quilt went to its forever home in December last year where it is cherished and well-loved.
Like what you see? Remember you can follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to see more of my lovely makes.
cakecardcloth 