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I added yet another row to the background of my house study bird quilt today. Now it’s ready for the applique!

Today I made another row for the background of my birds-in-the-woods quilt that is a color and feeling study for the new house we’re building this spring. I had made the pieces for the birds last week 9eyes and beaks to come), so a laid them down to get an idea of how the quilt is becoming. (Sounds awkward, but I mean what I wrote.) I ordered fabrics for a greener row below and then three rows above to work into blues, so the color choices for the birds will still work on other sections of the background whereas they melt into these. As per an earlier “thing” post, there will be vertical branches for the birds to sit on once I get the backgound pieces down and put together.

 P.S. I went up to the cabinet shop which is on the way to our property today for my first serious decision-making venture. Afterwards I drove up to the property. saw a pileated Woodpecker, herard Nuthatches and most likely Downies, and heard and then saw Sandhill Cranes flying over the mountain. Makes the heart soar!

Today I worked on the cabinet layout for the kitchen for our new house in preparation for next week’s visit with a cabinet supplier. We’ve designed this house from scratch so, it’s amazing to have preliminary plans in hand. Now we’re working on every detail so our prospective builder can give us a price. Yikes!

While I’ve designed the house in 3D software complete with an substantial amount of detail and the ability to walk through the house, quilts are my design medium: I work out my thinking in fabric. To me it’s all about how this house will feel and the best way for me to visualize and express this is to make things. Therefore, I sketched up a rough for my House Inspiration Quilt a few days ago.

The idea for the backgroud is to arrange horizontal strips of fabric depicting the forest in which our house will live, starting with the browns and beiges of the leaf litter floor, up through the canopy and the mountain behind to the sky. I will applique branches and birds over the pieced background. Our house will sit on a high ridge between two mountains, so the strips will give that sense of loft. (At least that’s the plan!)

There was no discussion in my head as to what fabrics to use. BATIKS of course! Here’s the pile I pulled out of my batik stash to use in the quilt.

Today’s task was to make a pieced strip. I glued three pieces of newsprint together along their 8 1/2″ edges. I then cut strips of fabric about 9-11″-wide and started paper piecing them. Here’s how the first strip came out all trimmed up.

My 20-minutes were up (I fudged a little since it took time to take pictures and I chronicled the process in more detail for a later how-to on my blog) but I kept going and made another strip with darker browns and golds and some green, to be the bottom row of the quilt. I am extremely pleased with how it’s coming along!

But I realized my stash is lean on blue batiks so I placed an order with Hancock’s of Paducah to replenish my stock.

I love to make things!