Lattice Birds - It’s a Finish!

It’s like having a baby. I know I’ve said that before, but sometimes finishing a quilt (especially one that takes more than 9 months to make) feels like having a baby. And my new baby is Lattice Birds.

First, let me apologize for the less-than-stellar photos. Well heck, all my photos are less than stellar. But I am hoping that when the weather warms up (and the damp grass and mud, etc) disappear, perhaps we can take this out for some nice photos. We’ll see.

This project was started at the very beginning of 2018, although I had planned it out during the fall of 2017. I wanted birds alternating with Irish Chain to mimic the effect of lattice. We have grape vines that grow in our backyard along a lattice wall that protects the patio from the afternoon sun. Every few years we’ll get bluebirds in there who build nests and raise a clutch or two of hatchlings. So, that’s where the idea for the quilt came from.

As I have occasionally mentioned (more often when I first started this project), I first purchased the Feathers pattern from The Pattern Basket (Margot Langedouc). I found the
directions confusing and cumbersome (probably a little bit her and a little bit me, LOL), and anyway it made a 8” finished block. I needed a 10” block to alternate with the Irish Chain. So, I found a free picture/pattern online at QuiltingSupport.com, but that site doesn’t seem to be online anymore. But it’s in my Pinterest board under Tutorials.

Anyway, it showed a basic picture for a nearly identical bird to Margot’s, and I don’t know whose bird was first. Regardless, I didn’t use either pattern exactly, but altered them for my needs. The main differences are that: (1) the bird is set in a 10” square, (2) the wing has a flip corner in front (thanks, Sally) to round it, (3) the tail is shorter and (4) there is no fussy micro-piecing for the beak. I made it as a prairie point and inserted it into the seam near the head, then stitched it down.




So please excuse me if I refer to these as “my birds” and “my quilt design”. I own the quilt; it’s a derivative design for personal use, and I have made the proper attributions in the previous paragraph. I only mention it because I had an anonymous reaming last year by someone who took exception to me calling them mine.

Lattice Birds used primarily Kona White and Kona Ocean (blue), but the colors were inspired by the floral fabric I used in the center patches of the Irish Chains, the border, the back and in some of the blue birds. The feature fabric is called Maggie, and it’s from Tamara Kate’s line called Frolic from a couple years ago. 

The quilting was done by Diane Knott of Butterfly Threads Quilting. Diane is the author of two books, Scrap Quilt Secrets and Strip Quilt Secrets, which I’ve mentioned here on my blog before. Strip Quilt Secrets is a great book and I’ve already picked out several of her quilts I want to do!  Diane quilted it in a pattern called Tweet Tweet with light blue thread. Below you can see not only the flowers and swirls, but the hint of a bird, beak and wing just in front of the yellow/pink bird below. 

Diane did a lovely job (thank you!), is very reasonably priced, and it was a really quick turnaround. I guess I lucked out with the timing!! I highly recommend her quilting services (and book!)

Lattice Birds measures about 88x108”.  It’s huge on our queen-sized bed, but I’m expecting it to shrink a couple inches in each direction when laundered.  :-)

And Darla approves, so what more could you ask?? She did say that now that I’m done sewing birds, I should start on a FISH quilt....

Lattice Birds was my #1 Goal for the first quarter Finish-Along. You can see my goal list HERE.  I’m also linking up to Sarah’s “Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?” Friday.

Thanks for stopping by!