Made a start on the Funky Bird Quilt. This is also a project that I have listed in the second quarter of the
2019 Finish-A-Long.
I am not a great applique person, so finding this quite challenging...have done four of the nine birds so far. My admiration goes to those quilters who do those intricate applique designs. Seriously, I am finding these little birds quite labour intensive. The bird design 'Funky Bird' is from the applique section of the EQ8 program.
They are very cute...have another two alternate versions to go through. In order to not get confused I have a copy of the mirror image to trace from but then also have a copy of the original next to me. So far, so good...have not got mixed up as yet.
Also getting re-acquainted with my Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2 in terms of stitching around those birds. For the main body I chose my favourite stitch (no. 159 on this machine), one of the satin-like stitches of the machine.
That stitch is great for someone like me who does not do applique that often...as it is uneven it hides all sort of things as you go along. Also had to read up on the tapering again, as in one of the red birds the top feather was in the way for the stitch (which starts with a wide swing out). Set the taper for 45 degree at the beginning of the stitch which made it possible to miss the adjacent element altogether. Was pretty impressed with that and also started to use the taper on the corners, so I would not get a huge thread build up. For the wings and feathers I used a simple blanket stitch and the eyes and beak were done with a simple zig-zag.
This is going to be a very cute quilt. You will have to wait and see possibly a number of weeks to find out what else I have planned for this.
Karin
Oooh those birds are just darling! Not that I know what the correct way is to applique, but when I have multiple layers like this I tend to stitch the bottom one first then iron on the top one. I love that stitch on your birds and I forget to use it!
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