Birds in the Loft - the beginning

I'm ready to get going with the making of my Birds in the Loft hexagon quilt. I have a rough idea of where I am headed with this quilt but it may change as I start cutting and sewing. There are a number of inspirations for this quilt. The first is my Stars in the Loft quilt. I love all of the rosettes in this quilt so I will have rosettes in the new quilt. I will also incorporate my foundation paper pieced English paper pieced rosettes in this new quilt.

I want to feature this beautiful print in a quilt. It is from Moda's Dominique II line. I plan on using the birds in a centre medallion and perhaps elsewhere in the quilt. The ideas are still percolating!

Medallion quilts really speak to me. Since I've already done a round medallion in Stars in the Loft I wanted to use a different shape. This one really spoke to me. The quilt is dated 1800-1820 and it is in the Quilt Museum and Gallery. You can read more about this quilt here.

There will be rosettes and lots of them. I start by pulling fabrics that I think will work with the birdie fabric. They don't have to match but they should complement the starting fabric. What I focus on is the scale of the print (the size of the print), the value (the relative lightness or darkness of the fabric compared to others) and the colour. I am using 1" hexagons for this project.

I cut 2 1/2" strips of fabric and then quick cut my hexagons in no time flat. You can read how I do this here. I am cutting 12 hexagons which is enough for two rosettes but I'll also need one more for the centre of each rosette. If I have a fabric that I like for the middle I cut it at this time and if not I'll look for something later. I tack these hexagons together with thread and toss them in a bag so if I have a few spare moments I can do some basting. I can always find a few spare moments for basting especially in my helper (the little stinker) is sleeping!

I want a light fabric for the background and did a rough calculation about the fabric requirement. I  reckon I will need five yards. There are plenty of lights in my stash but I don't have a five yard length so I've selected two fabrics, one of which will be used for most of the medallion (the middle fabric) and the other will be used for the path between the rosettes (top fabric). I pulled a third fabric and will fussy cut some bees to be used although I'm not sure where they will be used. I have several other fabrics with bees which I will likely incorporated in my quilt!

I've sketched out the middle of the quilt and am ready to get started. I'm thinking I will use fussy cut bee prints where there are dots but that could change. The red in the middle will be the birdie fabric but I want to do more than just reverse applique it in place so I'll work on that component of my design later. For now all I need to know is the size of the opening. Now I am ready to get sewing! So exciting!

Until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H