I made a chicken

Look at these delightful chickens from the Special Spring 2013 edition of Quiltmania Hen Party designed by Kim Gaddy of Buttons and Bees. I cannot find an active link to the designer. Quiltmania is defunct, old copies of the issue are avaiable online.
My block finishes 12 by 14 inches. Future blocks may have different proportions.

In a re-shuffling of stuff of our mother with my sisters this Christmas I ended up with some chicken feedsacks. I used some prevously as a backing of a chicken quilt for Janna several years ago and now it is time to make another chicken quilt for Beth so I can use more feedsacks on the back.
We were in charge of chickens as little girls. Feeding, gathering eggs, putting in the coop at night. A good job. Also a bit of a terrifying one when the chickens are nearly your own height.

Egg-beater crock of my Great-Grandma Meerdink
that my Grandma Dykstra used to hold her salt box
and I use to hold sewing supplies and knitting needles and pencils.

I love the original design but wanted to simplify it.
I am not including all details as it is not my original pattern. Here are my changes.
-I decided to use one fabric so the chicken is in silhouette
-Doug Leko's Mini Essential Triangle tool was used for flipped triangles
-I moved the beak down the face
-I changed the comb from applique to pieced with 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch backgrounds and 1 1/2 inch squares for flipped triangle
-I made the tail a bit smaller, cut 2 1/4 inch square for flipped triangle
-I used an insertion technique for the feet (explanation below)

all parts

background parts

chicken parts

flipped triangles are completed.

Chicken leg section directions:

Note red for leg section background is over-cut by width to 3 inches and length to 11 inches, along with a piece 3 by 5-6 inches of the leg fabric

Layer the red and the chicken fabric, making one cut through both where you want the front leg.

Reposition the chicken fabric off the background fabric and cut one inch from the newly angled side of the chicken fabric. 

Carefully place chicken fabric again on the red and make a cut where the second leg will go. Discard the leg fabric of the center cut piece, keeping the background piece.

Reposition the chicken fabric off the red again and cut at one inch for the second leg.

Sew the center red part to the two legs

Add the background to both sides
Trim to finish width (2 1/2 inches)
Trim to finished length to fit the chicken

 
My adaptations--use at your pleasure.

Grandma and Grandpa Dykstra plucking chickens with us

Grandma Scholten and her chickens

Janna's chicken quilt, 2015

teacups: framed "I Need a Cup of Tea"

One welcomed upshot of making the red teacups was I found I did not worry while cutting/sewing/pressing. I could still think, but the worry part of my brain was disengaged.
I anticipate being in need of this effect over the next while, so I started another I Need a Cup of Tea.
In this post I will describe my Solids + Prints version that includes a frame around the cup.
Go HERE if you want to read about my red teacups block construction. Because of the high contrast of the fabrics, this link's illustrations may be easier to see how the flipped corners work for the teacup.
Go HERE if you want to read about L sashing.
Go HERE if you want to see the completed quilt top.

To make framed teacups, two types of frames are used to eliminate having to adapt pressing and to reduce matching seams.
FRAMES ARE ALWAYS PRESSED AWAY FROM THE TEACUPS in the settings shown on this post.

REMINDER- you will need to do flipped corner sewing for this block. I HIGHLY recommend Doug Leko's Mini Simple Folded Corners tool available HERE. I use this ruler and the larger version all the time.
NOTE: I experimented with the ear pressing differently differently than I did for the red and white. Follow your preference. I found with some fabrics one way worked better and others, the alternate way. (With my Red and White I was using the same background fabric throughout and one way seemed to work best.)

Two options for ear pressing

Teacup cutting
Teacup print:
One rectangle 3 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches
Two 1 inch squares
One 2 1/2 by 1 inch rectangle

teacup cutting

Background solid:
Three 1 1/2 inch squares
Two 1 inch squares
One 1 1/2 inch by 1 inch rectangle

Block A frame cutting from SOLID
Two rectangles 7 1/2 by 1 1/2 inches
Two rectangles 3 1/2 by 1 1/2 inches

Block B frame cutting from SOLID
Four rectangles 5 1/2 by 1 1/2 inches

Block A sewing

Block A sewn

Block B sewing

Block B sewn

Sew flipped corners on bottom of cup and press towards the squares
Sew flipped corners on sides of ear and press towards the squares
Sew cup little squares onto background of ear and press towards the squares
Sew ear together and press towards the ear
Sew background square to bottom of ear
Sew ear to cup.
PRESS ear to the cup.

Frame teacups for Block A or Block B. Press frames away from the teacups.

These blocks will alternate in the quilt eliminating bulk and matching of seams 
I am sewing into units of 4 then into a larger block of 8.

Let me know if you are sewing along!
I have a instagram hashtag of #ineedacupofteaquilt that I would love you to use on your blocks.

I have lots of ideas for different quilts.
-A Delft idea with all blue teacups on white
-Hot cocoa feeling with browns/tans
-Orange teacups on grey--a favorite color combination of mine

My design, use at your pleasure.

fragments, quilt completed

Fragments

(Floating Fragments pattern by Jamie Siel)
Quilt completed 2024
78.5 by 65 inches
Quilted by Sue DiVarco

White is Kona Snow
Red scraps

Jamie Siel of Sew Brainy Designs has a delightful pillow pattern series she does for Riley Blake. Her October 2023 "Floating Fragments" pillow begged to be scaled up to quilt size.
Her description of it is HERE.
The pattern tutorial is HERE.
My adaptation is described HERE.

My final finish for 2024.

Merry Christmas 2024!

Merry Christmas 2024!

teacups: I Need a Cup of Tea, top completed

Teacups

I Need a Cup of Tea
about 54 inches square

54 blocks
Block finishes 3 by 5 inches

I describe how to make the block HERE.
And how to do the sashings HERE
Quilt was constructed in vertical columns and no outside sashings so outer blocks touch the borders.

A good quilt to piece and quiet my mind. A calming cup of tea was in order in November.
Love it in the red and white. And I am making it in the Solids + Prints style too as a long range project.

I included 10 inch wide borders, a place for Sue DiVarco to do her longarm magic.

My design, use at your pleasure.

Backing is this delightful Ski Hill
by Corrine Wells for Riley Blake.
LOVE those crabapple shaped gondolas.

Jump on In designed by Julia Davis of Red Rainboots Handmade, top completed

I love how the quilt looks with different orientations

Jump on In (designed by Julia Davis)
top completed 2024
96 by 80 inches

Last winter Julia Davis of Red Rainboots Handmade (her main business is making wooden barn quilts--those tulips are calling me) had a fabric swap and quilt-along called Jump on In. I did not participate in the swap, but purchased her pattern and watched the progress of the project on instagram.

The pattern is available HERE.
Read about the swap HERE. It was a fun process to follow on her Instagram. She was very organized!
And HERE is a link to the hashtagged quilts made by the participants.

I  kept the idea on the back burner, cutting triangles while cutting reds for other projects and sewing stacks of the units behind the scenes.

Two things I changed to fit my sewing preferences:
I dislike trimming down units, so I cut my triangles from strips to finished size using the Easy Angle or Bonnie Hunter's Essential Triangle tool.
Are my triangles a bit less accurate than if I over-cut/pieced/trimmed?
Yes.
And I am ok with that.

I also dislike sewing lots and lots of long rows together onto a mothership, so I sewed the units into 16-patch style blocks. Once the 16-patches were made I laid out, I sewed into rows, pressing each row east or west, alternating.
All seams nest.

Sew into strips of 4. Press half of these strips up and half down.
Make half-block of 8 units.
Do not press these units yet

Sew two half-blocks together into a block
Do not press these units yet

My reds range from tomato/madder to berry/maroon. The white is Kona Snow.

Thanks, Julia, for the delightful design!

Backing by Timeless Treasures

scottie dogs, top completed

Scottie Dogs

top completed 2024
68 by 62 inches

48 blocks set 6 across and 8 down
Block finishes 5 by 6 inches
I used Kona Snow for the white

I love my little emotional support scottie dogs! Each was a pleasure to make.

See HERE for my block directions.
See HERE for L sashing overview.

After adding the L sashings, I resolved the top and left blocks so that the pieced center of the quilt would have the sashings all around the field.
The field was constructed in horizontal rows.

I added wide borders, cut 10 inches, from a fabulous Riley Blake plaid print which I plan to use as straight cut binding.
The white of the border is not an exact match to the white of the blocks, and I am ok with that. It makes a good frame and the center glows in contrast.

My design. Use at your pleasure.

Backing from Timesless treasures

Border fabric by Riley Blake