Turkey Tracks: Two Granddaughter Quilts: Yellow Bird and Wise Bird

Turkey Tracks:  April 5. 2016

Two Granddaughter Quilts

Wise Bird and Yellow Bird

I have two granddaughters (3 and 5 years) who are now sharing a bedroom.  They have a new baby sister, so bedrooms needed to be rethought and renovated for the long haul that will involve, eventually, three teen-age girls..

For the new living arrangement and the new bedroom, I made them each a quilt–with the hope that these quilts are not the same, but go together.  And I wanted something that would interest them for a long time.

What emerged after a LOT of piecing and a lot of fun for me was “Yellow Bird” and “Wise Bird.”

“Yellow Bird”:

“Wise Bird”:

“Yellow Bird” has a yellow bird in the border fabric.

“Wise Bird” has a backing of owls, and this granddaughter LOVES owls.

“Yellow Bird” has a Kaffe Fasset fabric for the background.  I think this one is called “Roman Coins.”

“Yellow Bird’s” organizing block is Bonnie Hunter’s “Carolina Chain,” which appeared in Quiltmaker magazine’s March/April 2010 issue–in Bonnie Hunter’s “Addicted to Scraps” column.  The pantograph is “Check and Chase” by Lorien Quilting.  I used, as I recall, a soft rose thread.

I am so loving the interesting neutrals–or “low volume” prints–on the market today.

“Wise Bird’s” central block is Bonnie Hunter’s “Criss Cross” block–from her “Addicted to Scraps” column in  Quiltmaker magazine’s September/October 2915 issue.

This quilt center started with me just making a block or two for fun one day–and I got hooked.

I surrounded the center with rows of different quilt blocks–many of which came out of the “parts department” where I keep blocks I’ve made from leftovers of other quilts.  (The term “parts department” has come from Freddie Moran and Gwen Marston’s book COLLABORATIVE QUILTING.)  And I used lots of the polka dot fabrics I have acquired.

The pantograph for “Wise Bird” is also “Check and Chase” from Lorien Quilting.  I quilted with a soft limey green.

I did make the flying geese and the larger “primitive star” outer border for this quilt.  I like this primitive star a lot.  And of course I had to make some blocks to add to the ones I already had in the parts department.

Here’s a view up and down the length of the quilt.  I am certifiably crazy about polka dots.  I really like how the orange/green polka dot on the binding came out.

Baby girl will get a quilt that blends with these two completed quilts.  It will be made from Bonnie Hunter’s “Wild and Goosey” block–which also appeared in her “Addicted to Scraps” Column in Quiltmaker magazine, May/June 2013.  This block is Foundation Pieced on paper, and since it appeared, it has acquired a large and solid fan club.  I succumbed this winter while using up my “crumb” bag–which is not used up at all, but growing like mad with all the quilting.  AND after taking Bonnie Hunter’s class at Craft Online University–which I highly recommend.  (One of the cool things is seeing five or six quilts at the end of each segment–each using a block in a different way.)

These blocks will sit on a soft grey polka dot, and it brings out all their vibrant colors and works well with the black and white sashing.  I’ll use a 3 1/2-inch sashing in the setting–which will give me a 3 1/2-inch corner stone of some kind.