Florence’s Song Birds.
Mom loved to see the song birds she could attract to the farm house.
Mom was the quintessential stoic Farm-wife; focused on the serious matters at hand. But she did display joy for a few special things, like Polka music, Detroit Tiger’s Baseball and the local song birds who would visit the farm.
So for her 90th birthday year, I made a series of portrait quilts, one for each season: Spring Blue Bird (her favorite bird); Summer Gold Finch and Winter Cardinals. Unfortunately, we lost mom suddenly, before I completed the Fall Blue Jay. But I hope to eventually finish the series.
Foundation Paper Piecing
Foundation piecing is a centuries old technique for piecing intricate and precise quilts. It uses a pattern printed in reverse.
Individual blocks are carefully stitiched together to make the portrait quilt.
Individual fabric pieces are placed on the reverse side, and stitched down on the paper side, following the lines and order. Excess fabric is trimmed away, then repeat process with the next number.
