Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Christmas in July: Blog Hop Day 2

Christmas in July continues with a week of holiday-themed tutorials! Stop by each day this week to see the featured tutorial and find out how you can enter to win the fabric line being used!

Today Debby from Debby Kratovil Quilts is playing with Jackie Robinson's My Little Chickadee fabrics. And she's using hexies! 

Here's Debby:
I love fabrics with animals and personality, but not so juvenile that they wouldn't appeal to an adult (for a gift). When asked to participate in this Sew in Love with Fabric Christmas in July hop, I knew that I would enjoy working with My Little Chickadee. I asked for 6 pieces (it was SO HARD) to choose

My Little Chickadees Fabrics
Look at these fabrics. You would have a hard time choosing, too!


My Little Chickadees
Here is a little bit of the print with the widely spaced chickadees:



I wanted to fussy cut those little birds. I wanted them to be the star! I thought of a previous blog post using some "birds". They are actually chickens (they're birds, right?) Do you remember this? It was called Boogie in the Hen House with No Fowl Play (the collection is called Fowl Play).


Fowl Play wall banner (or table topper)
I set to work fussy cutting 6 little chickadees. I cut a freezer paper template so I could isolate the chickadee before cutting it out. The height of my template is 4-1/2". The image will finish to 4".


One Little Chickadee
Then I cut a 2-1/2" strip of the green fabric and cut 60 degree triangles. I used a multi-sized 60 degree ruler. (I have shown how to cut these - and the hexagons - in a previous post).

60 degree triangles; will finish to 2" in height.
With 6 chickadee images and 12 green triangles, here is my next step. I sewed two triangles to the side of each chickadee hexagon (it REALLY helps to lay things out on your table or design wall so you can keep things straight). But if you visit the Fowl Play blog post, you will see these steps in more detail.
All 6 of the Chickadees making a circle

Sew three sets of chickadees together for the top and three for the bottom. Now it's time for the center seam.


Two halves of the ring of chickadees
Then - Holy Cow! There's a hole in the center? What's that about? Well, we'll just cover it up with an interfaced hexagon. This is the same size as the chickadees. Sew around outside with 1/4"; trim all excess interfacing. Clip into interfacing and turn right side out; press well. (I cover this part, too, in the Fowl Play post.)


Interface the center hexagon
And we will cut 6-1/2" triangles to square up the sides. Again, this can only be done with a 60 degree ruler. These are 30 degree triangles, btw.


Cutting the side triangles to "square up" the ring of chickadees
So, let's see the parts. The center interfaced hexagon is pinned and ready to be zigzag stitched to the ring. After I do that, THEN it's time to remove the interfacing.


Squaring up the sides
The last challenge is to find something creative to make from that awesome chickadee panel:


One of the four vertical sections of the Chickadee Panel
I am a visual learner. I often cut, stitch and then - RIP! That's what happened here. (Good thing I had more of the border fabric left!)


First border attempt
I didn't like it. So - yes - I took it off. Then I cut four borders so I could make some attempt to miter them. This is the best I could do!


Chickadee Ring
I think it's sweet, don't you? This will be a perfect Winter table topper or wall banner. It's not necessarily Christmas, so it will have a long life.

Can I show you just a few other things I made using English Paper Piecing? I used The New Hexagon book by Katja Marek for several of the blocks. And I finished them into little quiltlets as shown at Katja's Quilt Shop pages. And yes, I fussy cut the centers. Don't you just love them?


Dawn Block #23 (Traditional Twisted Hexagon block)
And there is a brand new perpetual calendar based on The New Hexagon with 366 more blocks! I fussy cut a little chickadee and put him/her in the center of the July 1 block.


Almost finished; will be a coaster or mug rug
And I did some more fussy cutting:
Fussy cutting for another of Katja's blocks
 Yes, I was determined to make the best of that messed up border fabric!


Fussy cutting for another Grandmother's Flower Garden block
I fussy cut 6 birds and used them in a GFG block that includes red diamonds to "square" up the sides. Katja gives this block a name: Judy. I also turned this into a quiltlet.


11" x 13" super-sized Judy block
I am still making more of these little blocks. I can't help it. The chickadee fabric inspired me so!

Thanks, Debby! Head over to Debby's blog to enter for a chance to win a FQ bundle of My Little Chickadee fabric! 


Don't miss our Christmas in July tutorials all this week!
Wednesday: Alison from Little Bunny Quilts, featuring Sparkle
Friday: Benartex blog design team featuring Joyful

Love It? Share It! Facebook Twitter Google Pinterest Email

33 comments:

  1. What fun projects! Those sweet birdies deserved every one of the spotlights you gave them! I like that this can be enjoyed during more than just the Christmas season.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those are beautiful and the fabrics are gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a cute line of fabric and project! thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I can see why you were inspired by the chickadee fabric. Chickadees are just too darned adorable. I love everything you did. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. DARLING FABRIC+GREAT TUTORIAL!THANK YOU!
    msstitcher1214@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. FANTASTIC!!! Love the projects and those chickadee's just seem to chirp on the fabric!!! Thanks for the terrifc explanations!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Woonderful fabric--wanting to fussy cut some of the birds myself!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love everything Debby made, and I agree that this line is so beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you for having a hop on these collections. They are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is gorgeous! I love the tutorial and am definitely going to be making one of these. Thank you for sharing and have a fantastic creative day!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Beautiful project and great tutorial. Debby is spot on as usual. Thanks for the continued information and inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a wonderful little blog hop to share with us...Love the blocks shown and cannot wait to see what the other bloggers visions will be...

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love the little chickadees and the coordinating fabrics. Your projects are wonderful and I will be looking for the fabric in my LQS. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Chickadees live in this area. I can just hear that "chick-a-dee-dee-dee,chick-a-dee-dee-dee,chick-a-dee-dee."

    ReplyDelete
  15. So beautiful projects and fabrics.The fussy is an eye catching.Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I always love Debby's projects and ideas. They always amaze me. I really love this fabric collection because Chickadees are one of my most favorite birds to watch in the winter. They're just so cute.

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is just so beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  18. wow your projects are wonderful. i love the chickadee border on the table topper

    ReplyDelete
  19. Oh I love the way you fussy cut those little chickadees. Absolutely beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Oh I love the way you fussy cut those little chickadees. Absolutely beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  21. What a great fabric line. Thanks for showing how you used it.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I love the blocks - and the window templates really do the trick!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I love this fabric. I usually stay away from this kind of fabric as I never know what to do with it. But would love to try the Hexagon block and the fussy cutting.

    ReplyDelete
  24. She really picked things that make the fabric the star. Glad I came by.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Gorgeous - I love your fussy cut chickadees!

    ReplyDelete
  26. I love how you fussy cut the adorable chickadees for EPP!!! I just started EPP and love it! I love watching the chickadees that come to my feeders....my favorite! They don't seem to be afraid of me because they like to hang out near me when I am filling up my feeders.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Super adorable and great use of the fabric!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Love what you did with the Chickadees! Adorable fabric! chocolatewiskers@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  29. How clever those are! Each one as cute as the next!

    ReplyDelete