Technique Tuesday: Chicks Looking for a Good Home!

Yesterday we showed you Cheryl Haynes' new collection, Chicks on the Run. Today, we have Debby of Debby Kratovil Quilts sharing a Technique Tuesday with us using these fun chicken prints. You'll love the houses she made for her chickens--some simple improvisational log cabins and roofs. Enjoy!

Here's Debby:
Tell us why you chose this group to work with, Debby.

Well, the title is intriguing, is it not? Why are these chicks on the run? Running from who, the Big Bad Rooster? Or the fox in the hen house? Or are they just liberated chickens? I wanted to know!

I saw the panel and knew I had to have it. There's so much you can do with a panel (other than treating it like one piece of fabric (yawn). A panel says to me: cut me up, cut me up!

Chicks on the Run panel

Benartex sent me 1/3 yard cuts of every other sku in the collection, so I knew I could test drive some ideas. You see, I generally begin sewing, then I plan. I let the fabrics tell me what they want. These chicks wanted HOUSES of their own. That's why they're running.

Chicks on the Run fabrics

I cut out a few of the panels, leaving 1/4" seam allowances. Those horizontal strips of strutting chicks would definitely be in there. I like that there were both squares and rectangles from the panels. I began to think log cabins (those are houses, aren't they?) and roofs.

Strips cut in various widths

Some of the panels

Two panels and a square of the house print

Improvisational stitching. Sew, trim. Sew on another strip. I was aiming for a width of 12-1/2". The house heights would vary.

Strips added to a panel

Long chick panel. Two houses already stitched. Wait a minute, how did you do that roof?

Because I only had 1/3 yard (that's 12"), and I wanted my roof to be 12" wide (6" x 12" finished), I had to improvise. I like to improvise. It's gets my juices going! These roofs are really Flying Geese blocks. The "sky" fabric (cream) is a 6-7/8" square cut into two triangles. The red fabric should be cut from a 13-1/4" square (cut into 4 triangles), but as you can see, I didn't have 13-1/4".

I have an Omnigrid ruler that can cut these. But you can also make a paper template from a 13-1/4" square of paper (cut into 4 triangles). I cut four roofs from the red fabric:

Cutting the roof fabric

Then I stitched the cream triangles onto the sides. I added a 2" strip to the bottom before I added it to my first chick panel.

Roof with strutting chicks strip

Now it's ready for the first chick house!

I continued to sew the strips onto the panels. I even sewed a roof to the largest panel. This will eventually go on the back.

Single chick panel with roof, will go on quilt back

OK. Can we see the quilt top? There was a lot of improvisational piecing going on. Sew, trim, sew some more. What do you think?

I used every single companion print. The green check will be my binding (I showed that to you up there with the roof). That brown star has been sitting on my design wall for about 5 years from another project. He begged me to include him in this quilt. What do you think?

This quilt measures 40" x 50". I hope to quilt it soon. I think the chicks will be happy to see their new coops - uh, houses. And, of course, lots of flowers in their gardens, because chicks like flowers, don't we?

Thanks Debby! 

Click here to visit Debby's blog.
Click here to see the entire Chicks on the Run collection.
Click here to visit Cheryl's website. 

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