End with a Finish

How about wrapping up the year with a finish,

Birdseye is done!

The last time I blogged about this project I showed you all my finished star blocks. I intentionally didn't photograph the alternate blocks because I think this is a a very clever pattern and don't want to spoil the surprise of how it all goes together.

Sometimes my finishes have to grow on me, I don't know if I get tired of working with them and they overstay their welcome or what, but I've loved this project from start to finish and am even a little sad to have it done. If I didn't have such a long list of other patterns calling my name I would make this one again and again, it was fun and easy. It's one of those patterns that looks like you spent forever working on but didn't.

I'm still calling my project Birdseye, generally I like to give my projects a different name but sometimes its first name, the pattern name, sticks. Maybe something new will come to mind after it gets quilted.

This project finished at 79" x 79" and has approximately 1,877 pieces.

Counting the number of pieces in each one of my finished projects is just a fun little thing I always do and add to my posts when blogging about my finish. I don't know why, I'm just a numbers girl at heart I guess. Since it's the end of the year, I thought it would be fun to add up all the pieces from all my 2011 finishes.....are you ready....

20,145 pieces !!

approximately...

That averages out to 55 pieces a day!

The pattern Birdseye is by Carrie Nelson for Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. I love this pattern, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think there should be more Birdseyes in this quilting world, if you've not already done so, put this pattern on your To Do List for 2012, you'll be glad you did!

This is my 13th finish for the year. One more than my arbitrary and completely random 2011 goal of finishing 12 projects. This time last year, when I was thinking about what I wanted to accomplish in 2011, I was training for a half marathon and not even thinking about running a whole marathon, the Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts show was months away, I had no idea I would be making a Red & White Tribute quilt, let alone one that would get in a magazine. I was thinking I would make Eventide, but hadn't really put together the notion of hosting an Eventide Sew Along. My year was full of wonderful unplanned surprises, thanks so much for following along.

I'm open minded about what I accomplish in 2012 but look forward to sharing it with you and hearing about what you accomplish too.

Cheers to you, quilters extraoedinaire, bloggers, lurkers and friends, let's all go out and have a happy and healthy 2012.

Added Later - I just asked my husband to guess how many pieces were in the 13 quilts I finished this year, his guess, 1,000!

No, he's not a quilter.

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Its the most Wonderful-LY BUSY time of the year . . .

How are things going at your house, are you getting through your holiday to dos? One of my to dos should be organizing my To Do lists. Something pops in my head, I write it down so it doesn't get forgotten, then I stick it in my calendar. My calendar is fat with post it notes.

With all the hubbub of decorating, shopping, and errands my days are hectic and seem to just fly by. There are two things I make sure I'm not dropping from my daily routine, running and sewing. One keeps me in my jeans, the other keeps me sane. All it takes is 5 miles in my running shoes and 60 minutes in my sewing room, that's the perfect combination for me. Some days my 60 minutes of sewing starts at 4 am, which I know may sound alarmingly early to some of you, but my body has yet to adjust to the time change so I'm taking advantage of that hour by doing something I love instead of just laying in bed and staring at the walls. The only downside, I'm pretty much worthless after dinner, all tuckered out, I'm lucky if I get half way through a magazine before falling asleep.

All my Birdseye star blocks are now done.

They look better in person but you do get a nice feel for the color combinations in this picture. The stars went together fast, one reason, because I spent the time up front selecting my fabric combinations, and the other reason, I'm using my Fit to be Quarter ruler (by Open Gate Quilts) when squaring up those half-quarter triangle squares . Having the right tool for the right job is such a time saver and this time of year I'm all about saving time. If you don't have one of those rulers put it on your Christmas List, I bet Santa will bring you one!

I loved making each block, I think each one is perfect, not a stinker in the bunch. Next up, nine patches and more nine patches.

The other day, when I was in Home Depot picking up a $20 gift card for my mailman (what's up with the government allowing postal workers to accept gifts with a market value of $20 or less but not cash of $20 or less!) they had a rack of poinsettias that looked too good to be real.

But they were real, and really cheap, $4.99! I've had this one a week and a single leaf has yet to fall off. I think this is the direction I'm going with for new holiday decorations, fresh flowers. They look great and once the holidays are over, no storage issues! When I bought it, I figured if it only lasted a week, for that price, I could go back and buy another one and even another one, but I'm beginning to think this one is going to last until Christmas! I'll keep you posted.

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Birdseye Update . . . .

I love covering my design wall with my Birdseye star blocks. (Birdseye is by Carrie Nelson for Miss Rosie's Quilt Co)

I couldn't stand it, I went back into my box of fat quarters and tried to find fabric "matches" for the nine patches that fit in the middle my star points. It probably took me 90 minutes to get what I think is the perfect combination of three colored fabrics and two background fabrics. I'm guessing that was 90 minutes I could have used making blocks, but I'm happier when things go together just right, and now I think things are, just right!

In the pattern Carrie suggests making the 124 nine patches first, to get that out of the way. As you can see, I started with the star blocks. But I am making a couple of nine patches from each fabric I'm using for the stars as I go, I figure by the time I have all my star blocks done I'll also have the majority of my nine patches done too!

I'm guessing I'll have an assortment of over 100 fabrics in the top when it's all done. I'm making star blocks as quick as I can, I'm so eager to see this quilt come together.

For those of you who haven't caught Judi's latest post over at the Green Fairy Quilts, go take a peek, she just finished quilting Nottingham Star, my Lifetime Quilt Number 62. I can't even find the words to describe how I feel about the time and effort Judi put into my quilt top and the finished quilt, saying it's amazing doesn't even come close.

The quilt is in the mail and I can hardly wait to see it in person, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed it makes it home safe and sound!

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It's Birdseye Time . . .

Woo Hoo!! It's fall, I've got my fabric, I've got my window of opportunity and I'm finally starting on Birdseye!! It seems like it took forever for this project to make its way to the top of my To Do list.

I've drooled over this pattern for at least 18 months.

Birdseye is by Carrie Nelson for Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. I like the size of this quilt (it finishes at around 80" x 80"), I like the dark background, I like the big star blocks and I LOVE those nine patches dancing around everywhere.

I bought three different background fabrics, all black, for this project. But I just wasn't 100% sold on any of them so I kept looking, until I finally decided on this one.

It's Kansas Troubles Favorites by Kansas Troubles Quilters for Moda, and it's brown, not black. I like the color of this brown and I like the little hint of additional color in the background. I can't take credit for choosing this background fabric, the talented ladies at Quilts Plus in Indianapolis had this fabric in a Birdseye kit. But as soon as I saw it I knew that was the fabric for my Birdseye.

The red accent fabric I'm going with came from my stash and is a perfect match for the dark background fabric.

I'm using the red vine fabric from the Stars and Coxcombs collection by Terry Clothier Thompson for Moda.

So in addition to drooling over the pattern and the searching for the perfect background and accent fabric for the last 18 months, I've also been collecting fat quarters for the stars and nine patches. I wanted 25 coordinating fat quarter sets (two matching fat quarters for each star) so each star would be unique. I figured I would also use that fabric for the nine patches, 50 different fat quarters should be enough, don't you agree?

Anytime a couple of fat quarters would catch my eye I would buy them and throw them in my Birdseye project box. Imagine my surprise when I got out my project box and sorted through my fat quarters to find 45 sets of fabric combinations which I was able to narrow down to 37 perfect sets for my Birdseye!

I guess that's the problem to have, but I don't know how I'm going to only pick 25 sets out of the 37 sets, but I figure as I make my star blocks and throw them on my design wall, I'll get a better feel for what the quilt needs as far as fabric color and contrast.

Here's my inspiration block, and I'm inspired. I'm coordinating the star points but not worrying so much about the nine patch in the middle. I figure my 25 sets of fabric (50 individual pieces) will give me a nice variety and a good look, no need to try and coordinate a third fabric for the center, right?

Even though I did go and raid my stash to select a different coordinating fabric for the center of my first block, I won't have to do that for the remaining 24 star blocks, I can go scrappy, I can throw caution to the wind, I have the confidence to know that 50 different fabrics is all this quilt needs, trying to find 24 more fabrics to go with the star points would just be crazy!

In addition to the colored fabric I'm also going scrappy for the light background fabric.

Like you, I'm squeezing in my sewing around holiday responsibilities, but I'm looking forward to tacking both, a different sort of marathon! Ready, set, GO!!

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Birdseye View . . . . .

I'm working as fast as I can getting those red corners on the rest of my Door County Cherry Baskets. It's been a hectic week at my house so I've only been able to squeeze in a few minutes here and there for any sewing. My goal is to have the whole project finished by the end of October. For some reason I love to set arbitrary deadlines, there's nothing magical about the end of the month, I just don't like to drag out one project when there's a list of others just waiting their turn. So nothing will happen if I don't make my deadline, but I'll drive myself crazy trying to meet it just the same.

I'm already looking ahead and counting the days until I get to start this project. And I've already decided that I need to have it done by November 30th!

It's Birdseye by Carrie Nelson for Miss Rosie's Quilt Company. I've been waiting for over a year to start this project. One reason I've been waiting, I think this pattern has a fall feel to it, and I like to work on projects with a fall feel in the fall, just like I like to work on Christmas quilts the month of December or red, white and blue quilts in the summer. Another reason, I needed just the perfect fabric. I bought a kit a good while ago. Since then I've been thinking about replacing the dark and red background fabric and adding a few more fat quarters. I've bought 3 different dark background fabrics, 4 different red background fabrics and probably 35 fat quarters for the star blocks and 9 patches. I think I have enough to make more than one Birdseye.

This is a close-up of Carrie's quilt, the one on the pattern. It finishes at around 80 inches square and has around a bazillion pieces, give or take. Carrie released this pattern the Spring of 2009.

Something I always do when mulling over a future project is to see if anyone has blogged about the quilt online. I bought a pattern once, then found two bloggers, bloggers who make some nice projects, complain about matching up the seams on that pattern. I'm not saying I won't make that pattern, but it's no longer at the top of my list. So since this Birdseye pattern has been out a couple of years I figured I would find several bloggers out there who had made this quilt. I wasn't worried about the piecing, Carrie's patterns are always easy to piece, I was more interested in seeing some different fabric combinations. (Have you ever checked out Judy Martin's blog, where she displays pictures of quilts made using her patterns, it's amazing. Here's a link. If you're ever thinking about making one of her patterns check here first for inspiration!!)

I only found one blogger who mentioned piecing this pattern! What's up with that! I love this quilt and pattern, I was expecting several finished Birdseye's out there in blog land. The one hit I did get was for Nicole at Sister's Choice.

Nicole started her Birdseye around October 13th, 2009 and blogged about her finish October 30th, the same year! Isn't she lovely! I can't believe Nicole was able to finish this project so quickly. (click here to read all about Nicole's Birdseye adventure during the month of October)

Here's a good picture of one of Nicole's star blocks! Can you see why I'm so excited to get started!! I love the star blocks and all the nine patches in this project.

Here's another Birdseye made by my friend Karen who doesn't have a blog.

She used some Kansas Troubles fabric for her project. I like it too.

Even though the pattern has been out for over 2 years, the Fat Quarter Shop still carries it if you're interested. Really, I think there should hundreds if not thousands of finished Birdseye quilts out there.

Since I've found other fabric for my Birdseye, and I think there needs to be more Birdseye quilts in this world, I'm giving away my original kit, along with a Birdseye pattern.

To be eligible to win this Birdseye kit with pattern leave a comment (or send an email if you have problems leaving a comment, cupcakesndaisies@gmail.com) telling us your favorite quilt pattern, one you've made or one you hope to make. I know, it's hard to pick just one, but I would have to say my favorite pattern that I've made is Toulouse by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co, although I really really like Route 44, another Miss Rosie's Quilt Co pattern. I wonder if you can pick just one!

Please leave a comment by the end of the day on Saturdy, October 22nd. The winner will be announced on Sunday.

Thanks for stopping by!

PS - If you've made Birdseye please send me a picture or a link to your blog!!

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