Oops...poor little bird!

Sometime in the last year or so I saw Lorna from Sew Fresh Quilts speak at Norfolk County Quilters' Guild. She was a lot of fun and her quilts were wonderful to see in person.

I bought three of her patterns that day.

Lately, as part of the PEIMQG Mystery BOM, I won two more of her patterns!

Have I started any?...nope....until this week. 

We've had quite the spell of frigid weather here since Christmas, it's just now warming up a bit now. On the weekend I had a lovely sew day and as part of it I thought I'd try a block from Lorna's Black Birds quilt that you can see HERE. 

I don't know if it's one of the pitfalls of being a seasoned quilter, but I think I tend to gloss over instructions and kind of wing it (pun intended).

So here is my first attempt at a wee birdie...

I didn't clue in right away that the piece on the right should have been sewn on first :/ (although, if I'd paid attention and read the instructions I wouldn't have made this mistake!).

Here is a new and improved version...

....much better and soooo cute!!! He will get his legs at a later date. I will follow the pattern (this time) and do all the legs for all the birds in one step with strip-piecing.

Lorna advises in the pattern to press seams open...which isn't how us seasoned (there's that word again, do I mean old-school?) quilters have been taught to do things....but, boy, doesn't the piece lay nice and flat and show off the points beautifully.....such as where the tail and body meet.

It takes a bit of extra time, but, for this type of piecing, will be worth it in the end.

On Saturday, I decided to take part in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, including the suggested pattern Squared Away. 

But then I read a blog post by Linda at the Pieceful Kingdom. What she is doing for RSC18 is blocks from one of Lorna's patterns, Dog Gone Cute, in the suggested colour of the month. You can read about it HERE.

So that is what I'll be doing with my birds this year. I will try to do three per month in the colour of the month :)


I've also been stitching away on lots of leaves on Down the Rabbit Hole...

....so, as of now on January 10th, I'm in pretty good shape to get this done by the end of the month. I can hardly wait to see the whole quilt all sewn together!


I am linking up with Lorna today from Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social, and with Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers.