As the spring rains beat down in my hometown of Harpswell, Maine, bedraggled but optimistic birds are flocking to my feeders. The mating songs of bluebirds and chickadees, cardinals and blackbirds greet the morning sun. At dusk, a woodcock “dweeb”s away in the back yard to attract a mate. As you can tell, I enjoy all the activity, especially after a long, cold winter. It’s still chilly, but because the birds are singing I know the warm season is just around the corner.
If you are lacking for birds in your neck of the woods, this Finish Line will give you a taste of spring. While not all songbirds, like Susan’s Stitch’s young bluebird (above), these feathered creations all give me a warm feeling inside. Hope they do for you, too.
You may be wondering how these today’s artists created the look of feathers using fabric. The short answer is rather than create individual feathers (a crazy-making task if ever there was one) instead they all used their fabric to indicate groups of feathers. For the long answer, see my blog post on creating for feathers in fabric collage.
If a favorite avian has inspired a fabric collage quilt and you would like to share it (or any other quilt) in a future Finish Line post, click on submission button below—and thank you!
Submit Quilt for "Finish Line"
Donna Konigsberg
From Donna Konigsberg of Fairfax, VA:
This was my last fabric collage project for 2022. I did 12 collages in 2022 and tried to learn something new with each one. Many of them were not done in realistic colors. My projects included a blue fox, a purple and green cat, several colorful fish, and a purple and green iguana. My challenge with the loon was to stick to realistic colors and try making reflections. After many false starts, the best reflections were made using strips cut with pinking shears and applied right side down and then layering various organzas and tulle fabrics over those.
Deborah Black
From Deborah Black of Phillips, Maine:
This was a challenge quilt for the Maine Quilt Shop Hop of 2021. All quilts were required to use only the pre-selected palette of fabrics from the “Stardust” collection by Banyan Batiks. I used about 9 of the fabrics to create the piece. It was very challenging to have only these fabrics to work with. Having a very specific and limited selection to choose from really tested my adaptive abilities. The owl came together after studying many photos of Barred Owls in different poses. The background was inspired by the woods surrounding our home. The heavy branch created itself from the patterns in the fabrics. This piece won the Shop Hop Quilt Challenge for 2021.
Susan Stitch
From Susan Stitch of St. Louis, MO:
I’ve lived in Missouri all my life and only recently have seen our state bird, the Eastern Bluebird. My granddaughter and I watched for him every day and would be overjoyed when we saw members of the bluebird family who lived in a home in our neighbors yard. They are just so beautiful and joyful! When creating this quilt I originally thought the papa bird would be scolding the youngster, but that never felt right. One night when solving world problems while I couldn’t sleep the idea of voice lessons presented itself and I was sold! I even included hidden musical notes and instruments in the piece. I loved the assistance Susan gave that made the piece come alive.
Cherie Gooler
From Cherie Gooler of Santa Rosa, California:
This life sized emperor penguin was inspired by Susan’s “Fly on the Wall” Frieda Polar Bear series. The body of the penguin was created with lace from my collection of vintage lace, various crochet works, and bridal lace. I compiled two images to create the full penguin design. Not too long into the project I removed the penguins in the background. They were causing a distraction. Actually I cut my subject penguin off the background and placed her on beige fabric and finished the lace placement.
I used Bernina’s Couching foot #43 on my Bernina Q20 because it has a spoon foot that helped prevent lace edges from getting caught up. I used a wool batting, cotton backing, and quilted thru all the layers (yes, in some places there are many layers) without issue.
As I view these bird collages I am struck by how they are all done in natural colors. Birds have such rich colors naturally. Even brownish grey birds have interesting markings.