GO! Baby Birdhouse Quilt Tutorial and Last Day For Discount

Hi Everyone!

Phew what a weekend! First the hubby brought home the creeping crud (AKA common cold) from work and shared it with me. Then I sewed my little heart out to get this tutorial ready for you today.

As you can probably tell from the name of this post the super gracious and oh so generous people over at Accuquilt gave me a Go! Baby to play with. Did you know if you sign up to receive their newsletter you get 22 free patterns (you don't even have to have a GO! to use them either). So cool (just so you know if you use that link they give me points, wouldn't want you to think I was trying to sneek one by you ;) ). You can also "Like" them on facebook here they always have something fun going on over there. I actually liked them before I had a GO! just 'cause I wanted to see what they were up to.

Along with it came three dies that I chose. I ran ever so swiftly to Accuquilt.com and chose these cute things. Of course while I was there I couldn't resist picking a few more for my own personal uses eh hem... :)

Let's get started shall we?

GO! Baby Birdhouse Quilt Tutorial

Supply List:

Fat Eighth - Roof Fabric
Fat Eighth - Birdhouse Fabric
Fat Quarter - Hole and Post Fabric
6" Square - Bird Fabric
Multiple 6" Squares - Leaves Fabric
1/2 yd - Background and Binding Fabric
1/2 yd - Backing Fabric
1 yd Fusible Web

** More fabric may be needed if you are trying to match directional prints

Tools:

GO! Baby Fabric Cutter
GO! 3 1/2" Drunkards Path Die #55070
GO! Bird Die #55352
GO! Fall Medley Die #55041
Sewing Machine
Scissors
Rotary Cutter and Mat
Thread
Straight Pins

Cutting:

For Birdhouse Block (cut all pieces for this block on crosswise grain, parallel to the selvage):

1 - 6" strip Roof Fabric
2 - 6" strips Birdhouse Fabric
1 - 6" by 12" Rectangle of Background Fabric
1 - 6" strip Hole Fabric
2 - 1 1/2" x 7 1/2" Rectangles Background Fabric (does not need to be crosswise grain)
1 - 2 1/2" x 4" Rectangle Roof Fabric (does not need to be crosswise grain)
1 - 6" square Bird Fabric
1 - 6" square fusible web

For Quilt:

1 - 3 1/2" x 16 1/2" Rectangle Post Fabric
2 - 6 1/2" x 16 1/2" Rectangles Background Fabric
1 - 3 1/2"  x 15 1/2" Recangle Background Fabric
2 - 3 1/2" x 11" Rectangles Background Fabric
Multiple 6" Squares Fabrics for Leaves and Fusible Web to Match



Instructions:

1. Use that cute little GO! Baby and cut your birdhouse pieces.

Layer
1 - 6" strip Roof Fabric
2 - 6" strips Birdhouse Fabric
1 - 6" by 12" Rectangle of Background Fabric
1 - 6" strip Hole Fabric folded in half width wise

Lay then on the Drunkard's Path Die, making sure that the pieces cover the cutting blades, and crank that baby through:

You will have extra pieces so choose these: 2 roof fabric outside curve pieces, 2 background fabric inside curve pieces, 4 hole fabric inside pieces, and 4 house fabric outside pieces.

2. Piece your Drunkard's Path blocks:

Match the background convex pieces to the roof concave pieces and match the hole convex pieces to the house concave pieces.

 Match the convenient notch at the center of your curved pieces (make sure that your concave piece is on top). Pin.

 Match your edges. Pin.

 Work from the outside toward the center on both sides adjusting and pinning to make the curve smooth. This take a few minutes so be patient with yourself it is worth the time.

 Slowly, start stitching your 1/4" seam allowance. If you see a tuck starting to form (before you sew over it) Stop, make sure your needle is in the down position.

 Lift your presser foot. Gently grab the outside of the concave (top) piece and move it back toward the back of the presser foot.

This will smooth the tuck out and allow you to start sewing again without making an ugly pleat in your circle. Keep sewing slowly and adjusting as you go. This is not difficult and only takes a few minutes to do all 6 blocks so don't hurry yourself.

3. Press. I pressed toward the roof. On the birdhouse pieces I pressed two toward the hole and two toward the house. This allows you to match up those seams and get a perfect circle.

 Roof Pieces

 House Pieces

4. And now through the magic of television the fabrics mystically change color (actually I did the roof different on my first block then changed my mind) so I hope this doesn't confuse you but these are the new roof pieces. Add the 2 1/2" x 4" rectangle to the center and sew them together in this order. (my nails magically changed color and got shorter too :) )

Yay! Roof!

5. Piece your 4 birdhouse pieces together forming a circle. Then add a 1 1/2" x 7 1/2" rectangle to each side.

6. Sew the roof to the top of the birdhouse pieces.

7. Apply fusiable web tot he back of the 6" bird fabric square.

Give it a GO! If you want your bird to face right paper side up, left paper side down.

 8. Press your bird to the birdhouse. Make sure his tail doesn't go down into the seam allowance.

9. Stitch two 6 1/2" x 16 1/2" rectangles of background fabric to either side of the 3 1/2" x 16 1/2" rectangle of post fabric.

 10. Stitch two 3 1/2" x 11" background rectangles to either side of the birdhouse block. Then stitch the 3 1/2" x 15 1/2" rectangle to the top of the birdhouse section.

11. Stitch the birdhouse section to the post section.

12. Grab your Fall Medley die ( I thought I would show you what the newer dies look like, they have two tone foam so you can see where to place your fabric). Adhere the fusible web 6" pieces to your leaf 6" pieces and GO!

 Here is my pile... way more than I needed but that is okay :)

 13. Peel the paper backing off of your leaves and lay them on your quilt in a pleasing arangement. I made a pile at the base of the post and had some falling through the air. Pin them down once they are how you want them so that you can move them easily to your ironing board. Remove the pins in each section as you press (don't press over your pins :) )

 Here is mine with all of the leaves pressed on.

 14. Use your favorite raw edge applique method to secure your bird and leaves. Quilt, bind and enjoy.

If you would like to see how I finished mine keep reading along.

I decided I wanted to do some faux trapunto and a teeny bit of thread painting on my leaves and bird before I quilted the quilt. To accomplish this I grabbed a few batting scraps and....

Found a batting scrap that was large enough to cover the pile of leaves at the base of the post.  I placed it on the back of my quilt and pinned to baste.

Then I free motion stitched around the leaves and painted (with thread) the veins. I matches rayon threads to my leaves to accomplish this. I used some single color threads and some varigated ones. I repeated this on the falling leaves and bird as well.

Then I carefully cut, very close to the endge, the excess batting.

 It looks like this when done.

 Here is the whole thing on the back before I quilted it.

Here are some close ups of what the trapunto and threads look like:

Here is a link to a printable PDF of the pattern.

Don't forget the coupon code ends tonight at midnight LAUNCH15

Talk soon....