Posted in painting, quilting

Friday Finish: Baby Quilt Feature Blocks

Posted on by Laura Kate

Hi, friends,

I’m thinking that it’s time to reveal the first finished blocks that I made for Oregon Baby quilt. As I described in earlier posts, these would be various animals found in the baby’s home state.

I started with the rufous hummingbird and the Oregon swallowtail butterfly. Here are photos showing the steps to completion:

Hummingbird:

Pencil sketch done from a photograph
Appliqued parts onto background fabric
Details worked in with fabric paint
Completed block

Butterfly:

Oregon Swallowtail pencil sketch, a little color added
Butterfly parts appliqued to background fabric
Details painted with fabric paint
Completed block

Slight exaggeration here: The butterfly needs its antenna . I will hand embroider this detail before I assemble the quilt.

Some of you may think that I omitted showing all the steps in the process. And you’re right. I had to turn the pencil drawings into pattern pieces before I could convert the design to fabric. Without going into tedious details, this work was done using tracing paper and photo copies. I also did zigzag machine stitching around the butterfly and straight stitching on all the edges of the hummingbird.

Now here is an photo of how these panels look next to the string-pieced blocks.

My apologies to those who are bothered by the wonkiness of the strips. Yes, it was deliberate. So sue me.

The fun will continue over the weekend as I translate more of my sketches into quilt blocks. Which will I choose next?

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One of six children, I was raised by a busy mom, who instilled in me a love of fabric. Though I learned to sew and knit at a young age, it was the arrival of my first grandchild that pushed me into action. A long-time knitter, I am now ready to explore all things fiber.

15 thoughts on “Friday Finish: Baby Quilt Feature Blocks”

  2. I think these squares are just amazing! (and I really like the wonkiness!) I am fascinated by painting on the fabric… you make it look brilliantly easy. What paints are you using, if you don’t mind sharing.

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    1. I use Jacquard paints. For this project, I am using the Textile paint line, which is thick like other acrylic art paints. I thin it down with a Folk Art product called Floating medium, but I believe Jacquard offers a similar product.

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