Learning To Fly - Project Quilting

"Learning To Fly," 13" x 20", made for Project Quilting, Season 7, Challenge 2: Seasons, Jan. 2016 in Yellow Springs, Ohio

Challenge recap for  "Seasons":

 
Your inspiration for this challenge is seasons. You can choose one season or all of them. Or pick another meaning of seasons, maybe seasons of life.

I spent far too much time thinking about this challenge. I think I was trying to hard, trying to make this piece something that it's not. Once I realized that, it became easier. I decided to something Springy, perhaps because I'm already over Winter this year.

I started with a piece of hand dyed fabric that made me think of the sky. It already had fusible on the back so I fused it to a piece of batting, added a backing fabric, and started by quilting these pieces together.

Then I cut some paper to figure out what size I wanted the kite to be, then I made a paper template (adding the 1/4" seam allowance) and pieced the kite. 

I fused it to a piece of batting, folded the 1/4" edges over, then quilted it in place. I added the couched black yarn for the kite string and the couched fun fur yarn for the kite's tail.

For the ties on the tail I cut some batik fabrics to 1.5" x 5". I laid them out lengthwise and folded the top and bottom edges so they met in the middle (now measuring .75" x 5"). I folded that in half lengthwise (now measuring .375" x 5") so the raw edges were now in the middle. I could have sewn tubes for this part but I wanted the look of hand tied fabric.

I tied these pieces so there was a knot in the middle and trimmed them a little bit. I hand-sewed them in place on the kite tail.

I thought it needed something more so I added the three small kites in the background. I didn't want them to draw too much attention so I kept them in the blue family and made them pretty small. I quilted their kite strings with black thread and for the tails I left the thread I used to applique them down with.

I made a pieced border using batik fabrics then couched more of the fun fur along that edge.

More about Learning to Fly

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Click on any of the photos to see larger images.

To read more about Project Quilting, go here.

To see other entries for this challenge, visit the Seasons challenge link up.