Gulls in the Air

I have a new quilt pattern available in the March/April issue of Quiltmaker magazine! Gulls in the Air is my new favorite quilt. I’m so happy to have it back from it’s photo shoot – I had forgotten how much I love it while it was gone. Gulls in the Air uses curved piecing with templates to create a more modern take on the traditional Birds in the Air block.

My initial inspiration was to take a traditional block and modernize it. You know I love to add curves to old blocks. Sometimes I do it freehand, like with my Ocean Waves block. Sometimes I like to break out my templates and play that way. This time I drew my idea up in EQ8, then went looking for the perfect fabric line. I wanted a subtle fabric print this time – no large scale prints to take away from the delicate piecing. I found the perfect line with Pietra by Giucy Giuce. Bonus – the print looks like marble, and reminds me of the hundreds of photos I have of various floors all over the world. I think Gulls in the Air would make a stunning floor.

The way the curves came together reminded me of how I my childhood beach drawings. Those old lazy W’s over the sunset. (I still draw birds in flight that way. Why change what works?). That’s why I called it Gulls in the Air.

Andover Fabrics was kind enough to provide the fabric for my project. I love their fabrics, and their staff is so easy to work with. Thanks, Andover!

To make my version, I used my curved piecing templates from Betty Crocker Ass. They make curved piecing so easy. I always prefer to use acrylic templates for cutting instead of paper. Bits of paper get shaved off the curves as I cut, and things just don’t go together as well as they could.

I glue basted my curves for the first time on this project, and it worked really well. Melanie Tuazon told me to do it in her Trill class, and I ignored her. She was right. Glue basting is fabulous, especially on smaller curves. Plus, I was able to do all of my cutting during the day, then glue baste during our family movie night.

For my label, I used an extra triangle I had cut for my blocks. I have started to make a real effort to label all of my quilts, and using up extra blocks or mis-cuts from the quilt always amuses me. Label your quilts! And don’t worry about it if you put them on sideways. Even the professionals do that sometimes.

The backing fabric is a stunning wideback from Kaffe Fasset that I keep ordering. I should just give up and buy a whole bolt.

You can get a print or digital version of Quiltmaker at the QuiltingDaily website or your local shop.

Oh! Here is a painting I did of this quilt. I’ve slowed down on the painting a bit, but I do love the paintings I’ve done of my quilts. I need to do more of these.