Have you seen this book yet? No? If you happen into your local bookstore or shop online check out the book Little Birds. As the books says there are 26 projects to make from sewing, to stitching, to quilting. The pictures and projects are so cute that you can’t help just want to try them immediately.
I mean look at those cute stuffies, don’t you just want to make about 10 of them? I do.
The first project I started with was the Little Birds Quilt. It makes a cute little wall hanging.
One afternoon I pieced the borders, cut out and fused the appliqued birds.
I’m really not good at the whole fused applique thing because for whatever reason can’t seem to figure out which side to put it on and what I need to do to get a picture in the reversed image. In some of the patterns I’ve worked with the appliqued image is in the reverse and others are not. Because I have done so little of it, I’m just no sure what to look for when I do them, but I’m getting better every day with them.
In this one the birds needed to go in both directions, so after I enlarged the images I copied them with a black pen onto the back of the sheet and copied them onto the fusible paper.
Before I go on, I have a question for you all, alright two questions. Why is it when you use a fusible paper-backed product like a heat and bond does it not always stick to fabric?
And what is the best way to store those types of products? I bought some a couple months ago and left it rolled the way the store packaged it for me and now some of the “stuff the sticks” is peeling off.
Anyways back to my mini quit. I finished the quilt the other morning. I have to sandwich it, baste it, quilt it and bind it. The quilting technique that was suggested was called sketching. Using a free motion foot you “trace” the shape of the applique, just like you were sketching it and it doesn’t have to be perfect, because many pencil sketches have lines that took on a life of their own.
I had to practice a little bit on some scrap because my first one was a nightmare, even for a “sketch” type of quilting.
I know the quilt label is HUGE, but I made this for my friend who just had her birthday, and I used the quilt label as her birthday card.
I really enjoyed working on this project and am looking forward to trying many more.
Sew What! 
I love that quilt with the birdies! The combination of colors is so pretty!!
Thanks Nat. I thought it turned out really well. I’d make that one again in a heartbeat.
That’s a very cute quilt.
As for the fusible, I’ve only ever used Lite Steam a Seam 2 and haven’t had problems with it. I’ve read that a lot of fusibles won’t stick if you use too high a heat to fuse it, but I’m not sure if that’s true. Steam a Seam seems to work at any heat I’ve tried though. At least on quilting cotton.
About reversing the image: the pattern should say if you need to take the reverse image or not. Generally though it only really matters with letters – if you’re going to spell words you need to have the image in reverse, otherwise it doesn’t usually matter.
Thanks for the tip about Steam a Seam 2. I’ll give it a try because the others I’ve used sure hasn’t worked at all.
I thought the pattern would have listed the reverse too. Oh well, when I make that one again I will know ahead of time.