The Fox and the Birds

There is a fine Aesop’s fable about the Fox and the Crow, and the perils of flattery, but that is not what this quilt is about. This is about peace and harmony, foxes and birds sleeping under a crescent moon. Truth be told, it’s about using up some charm squares.

My older daughter, the one who just got married, is surrounded by friends and colleagues who are having babies. She, who usually crafts beautiful presents for these babies, is up to her eyes in her studies this year, and hardly has time to have a coffee with friends, let alone make them presents. I, on the other hand, have abundant fabric and significant time, so I volunteered to make her a few simple baby quilts to have on hand.

Meet The Fox and the Birds.

My original plan was to frame the charm squares in white or grey and then line them up, alternating colours. When I got the 2″ strips sewn on the top and bottom, I liked the look of them so much that I tidied them up to 4 1/2″ and sewed them in columns, separated by 1 1/2″yellow strips. I later added yellow strips to the perimeter as well.

The quilting was interesting. I’ve been admiring quilts with concentric circles for a while, my longarm is misbehaving, and this quilt is small, so I took out my walking foot and started circling. My goal was to gradually increase the space between lines as they radiated out from the center fox. I used the edge of the walking foot as a guide, but when I got to walking foot plus 1/2″ I thought I should use the guide that fits into the back of the foot. Unbeknownst to me, it was not a tight fit and I was bumping it as I circled, so my lines of stitching became really far apart and then the arm fell off. Oops! There was no concealing the fact I was no longer sewing circles, so I embraced the change, added another curve, and finished the quilt.And now I must become a Craftsman of a different kind. See the lawnmower in the background?

Linking up with Sarah at Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?and Myra at Finished or Not Friday