Animal Week: Day One (and FREE pattern)

I'm not kidding! Animals in quilts are so much fun! I'm going to share about birds (lots of them), cows, butterflies, elephants, fish, and even crabs! Oh, and yes - cats! (I'm going to check my quilt vaults to see if I have any dogs.) I found the dogs. Then I found wolves, an elephant, fox, and monkeys!

I'm going to begin with birds, because it's going to take me more than one day to show them. I have a LOT of bird quilts. The first quilt uses some panels from Home Grown by Benartex. I upsized a few of my birdhouse patterns to work with the 10" panels. This still hangs in my kitchen.

Birds and Bees at home

I made Pecking Order about 7 years ago working with a Windham Fabrics collection called Collage. I quilted this myself. I designed it based on those little birds in the bottom fabric and an upsized birdhouse standing on the roof. You gotta agree: this certainly looks like a bossy bird!

Pecking Order

Here's a version of the same quilt that I designed for Red Rooster fabrics in 2019. I call it Pecking Order, too! It's an 8 page pdf with full size templates for all these cute flowers and birds and even the clouds!

Pecking Order using Bird Watchers fabrics

I made another quilt hoping for a magazine to pick up it. No one did. Their loss, right? I think they didn't want it because it would be a bit hard to pattern. A lot of parts.

And one more I made using some bird print. Can you see the little birdies in the sky and the windows? This hangs in my entryway. I see it every day coming and going!

Bella's House

I recently made a birdhouse quilt using the current Festive Chickadees Collection (by Jackie Robinson for Benartex). Do you remember? Click the link below the picture to see the detailed tutorial.

Festive Chickadees

And let's not forget Bird Song. This was the basis for a workshop last summer. Simple Cobblestone blocks alternating with my 10" high birdhouse patterns.

Bird Song

Take a close look at these awesome bird prints! I cut up every single one to make this quilt.

Bird Song prints

Owls are bird too, right? This quilt was made several years ago using the collection called "Owl Be There." Clever, huh? Look closely at the vertical borders - those owls are a hoot!

What a Hoot!

If you're interested in my Birdhouse Patterns, you can find them in my Etsy shop. They were designed 20 years ago for publication in Quilt Magazine. I upsized them from 4" and 6" to whopping 10" high! Here's my last bird-theme quilts. Just the houses; the birds are out looking for snacks.

I'll be back tomorrow with more bird themed quilts. Some of them are vintage inspired.

Don't forget to get that FREE pattern for Pecking Order!