There's nothing like hearing that an orphan has been adopted into a loving home! And for us quilters, we can rejoice when a block, that was left out of a quilt, finally gets to be surrounded by other lovely fabrics. This is the 3rd orphan paper pieced birdhouse that I was able to feature in the center of the Meals on Wheels placemats. I call it " First Apartment " and I see by my computer files that I first designed it in 2002! First Apartment: 6" x 12" I made one and put it with a few others into this VERY old quilt. You can see it at the bottom left. Isn't this so cute the way my senior editor staged it for photography? She found some well loved birdhouses to hang out with! Birdhouse mini quilt, published in 2000! I added the simple strips to make it a placemat: First Apartment placemat: 14" x 18" I can just imagine the smiles when the recipients get these birdhouse centered placemats, can't you? You can see all of my Big Birdhouse Bonanza p...

Double Perch is a block I designed about 20 years ago and included in various bundles of paper piecing patterns. I taught workshops and this little block was used as a sample for my steps. Here is a photo of the back of the block in progress from 2013! Double Perch wrong side After paper piecing the main birdhouse, I still needed to machine appliqué the "doors" (circles) and perches. Block size: 5" x 10" Doors and perches before appliqué I finally got around to that little bit of stitching and finished the block. But, alas, it sat alone in the block orphanage for 12 years! Then, upon hearing about the need for Meals on Wheels placemats, I knew this little birdhouse could have a loving home after all! I grabbed my box of batiks and pulled some cheerful prints and finished this in no time! Double Perch placemat: 14" x 18" This is one of 10 large birdhouses in my 22 page pdf pattern in my Etsy store. No tiny, little birdhouses - these take advantage of a s...

My local quilt guilds like to help out with Meals on Wheels for senior citizens. (Hey - I'm one of them - do I get a placemat?) A lightbulb went off in my head and I realized I could now find a fantastic home for several orphan blocks. Three blocks were leftover from my Birdhouse series of workshops. They were paper pieced and they worked perfectly. The first is my 60s A-Frame with a 10" height. 15" x 17" placemat with my 60s A-Frame block I used this block before in a sweet quilt that still hangs in my kitchen. It uses the Home Grown Collection by Benartex. I call it Birds and Bees at Home. I made it in 2019. Click the link to see those fun birdhouses up close. Birds and Bees at Home I made another quilt using extra blocks and another panel. I made this in 2024 and gave it to a neighbor who was recovering from a nasty fall while on vacation in Europe! More birdhouses They both use that 60s A-Frame block. Isn't it cute? I'll be back in a day or so with anothe...

I like to help orphans - the fabric kind! I had 5 paper pieced birdhouses made several years ago for some workshops I taught. Here they are. (Scroll to bottom to see the quilt I made!) Efficiency Birdhouse : 5" x 10" and Room for One birdhouse: 6" x 10" (there are two in my quilt) Room for One birdhouse : 6" x 10" and the 60s A Frame - 7" x 10" 60s A Frame - 7" x 10" Two Door Cottage: 7" x 12" Two Door Cottage : 7" x 12" There are 5 orphan birdhouse blocks, one panel @benartex_fabrics in the center ("Welcome") from long ago, 3 birds cut out as hexagons - all needed a border. Yes! Modern Vintage: Treasured collection by Benartex was a perfect fit. Can't wait to quilt and finish this. For the Birds quilt: 43" x 49" I really like seeing such beautiful orange. It's not a typical color I use, but this is awesome with the blues. Here is a group of charm squares from the collection. I'll ...

Yes, you know it's Spring (or almost Spring) when you hear the tweet-tweets outside your window before the sun comes up! And just in time to give them some birdhouses. I finished my Home Grown birdhouse quilt (actually, the second one) a few weeks ago. I quilted it myself and put the binding on. I used four of my upsized Birdhouse patterns  with a height of 10" Words to Live By: 44" x 44". Using a large panel in the center One of my neighbors took a nasty fall last summer when she and her family were on vacation in Switzerland. She broke her foot and had to have several pieces of metal screws to keep things together put into her bones! I ran into her last week and she told me she broke one of the screws and needed surgery again. I felt she needed some cheering up so this quilt went to live with Nicole. Can I say how good it made me to see how ecstatic she was to get this? I know I cheered her up and her smiles made my day. This quilt is the cousin of my first birdhou...

This week I want to feature a quilt made by Sylvie N. of Canada. She wanted to make something special for a friend and former work colleague who was moving. He collects old wooden birdhouses and she felt that my set of paper pieced birdhouses would be the perfect solution. Birdhouse Quilt by Sylvie N. of Canada I have made all of these birdhouses at one time or another. I have taught workshops on how to paper piece a variety of these. Here is one quilt where I combined birdhouses and fabric panels from the Home Grown collection by Benartex. This was the basis for a workshop a few years ago. Birds and Bees at Home Here's Sylvie's Country Cabin Birdhouse almost finished. She used the small size that I have on my Paper Piecing CD (117 Paper Pieced Patterns). Another quilt is from a student (or maybe a customer), sent to me in 2016. Nancy surrounded a beautiful panel with birdhouses. What do you think? I shared another quilt made with my Birdhouses back in June (here's the blo...

I finished the 4 birdhouse blocks and appliquéd the little door openings. Each block finishes to 10" high, but they were different widths. I had a few scraps remaining so that I could add side strips to the two top blocks. Here they are up on my design wall on Wednesday. Home Grown Leftovers I am surprised that I actually had a nice chunk of that flowery print and figured I could use it at the top and bottom. And the blue flower print in the two sides? That was every square inch that was in the scrap pile! But, wait! you say. What's going to happen on those four corners? Well, I love these sorts of challenges. I found a lovely bumble bee print from years ago and cut rectangles and finished off the corners with little rust triangles. Wanna see? Home Grown Quilt #2: 33" x 33" This is one more workshop box that has been emptied and I'm thrilled I had enough of all those fabrics to coordinate to get a sweet little quilt out of it. This will be easy to quilt and I...

The birds in my backyard love to sing morning and night. They live in the trees and make their nests in my dryer vents, too! I have no birdhouses outside, but I do have quite a few inside my house. I have been pulling out various workshop samples that I don't anticipate using anymore and today I grabbed my Birdhouse Bonanza Block parts for a quilt retreat a few years ago (that got cancelled). The fabrics are from the Home Grown Collection by Benartex. I'm sure you remember my posts about these. First, the panel. I used the four smaller squares in my first quilt, but still have the large center one remaining. Here is my Birds and Bees at Home quilt using some paper pieced birdhouses and the 4 smaller panels. I had some guests for lunch last Sunday and one of the women (Carolynn) was SO enamored with this hanging in my kitchen. Birds and Bees at Home I used four different birdhouses (paper pieced) that I enlarged to be 10" in height. I have these in my Etsy shop ( Big Birdh...

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 pattern s 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 ...