after much delay...

There has been much procrastination over this Bird of Paradise block!

I started out with the tree trunk and leaves - no problems there. Then the tail was next - I was a bit terrified of the tail. The pattern says to piece the 18 feathers together first and then applique it. I didn't know how to do that so it sat around on the sewing table for a long while.

Finally I decided to just do it "my way" and used an overlay to place and applique each feather. I was so pleased with how the tail turned out I didn't want to wreck it by making an ugly bird. I really liked Lurline and Teresa's birds - much better than the pattern so I tried to draw mine like theirs. I drew this bird so many times and it continued to sit on my sewing table. Then I went fabric shopping looking for just the right fabric for the bird (as if I didn't have anything suitable in my stash - ha!)

Finally I cut out some fabric and just went for it. The second picture is the first attempt. The wing was too plain and the head crest just looked silly. Last night I swapped the wing fabric and I'm going to call it done. (except for some embroidery which I'm also procrastinating about in a BIG way)



I think I finished 2 other blocks while I procrastinated over this one. It's been months and I'm glad to move it to the finished pile!


Happy Quilting!!