I received this fabulous mini quilt from Beth for the June Mini Quilt Swap. I love the fabrics and the color combination. And this is my first hand quilted quilt. I love it! 
This was my idea for the DQS4 swap but I'm not sure it's going to work. I wanted to include a house a tree and a bird in the quilt. I also added a sun and a mini quilt which will eventually look like it's hanging on a clothesline between the house and tree once I quilt it. I pieced everything together as I went but I think I need a lot more practice with piecing. It doesn't lay perfectly flat despite pressing as I went. The top of the tree really seems to pucker and I'm not sure I'll be able to quilt it with out it bunching. I was thinking of sewing around the edge of the tree and stuffing the pink portion a bit to take up some of the excess space. I guess the obvious thing to do is take a quilting class on piecing but that would require too much time right now. I could also learn to appliqué on the designs I suppose but it's too late for this one. Does anyone have any suggestions for better piecing with out puckering? 
This was another attempt at piecing. I made the mini bird quilt for the May Mini Quilt Swap and thought I'd try it on a larger scale. The blue fabric ended up being a bit stretchy and really puckers up in spots so again I'm not sure I'll be able to quilt this one either. I had planned to add green and white polka dot leaves to the branches and wings on the birds. I also debated on adding a sun in the top left corner which made me think of Bob Marley's song Three little birds. You know: "Rise up this mornin', smiled with the risin' sun, three little birds pitch by my doorstep singin' sweet songs, of melodies pure and true, sayin', "This is my message to you-ou-ou:" Singin': "Don't worry 'bout a thing 'Cause every little thing gonna be all right." It's a great song but really I'm one bird short and I'm not sure this experiment in piecing will work. I should just learn the basics but instead I like to wing it and see what I can do. Sometimes it works and some times it doesn't.I hope you are all having a great 4th of July weekend!
