Small Quilts, Big Charm

When I want a project that I can finish quickly, small quilts are perfect! They let me play with fabrics and patterns without a huge expense or time commitment, yet even the smallest quilt can have a big impact. I love combining applique with piecing, so the small projects I make almost always have both of those elements.

A simple feathered wreath around the central design 

I improvised the border on this one, adding the applique on a whim.

This quilt used tiny 3/4 inch blocks!

Americana - Patchwork and Wool

Oh, how I LOVE wool applique! When I saw this pattern, I knew it was perfect for 2 things: using some of my stash of patriotic prints, and getting to work with wool applique. The cotton piecing went together fairly quickly, with the large star blocks and strip-pieced border. Then I got to enjoy handwork during the chilly winter months, finishing the applique!

This was one of the quilts I had on display at the 2018 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.

I quilted inside each star, and did a star quilting design along the inner border.

The outer border was harder to figure out, but I loved that swirl pattern in the red fabric you can see here, so I used that as a pattern for the quilting.

This secondary pattern was formed when the pieced sashing combined with the corner triangles in the star blocks!

Civil War Ocean Waves

When I saw a photo of an Ocean's Waves quilt that used a deep cranberry red for the background, I knew I had to make one! I love experimenting with colors other than white for backgrounds, and the dark red was lovely paired with the Civil War reproduction fabrics I'd been collecting.

The only problem was the half square triangles. LOTS and lots of them. After I made a black and white quilt entirely with 1,500 tiny triangles, I vowed never again! But that was before I discovered the quick method for making 8-at-a-time half square triangles!

Here's the completed top, before quilting. I wanted to enter it in the Sisters, Oregon quilt show, so that became my incentive to get it done!

I used a light gray thread so the quilting would stand out, and did a curved triangle inside each piece. The border was a swirly freehand leafy vine.

A simple swirl in the center of each block.

Thread Painting

Every now and then it's fun to try a new technique, and when I saw a Bluprint class on using multiple thread colors to create patterns, I had to give it a try!

This is a small wallhanging I made using paper piecing and some lovely reproduction fabric given to me by my mom. I used thread in shades of pink and red to match the main colors, and improvised quilting patterns that echoed the shapes in the fabric.

It's hard to tell in the photos, but I used 5 different colors of thread in all! 

It was lots of work, but not too time consuming since it was a small project. I think I'll be trying it again someday!

Farm Girl Vintage

I LOVE sampler quilts, there's something different with each block so I never get bored! The same thing applies to the quilting process, which I do as free-motion on my Juki. It's so much fun to come with unique ways to quilt each block, to enhance the pattern and bring the quilt to life!

This one is called Farm Girl Vintage, by Lori Holt.

I did pebbles in the red star points of this block, then echoed the vine pattern in the middle fabric. A simple loop-de-loop design filled in the white area around the star.

This house block got 'shingles' quilted on the roof, lines for the windows and door detail, and 'grass' added to the front yard! I've never lived in a blue house, but it's my favorite color.

 Pebbles filled in the center of the sunflower, and petal shapes for the rest.

















I love the polka dots in these sweet fabrics!
A leaf design was quilted around the center pansy block.

This red and aqua star block got a tiny quilted 8-point star in the center!

And here's a few more...

 

This quilt was a delight to create, from piecing to quilting!

Welcome!!

Hello! Welcome to Red Bird Quilting, I hope you enjoy browsing through the patterns and photos of quilts here. My plan is to post a new FREE pattern once a month, which will remain free to download until the next one comes out. We'll have a variety of patterns including patchwork, applique and paper piecing!

All the patterns are original, so please do not share them without permission! If you have a request for a certain type of pattern, drop me a note and I'll see what I can do. Happy quilting!!

Rachel