A Collaboration Involving Chickens...

I had the happy fortune of being involved in Madame Samm's Table Topper blog hop earlier this year and as a result found Marcia's blog and won a fantastic and very personal giveaway for free quilting of a quilt top.  I immediately thought of my McKenna Ryan Chicken blocks and could not be more thrilled with the outcome!

These patterns are fusible raw edge applique done with batik fabrics.  The idea is to trace the pattern pieces onto fusible (such as Steam a Seam 2 Lite or Heat n Bond Lite) which you then fuse to the batik fabric, and then fuse that down on another batik background using an overlay placement template.  I thoroughly enjoyed cutting all these pieces and slightly modifying the design to make it my own and came up with this...

 

 These are my four blocks which I joined to make a 20" x 20" wall-hanging top.

 And this is the quilt before binding as I received it back from Marcia.  As great as it looks in these pictures that Marcia sent me, it is far better in person!

 Here in her close-ups you can see all the detail of the feathers and the background of chicken wire...

 The stitching in the eggs and the chick feathers are some of my favorite elements...

 As is the stitching in the daisy petals...

Here you can see how densely and detailed the quilting really is.  The above pictures were all taken by Marcia and she has more as well as a post on the process of the quilting on her blog here.  Make sure you hop over to her blog and let her know what a gorgeous job she did!  I am so lucky :)

I did the binding in gold and this is the finished top, complete with hanging sleeve:

 Then I got a little silly and drafted my husband to hold the chickens above our real chickens with a broom handle.  Then I fed them some bread so they'd come out and pose...who thought I was the biggest goofball- my husband (no, he is used to my crazy)...the chickens? (no, they were too interested in getting some bread)...probably our dog who thought it was the height of cruelty that he wasn't given any of the bread snack!

 The Banty Rooster in front is Purdue and for whatever reason the guy in back who is most definitely in charge (just don't tell Purdue) never got a name...It has been so dry this year so the chicken yard is less than picturesque...sorry about that!

Anyway, I'm over it now and it will be proudly hung in the dining room, where it belongs!

Thanks does not seem adequate for such a lovely gift!  I am so honored that Marcia has collaborated with me on what will be a treasured quilt in my home!