Cynthia England projects

I've taken two classes with Cynthia England.  The first was at Painted Pony N Quilts way back in 2010 and the pattern she taught was Life's a Beach.  I enjoyed the class-she's a fabulous teacher.  And I had brought my Featherweight with me and kept burning my hand on the lightbulb cover.  She had brought things to sell-sticks for pressing strips, LED lightbulbs, Karen Kay Buckley scissors etc.  Well after I burned myself for the THIRD time I jumped up and bought myself a new LED bulb.  It is great-much brighter than what I had and it never gets hot.  But back to the pattern, I still didn't feel confident with paper piecing-in any style.

So a few years later, and now a few years ago, QuiltyBFF and I took a class with her at HQF.  Again, she's a wonderful teacher but afterwards I didn't get back to this project either.  I even loaded up my Featherweight trolley with both kits, mini iron etc.  Nope.  Still intimidated.  So last night I unpacked my trolley.  I set up my sewing machine and mini iron and pulled out the Beach pattern and kit.  I decided to start on a bit of the beach as it was all sandy fabrics and it wouldn't matter if I messed up.  I studied the pattern and even cut out two pieces of fabric and ironed on the pattern pieces.  I'm hoping tonight I will actually sew them together. 

 

I'm keen to get these done because I also have the kit and pattern for this beautiful heron. Herons are among my favorite  birds, if not my favorite.  I would love to make this one and hang it in a prominent place.

 

Coastal Christmas

I absolutely fell in love with this heron.  I have a particular affection for these long-legged birds and when I saw this fabric line I knew I had to get it.  I did have some difficulty with the mitered corners and tried various youtube videos to get it right!  I found  one video that showed a slightly different technique that finally worked for me.  I made the second panel slightly differently (gosh, those miters require so much extra fabric!).  And the small table topper is from the leftovers.  I actually have enough fabric cut to make another table topper!

 I emailed Karen the Quilter to see if she had time to quilt for me and she responded immediately.  I went straight home and fixed up the backing and batting-and mailed it off the next morning!