“Partners in Design” will be announcing their new quilt along on February 26. I did the “Fall into a QAL” and the “I Wish you a Merry Quilt A Long” from the same designers. Looking forward to seeing what the next theme will be. (Lauri, you need another quilt for Christmas?”

I stumbled across another mystery QAL that I’m interested in over on Ellis and Higgs. Nadra, the writer, is a designer for Riley Blake’s line Penny Rose. I have always loved that fabric. I made my granddaughter Adley a quilt with Penny Rose fabrics. Not sure if Nadra was the designer but it looks like her style.

But the most fun thing about this website is that it is written in both German and English. And I am trying to learn German–just in case I ever get to go there. I’ve using two different apps on my iPad. I took two years of German in high school plus two terms in college. Which doesn’t seem to be helping much 45 years later! While I don’t know if I have the time to devote to another QAL, I’m adding the Ellis and Higgs blog as another German language learning tool!

And back to the current quilt I just finished…..

Jessica asked me to make a wall hanging from the Sky Quilt that I made for her and Andrew for Christmas.

I hesitated, first because it is 57″ x 55″. I thought that might be too large for a wall hanging. Second, I’ve never made a wall hanging so I thought I should start on something a little smaller! And third, my quilting lines which seemed perfect when I was doing the quilting were really off when I trimmed the quilt down to its final size. Didn’t think my failure should be showcased on a wall!

So, I told her that I would make her a wall hanging using that pattern but it would be smaller. Haven’t done it yet.

Thought I should try one that would be a little easier for my first wall hanging.

And I made this one:

I searched for a paper pieced pattern on Pinterest for the crane and then sized it to 6 1/4″. (if you use that pattern on Pinterest, please note that one piece is labeled incorrectly)

The white fabric is Muslin Mates from Moda. The other fabrics are all from the Moda line “Spotted” by Zen Chic.

I’m getting good at paper-piecing. I typically screw up the seam allowances several times. But on these three birds I only did it once! The other mistake I made was using the wrong side of the white fabric. It has tiny stars on it and there is definitely a right side and wrong side. But you really have to look closely!

The finished wall hanging is 22″ wide by 20 1/2″ long.

I put the binding on the front and then made a pocket for a dowel with a piece of fabric that was 20 1/2″ wide by 3″ long. I narrow-hemmed the short ends then folded the fabric and stitched on the back along the binding line.

After hand-stitching the binding to the back, I hand-stitched the bottom of the pocket down, making sure that the stitches didn’t show through to the front.

It’s in my office now.

That’s a temporary location. I just stuck it up with these mice thumbtacks. (I think these mice were buttons in their former life and I glued thumbtacks onto the bottom of them.)

Next–I need to find out what size Jes wants for her wall hanging!