Cerulean Warbler Quilt

A few months ago my Mother in Law approached me about quilting a few quilts for her group which would eventually hang in the Montezuma Audibon Center in our area http://ny.audubon.org/montezuma .  These 3 quilts will hang in a large foyer area with VERY high ceilings to cover some access panels which aren't very pretty to look at......

This warbler quilt is the first of 3, the other 2 are a sandhill crane and a bald eagle.  The Cerulean Warbler is a very small bird, best viewed with binoculars or a spotting scope.  That was the inspiration for this quilt.  Created to be an interpretation of viewing the bird thru a spotting scope. 

 The outer tree areas are meant to look out of focus and the center is in sharp focus with the bird.  Those out of focus areas were a challenge, I needed to quilt them but didn't want them to be realistic bark or leaf type designs.....

the out of focus areas

the tree trunk and branch areas got a looping treatment, and the green areas got orange peals

In the center of the quilt I outlined the shapes of the leaves from the background fabric, it was tedious but looked really cool when it was done.

close-up on the leaves

The warbler got a bit of sparkle with the thread I used, I didnt want too much quilting on the bird, but it will be about 6 or 8 feet up when it hangs so it needed some detail.

up close

I LOVE how it came out!!  The entire group from the Fly-Way quilters hasn't gotten to see the quilt yet, however my Mother in Law did get to see it and she really loves it.

I used all polyester threads from Fil-Tec bobbin central http://www.bobbincentral.com/quilting.html.  They are my GO TO place for threads!!  I love their American made threads and their customer service cannot be beat!!  This quilt had some glide thread http://www.bobbincentral.com/quilting/top-thread/glide.html, three colors of their affinity. forest, satin and turf http://www.bobbincentral.com/quilting/top-thread/affinity.html, and a  bit of their deep silver glisten http://www.bobbincentral.com/quilting/top-thread/glisten.html. 

looking from the side

this view shows the quilting pretty well....

the back.....

When i took that photo of the back I realized I missed a section of the background quilting in the leaves..... can you see where I missed??  I had to reload the quilt and fix that section of course...... I sure hope the ladies from the Fly-way Quilters like it!!

Next up for them is the sandhill crane but first I need to tackle a couple for some other clients.

Happy quilting!!