Chubby Chicks: Part I

Well, if my posting has been a little sparse, it's because I've come down an old-fashioned summer cold.  Or something that makes you lose your voice and have a non-stop headache.  As if that wasn't bad enough, yesterday I had an awful stomache ache also.  Gak! 

So I didn't get much done and never did make it to that salsa yesterday, although J. prepped about half of the tomatoes.  He'll need to pick up some jalapenos from the store tonight because we just don't have enough.  Darn rabbits ate all the leaves off our jalapeno plants!

But, as you can see, I did get a little bit done at that Chubby Chick quilt.  I'd like to have it done before I start my intermediate quilting class on August 8th.  I got everything cut out today, so everything you see in the picture represents the components of the quilt with the exception of the backing and binding.  Here's a version of the finished quilt for reference.  I decided to do mine in a combination of navy and lime green fabrics. 

Yesterday, I cut out the following:

• 25 squares of white\light fabric for the chick backgrounds, 6.5" x 6.5"
• 4 squares of white\light fabric, 3.5" x 3.5"
• 48 squares of white\light fabric, 3 7/8" x 3 7/8"
• 32 rectangles of white\light fabric, 3.5" x 6.5"
• 5 strips for of white\light fabric for inner border, 3.5" x width of fabric
• 25 scraps of different lime green fabrics for the chicks themselves
• 64 squares of green\blue fabric for the flying geese in the border, 3.5" x 3.5"
• 48 squares of navy polka dot fabric for the pinwheels between the chick blocks, 3 7/8" x 3 7/8"
• 6 strips of lime green fabric for outer border, 3.5" x width of fabric

This finished quilt is small at just 60" x 60" and consists of 25 chick blocks (16 facinng right and 9 facing left). The pattern comes with templates for the chicks and their beaks, as well as a tracer template for the feet and eyes.  I used fusible webbing to attach the body of the chicks and their beaks to the ivory background fabric and then traced on their feet.

Since we're making pinwheels and flying geese for this project, the easiest way to do this is to start with a diagonal line on the wrong side of the fabric.  So I did alot of line drawing on the back of both the white and blue\green squares:

Now I'm all set to start sewing.  The next step is to use the machine to finish the applique with a blanket stitch around the chicks (in lime green) and around the beaks (in orange).  This will be a learning experience for me, since I've never done applique before.  There will be lots of practicing!

And, finally, I'll use a tight zigzag stitch to embroider their feet (also in orange).

Anybody got any tips for a beginner at machine applique?  I'll admit, I'm kind of intimidated by it and afraid I'll mess it up. 

As I'm writing this, I see that we might hit as high as 109 degrees this weekend.  I guess I'll have plenty of time inside to work on this quilt.

Stay cool, my friends!

I've shared this with with Get Your Craft On Tuesday.  There are some really creative entries over there.  Go check it out!