Bubbles and Birds

Bubbling Fabric for the Birds

What do bubbles, birds and a dishwasher silverware sorter have in common?  They are all a part of a design I hope will come together.

Last night I played with the bubbling fabric technique in the book Fabric Embellishing the basics and beyond by Ruth Chandler, Liz Kettle, Heahter Thomas and Lauren Vlcek (I'm still waiting for my book to arrive but Connie graciously loaned me hers so I could play). I didn't have a metal grid anywhere in the house so while searching through my cabinets I found an extra dishwasher silverware sorter that had the right size grid I was looking for. My one concern was while ironing the fusible interfacing to the fabric there was a small chance I could melt the plastic but all turned out well and I was able to remove my bubbled fabric with no damage to the fabric or the plastic dishwasher tray.

 Now that I have overcome that hazzard the next part of my design idea is to see if I can cut and sew the breast pattern piece from the bubbled fabric. The bird pattern I am using is one created by Terry Grant for the 2009/2010  International Quilt Festival magazine. As I was mulling this over before falling to sleep last night I decided I would need to draw the breast pattern piece on the back of my fabric and then stitch around the drawn line before cutting out the piece. By sewing on the line I'm hoping to anchor down my bubbles so that when I cut it out the shape will remain.

As Mom's Easter card is waiting to be finished and a couple of birthday presents and cards need to be made, I'm not sure when I will get back to this part of my fabric bird so you'll just have to keep checking back! Oh, and don't forget to wish me luck on this process, I think I'm going to need it.