UFO #1 - Eagle and her Story

(UFO means UnFinished Objects)

31 August, 19:16 (7:16PM) UPDATE
I finished the top!  Here is the Eagle in all her glory.  She is on my unfinished basement floor.  She measures  39.25 " tall and 66.5" wide.  I have never had a wall hanging close to this size, and would love some advice. Will a normal tube pocket do?  I have curtain weights I can baste on the back when its complete to make the lower corners hang right, if needed.  Has anyone used that idea before?

Here is how that fancy cutting of the striped fabric turned out in the border, with mitered corners.  See my Video Library post for the link to learn how to do this.

To see the story of this project from the beginning see below.

Sincerely satisfied for this weeks progress,
Laura

The Beginning

My monster project in the works, and a UFO since 2004.  My husband was in the hospital for several days in ICU, and with a one year old at home I needed a stress outlet.  My vision was an Eagle wall hanging with our name held in talons, over a wide fireplace or couch.  So I taped a bunch of paper together and started by drawing out templates for the wings, and then worked my way into layering on the head and body after the two wings were complete.  The issue I did not foresee was needing blue sky on the top and bottom on my wing strips as I cut them out in the wedges I needed to form the wings.  This became a bigger problem later when I had the body and head on, and then had the question...  "How to do I get to the edge to make a border???  OOPS.   So here my eagle is, not yet ready to fly.  At least the cross stitch is done,  now how do I attach it??

I have the top sky squared off now, so that challenge is done.  Now I need help with attaching the cross stitch and making triangle talons look good on those stumpy legs, and finding my bottom edge by using "Y" seams for those missing sky pieces.   

Piecing in Peace and Freedom,

Laura

28 August, 10:00 UPDATE . 

After 48 hours of great feedback and ideas I've taken on the task of getting this Eagle cleaned up and ready for applique on an already squared off background.  I also drew out Elita's idea of (what I would call) basket weaving loops from the Big Eagle to the Name Quilt, using loops and dowel rod.   I am not sure if I will use the idea, but thought it intriguing enough to draw out and will definitely ponder on it while I get the Eagle appliqued..  What do you think?

option 1.  inset the name into the bottom portion of the quilt

option 2.  basket weave loops and hang the Name from the Eagle

Here the Eagle is as of 10:00 CST, head and shoulders now free of sky. 

28 August, 13:00 (1:00 PM) UPDATE

My Eagle is free of the sky mess!!  I would like to never seam rip like that again.  Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.  Or in this case, a corner I didn't want to sew my way out of.  Taking a break to fold laundry I was looking around and noticed the picture of Mt. McKinley in Denali National Park in Alaska.  We were stationed there for two years, and this picture is a favorite of ours and always hangs in the living room.  So, hopefully, will the Eagle when it is finished.  So taking inspiration from the matting and frame, and pulling from my stash here is what I came up with...

I pulled out a light creamy gold for the background, a striped fabric that has golds and metallic glints through out with a black edge to mimic the black framing and gold matting effect.  I'm playing with the idea of trying to embroider the Name on the gold fabric. Then the cross stitch with an added "established" year would stand alone in a frame somewhere else.

Originally I was going to add a black button for the eyeball.  Here is a closeup of head detail, sans button.

A better picture of the striped fabric that cut right would make a great border I think.  STILL have to figure out the feet and talons.  

Struggling, but moving forward

Laura

28 August, 12:00 PM UPDATE

Happy Hump Day - Wednesday!  The Eagle is coming along nicely.  I measured and cut out the gold background fabric.  I found the time after the kids were in bed to iron and fussy cut out the borders, which will be mitered.  When cutting stripes to use as borders, iron with those stripes straight - use a long ruler if need be to get the wiggles out.  It will make lining up your ruler for cutting a lot easier later.  Oh, and remember to add your 1/4 inch seam allowance on both sides for attaching to middle and for sewing on binding! 

Here is a close up of those 1/4 inch seam allowances, and the black and light cream border.

 I looked at a bunch of Eagle talon pictures online, and have a basic understanding of how I am going to construct the puffy talons.  I watched several you tubes on stuffing appliques and I have my steps written down for the order of fusing, etc.  Fingers crossed.  I do have extra fabric, but plan on trying a sample with scraps first! 

I ironed fusible webbing to thin cotton batting, then fused that to the wrong side of the talons gold fabric.  I need one more layer of fusing, between the bottom side of batting and the center of the quilt.  I cut an extended leg "tab" in the gold fabric when I trimmed the talons from the gold.  This will slide under the pieced legs and help the transition from puffy to pieced.  I hope!

And finally I cut out a smaller border for the EMBROIDERED Name!!  I designed the embroidery and then challenged my daughter to get her spelling homework done before the machine finished the 10,000+ stitches.  My girl is good, she did it (I never had a doubt)! I matched the background fabric and I think it looks better than the cross stitch for this project.  I'll miter these corners too, and then fuse it to background under talons.

Excited about what I can get done before next Sundays update on Leah Days, UFO project at Daystyledesign.blogspot.com

Its so freeing to have a plan again!
Laura

31 August, 13:48 (1:48) PM UPDATE
I thought I should share my progress.  It is sometimes a lot of work for little impact, and that can sometimes be frustrating, especially when the kids comment "It looks the same, what did you do?"  Having a list of the tasks and putting a big check mark in that box can help with the ho-hum things. 

[x]  Mitered corners on border, on the name

[x]  Studied tail (see above photos), and realized after looking at Eagle photos that I was missing the rest of the fan of tail feathers!!  Pulled out box of material from the project and ironed, measured, sewed and fused NEW tail feather fan - in three pieces, see below photo.

[x]  Fused Eagle and her new tail feathers, and name block

[x]  Satin stitched out side edge of all pieces, and then outlined the blue center body.  This took a trip to the store to get more thread ( new machine, new upgraded thread).  Added navy blue, gold, burgandy and red to my thread colors.  First purchase of thread I stuck with the basics: black, white and a medium tan/beige.  I also have two variegated threads, one an "autumn", and one a "christmas" to play with on later projects.

I also found a few You-tube videos that helped, and in future posts I will remember to write them down so I can include them!

Things I learned:

The new thing I learned, after watching several videos: when satin stitching, start with a straight stitch to anchor the thread, and end with straight stitch to the side (moving fabric to line up with new needle position).  Fixed my loose threads at both ends!  Yes!

Next?  Borders!  Add batting and backing and then auditioning quilting designs...

Crossing things off the list,
Laura