April NewFO.-.Folded Cranes

So it seems I've started yet another NewFO this month so let me tell you about it.

PART I
Recently I had to swap one of my work days (a Tuesday for a Wednesday) and it just so happened that there was a class on at my 'Local' on the Tuesday that I was really interested in doing.  Tania was going to show us how to make "folded" cranes.  I was given a handout when I signed up and had a little look for some fabrics to add to the ones I knew I had in my stash. I should note, at this time, that I had grand ideas for a nice size quilt.

The handout also had a sheet of shapes that we had to cut out before the class.  I had a thought to stick the sheet onto some templastic before cutting them.  I was planning on using these templates more than once and did not want them to deteriorate too quickly.  I was all set for the class.

PART II
So armed with my trusty Pfaff and my fabrics and supplies including the templastic templates I joined 5 other ladies for a morning of sewing. Even though I knew all the ladies I was spending the day with, I was especially glad to have my dear friend, Zita, there as well. Tania gave us verbal instructions on what we had to do with the cut out shapes.  They all have letters and numbers and the underlined ones where to be the parts of the crane and those not underlined were for the background.
The other ladies were pinning their shapes to the fabric which created a bump and they had difficulty cutting them out.  Because mine were on templastic, they stayed in place when I placed my ruler on the edge while I used my rotary blade and I was glad I thought of that.   I perfected this technique when I got home by putting a dab of stick glue on the shape and sticking it to the fabric and also using my swivel cutting board.

Once we had our fabric shapes cut out we were given another handout, once again with the shapes, but this time they made up the shape of a folded crane.

This a tricky technique and you have to be so careful sewing the pieces together.  Once I got the hang of lining up the seams I started to forge ahead but for some reason I could not get the A section to match the D section seams and I wasn't the only one.  Tania showed us how we could fudge it in and I think it worked out........what do you think?

The edges are really wonky but they just need to be trimmed up.  I was going to make a small quilt using this technique but during the class Tania  mentioned that we could also do these cranes using paperpiecing and she would be happy to show us that way as well so I am just going to make 3 of these particular cranes and turn it into a small wallhanging.  Here are my three cranes so far

PART III
I spent a couple of days just looking at these three cranes and trying to decide what to do with them. A table runner or a wall hanging?  The original sample in the shop that got me interested in these cranes was a wall hanging so I decided to go with that. At this stage, I decided not to go with those fabrics that I had bought at the beginning of this project but attack my stash for something else. I think these will do nicely.

Because of those wonky edges I had to trim my square down quite close to the wing tips of the cranes and when I added a border, I was sorry to lose those lovely sharp points but there was nothing I could do about it.

I added the outer border and decided to go with a triangular piece at the bottom with the scope to add a tassel. I had a lovely gold one from a present, two or three Christmases ago. Firstly I had to quilt my piece. The piece is too little to load onto the big quilter, Ava,  so I tackled it on my Janome. I went with bubbles for filling in around the cranes.  I enjoy doing this much more than stippling.

 And I did some curly swirls around the outer border and added the tassell on the pointy bottom when I attached the binding.

And so guess what?  In April I started a NewFO AND I finished it! It was not the NewFO I had in mind for April but that just means I have something in mind for May.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my Folded Cranes. I will be linking in to Barbara's NewFO Challenge over at Cat Patches.  You would be more than welcome to visit and see the other NewFO's for April

ps......I have since resigned from my job which means I have all the time in the world to dedicate to my Creation Station and countless NewFO's......unless I am lunching with friends!