When we lived in Tauranga, our living room and deck looked out on a reserve area. I used to love seeing and hearing all the birds playing out there. They were mainly pukeko, ducks and kingfishers, but I remember one day I looked outside and saw two streaks of bright green. My first guess was that these birds were escaped domestic birds, but after a bit of research I worked out that they were Kakariki or New Zealand Parakeets. It was amazing watching them and they stuck around for quite a while.
That was the only time that I have seen kakariki, but I remember it vividly. So unlike any birds that I had ever seen in the wild before!
I must admit that it was not easy designing a kakariki block. They have such a long narrow profile that a quilt block could easily have ended up as a stripe of bird down the centre with lots of dead space down the sides. I wanted the bird, not the background, to be the focus of the block. I hope that I succeeded!
As usual my pattern has been tested by two willing victims testers.
Leonie really has got the paper piecing bug! I love the enthusiastic way that she approaches my patterns and the accuracy of her piecing.
Lisa always give a lot of thought to her testing. Whether it is the tiny details of the text or the fabric choices, I know that I can trust her to be thoughtful and thorough in her work.
Have I mentioned recently how awesome my pattern testers are?
Anyway, the Kakariki pattern is now available. You can download it from my Craftsy store.
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Pleased to be a willing victim....anytime....can't wait to see your finished quilt if all the birds!
ReplyDelete:) You're pretty awesome! Do you know we've had a few kakariki's here too but until your pattern we thought they were escaped domestic parakeets! oh the learning these patterns are providing! Love Lisa's block - absolutely gorgeous :)
ReplyDeleteThose birds are just soooo...ooo cute.
ReplyDeleteWell done ladies with your gorgeous blocks - including you Juliet for your designing skills :-) I'm looking forward to sewing some more!!
ReplyDeleteLoving your bird series - another gorgeous pattern!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous wee bird; have added it to my library; thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou are so clever! This whole series is just gorgeous, I love how unique and true to life the birds are. The quilt of these blocks is going to be incredible!
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