Hummingbirds Handmade Quilt

Beautiful hummingbird against a fuchsia on a detailed quilted white background.

Hummingbirds Handmade Quilt

It's almost hummer time in Missouri, time when hummingbirds return from their winter grounds in south and central America to spend summer in north America.

They will be back 3 weeks early this year, along with the other signs in nature that are much earlier than historic trends. Rapidly changing climate is turning all of our historic patterns around, from when our springs start to how long our falls will last. The return of the hummingbirds was on my mind when I saw this lovely hummingbirds handmade quilt hanging from a wall in a quilt and fabric shop at Lake of the Ozarks.

Each of the hummingbird panels are beautifully detailed, from the birds to the flowers and quilted backing. The elements are pretty by themselves but there is something almost magical when they are all together in the final blocks.

Purple hummingbird on a pink flower against a detailed quilted white background.

The detailed quilting helps to give the handmade quilt an extra overall dimension, apparent both in each of the bird panels and in the quilt overall.

The quilter also used a floral panel to bind the hummingbirds panels together:

Some of the hummingbird panels together with a strip of floral fabrics in between.

I would probably have used a strip of white so that it didn't compete with the delicate hummingbirds but that's what makes each handmade quilt unique. Fabric choices reflect the personality of the maker almost as much as the quilting patterns do.

One more close up of a hummingbird quilt panel, this one of a grey hummingbird against an orange flower.

One more hummingbird on an orange flower against a quilted white cotton background.

In a few more weeks, we will have the real birds flying around our gardens and taking a drink out of our hummingbird feeders. Another sure sign of spring!

Charlotte