St. Francis Preaches to the Birds (32 x 33")

I finished this wall hanging, remarkably close to on-time, thanks to the peer pressure encouragement of the talented participants in the Tuesday Stitchers group.  Most of us did some version of the Crazy Quilt Journal Project and the Take a Stitch Tuesday challenges.  It's not typical for me to work on a schedule, but I am very happy to see the project come to fruition. 

Here are several close-ups. 

The blocks, sashing and binding were joined by hand because I felt it gave me the most control when working with the shape-shifting sizes of these blocks.

I used an assortment of buttons, beads and some quilting stitches to bind the top  layer to the backing.

There are the medals of St. Francis (with birds swirling around his head) and St. Clare, who I've been told is the patron saint of embroiderers.  These, and the lace panel of the Virgin Mary, were brought back from Italy by my friend Cathrine.

For the backing, I used this vintage upholstery panel.

Here's what the finished quilt back looks like.  I still have to attach the hangings sleeve at the top, and add the label, which will go into the space below the tree.

With this project done, the rest of the year is wide open for new projects.  We'll see what jumps onto the design wall from here.