I posted earlier about participating in a block swap hosted by my sister’s guild. I made an applique test block originally, but I was just not very happy with it.

The block exchange has three basic requirements: there must be a bird on the block, the block must use primary colors, and it must be 12.5 by 12.5 inches.

I decided to change my block from applique to a free piecing technique inspired by Sarah on her blog, house of krom. In this technique, you don’t follow a specific pattern. Instead, you start with a block idea and just “wing” it!

The result is that each block with have its own unique characteristics. In my case, each bird block has slightly different shaped birds. The beak on one may be shorter than the beak on another bird. Or perhaps the bird legs will be taller or wider than the other birds. This is a fun technique that is a great scrap buster and will encourage you to experiment!

Here’s a closeup of one bird. I added 2 buttons for the eye (which can be easily removed before quilting).

Free Pieced Wonky Bird

I made 6 bird blocks in total:

Happy Wonky Birds!

I really hope that the swap participants enjoy these wonky birds, and I’m definitely going to use the free piecing technique again.

Happy quilting!
~Jennifer