Thanksgiving Wall Hanging: Meet Mister Turkey

Paper Pieced with all the Fixins

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I knew that I wanted to find a cute project that I could finish before the big day. I went on a mad dash, scouting the internet in search of something that fit my aesthetic and boom, I came across this awesome sauce 25”x30” Paper Pieced Turkey Pattern designed by Peggy Aare. Too big for a pillow and too small to keep me warm, I knew that if I did this right that it could definitely become holiday wall art for years to come. So if you're feeling this and want to make it this year or next, you're in the right spot because I'm about to give you the 411.

Machine:

• DreamWeaver™ XE VM6200D
  
• SA196 MuVit™ Dual Feed Foot
  (comes with the DreamWeaver™ XE VM6200D)

Pattern:

• Please click through here to get the FREE pattern from Peggy Aare of WisconsinQuilting
  

Supplies:

• Rotary cutter with sharp blade & mat
• Clear Ruler with a 1/4" mark (for trimming as you go)

Fabric used for my color scheme are Pure Elements colors by Art Gallery Fabrics: Turkey body and background:

• Caviar
• Moonstone
• Ash
• Mystic Grey
• Smooth Pebble

Grass:

• Light Citron
• Lemonade
• Appletini
• Dark Citron

Feathers:

• Mink
• Macchiato
• Toasty walnut
• Chocolate
• Coffee Bean
• Sandstone
• Creme de la Creme
• White Linen
• Snow

Turkey Face and Wattle:

• Royal Cobalt
• Verve Violet
• Mauvelous
• Festival Fuchsia
• Raspberry Rose

Assembling the Pattern:

Once you’ve printed out the 12-page PDF and cut out all of the pieces, you’ll need to tape each of the slivers together. There’s a one-page template available that will help you visualize how the pieces should go. Essentially, the pattern is laid out like a sliced orange, with each of the orange segments being a sliver and the turkey face and wattle being the pith.

Foundation Paper Piecing:

Now if you’ve never done paper piecing before, you might want to locate a couple tutorials out there to get the basics down before you get started here (including the one on Peggy's website when you go to get the pattern.) Once you’re ready to go, simply piece each of the slivers using a 1.6mm stitch length mimicking either Peggy’s or my color scheme or go with the wind and choose your own (Note, I pieced the entire head and wattle before I attached it to its sliver). The sky’s the limit. Although I might not want to eat one, even a purple turkey would be spectacular. Now after I pieced each sliver, I laid it out on my design wall so that I could better visualize what color needed to go where. Once all the slivers are complete, you’ll be working on the right and left sides separately. Start with the bottom sliver on each side and work your way up, saving the head piece for last. I like to press my seams open as I go. I also removed the paper from the seam allowances after I sew the slivers together to reduce bulk. Admittedly, I botched the y seam of the head a couple times before I got it right. Finally, I removed the papers from the head, which made it much easier to sew together. With both sides complete, attach them together up the center seam and remove all of the papers.

Quilting the Bird

Okay so now that I have my Dreamweaver with its fancy laser and MuVit™ Dual Feed Foot, this is going to be my new go-to quilting design because it takes little planning and looks like it took a lot of time. Plus, it’s uber rad. I used the horizontal seam in this pattern as my first horizontal straight line to quilt. Then I had the needle all the way over to the left and the laser all the way over to the right and, keeping the laser on the previous line, I quilted another line. Now I totally floored it speed wise with my machine and it got a little off as I got toward the bottom of the quilt, which I’m totally fine with, but some of y’all might not be. If you fit into the latter category, it would be a great idea to create guide marks on both sides of the quilt to make sure you’re lining up as you go.

Binding the Quilt

So I’m all about machine binding because by this time I’m generally just ready to be done. And I know we all have our preferences, but I also prefer a 2.5” binding that I fold over and attach on the back first before top-stitching on the front. And thank goodness for this bananas laser because I don’t think I’ve ever attached a binding to a quilt so prettily.

Loving the Turkey

And with everything it its place, I present to you Mister Turkey, never to be eaten, but always to be enjoyed each and every holiday. Happy Thanksgiving (a few days early) everyone! Gobble gobble! Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save