Our ARTrageous group was doing a session on stenciling and stamping. Since I love nature, most of my stencils and stamps are of nature.  I decided to throw some blocks together. I used some blue fabric I had painted, thinking I'd make it sort of a sky background.

I stenciled some sunflowers and pampas grass. I did the stenciling and I didn't like the sunflower in the middle, so decided to appliqué another piece of fabric over it. The whole time I was reserving space for that little chickadee I wanted to honor. I decided to free-motion a different more delicate flower over that added piece of fabric. As in a lot of my quilts, I practiced free-motion possibilities on paper first. Some I use, some I don't. Once you get free-motioning, the quilt takes over and you don't always do what you doodle.

I appliquéd one of my favorite subjects for my photography which is a bird in flight.  This little chickadee was on his way to my bird feeder. I free-motioned the piece.