Let’s Make a Chicken Salad!

Are you making Lori Holt’s Chicken Salad Quilt with me?

I’ll link below to Lori’s blog and a YouTube video so you can see her method for creating her chickens. If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know I’ll be automating the process to create this adorable quilt.

You will need Lori’s Chicken Salad Sew Simple Shapes to make this quilt.

Here is her line of Cook Book fabric – https://bit.ly/3H4MAMr

Farm Girl Vintage Chicken Tracks – https://shrsl.com/3dn8b

Here is her sewing guide to follow along. You need to print this out to make the chickens. The download link is below the image or you can get it at her blog here: Bee In My Bonnet (beeinmybonnetco.blogspot.com)

This guide is designed for you to sort by the fabric to make the chickens. Since I’m using a ScanNCut cutting machine, I’ve created a guide that is sorted by the Simple Shape needed to make each piece. This allows you to trace the shape just one time, scan that shape into the ScanNCut, and then either use the SNC or upload to the Brother Canvas to create the multiples and mirrors you will need. DISCLAIMER!! You need to verify that my guide is correct every time by checking it against Lori’s Sew Along Guide BEFORE YOU CUT. In other words, I’m pretty sure mine is right, but if it is not, well…just double check and leave a comment to this post if you see a needed edit. 🙂

NOTE: If you do not have a ScanNCut but have a different cutting machine, you’ll need to trace the simple shape onto a piece of paper and follow the guidance from your cutting machine’s manufacturer to create an .svg file. You can upload that .svg file into the Brother Canvas at canvasworkspace.brother.com and Canvas will allow you to download an .fcm file you can use in Simply Applique or BES4 Dream Edition. Or you can use Gimp if you’re up for it. Gimp is a free program that acts like Photoshop (you can find it using Google). There are videos on YouTube to tell you how to create an svg with Gimp.

Shapes with multiples in different fabrics and/or different chickens are listed by M12-1, M12-2, etc. There are NOT different M12-1 and M12-2 shapes. Shapes with a ‘ -# ‘ identifier use the same shape on multiple fabrics for different birds. I’ve grouped them on the spreadsheet with dark black border lines. Download link for this spreadsheet is below the image.

Here’s an Excel version you nerds can play with to sort by shape or chicken. 🙂

If you’d like your quilt to have the background fabrics look just like the one in the Sewing Guide, here’s a fabric key to help you figure out what goes where. In the Sewing Guide starting on page 3, number all your fabrics sequentially starting with C11750 Multi Wallpaper with number 1. You’ll have fabrics 1-7 on pg 3 and fabrics 8-17 on page 4. Number down the columns NOT back and forth.

I recommend tracing the outline of each of your shapes on printer paper to scan them into the SNC. That just seemed to provide a better result for me. Use a mechanical pencil for a good line and erase any stray marks.

Your homework is to cut out all the shapes for your birds and place them into individual baggies for each bird. Our first bird will be Hattie. Stay tuned!

This is going to expand your skills for automating machine applique. I hope you enjoy it as much as I am. This is going to be so fun!