Designer Profile - Joan Ford

 I was first drawn to Joan Ford because of her Scrap Therapy books. I loved the idea of taming the mountain of scraps I had accumulated. Little did I know, until I took a quilt cruise with her, that she is a woman of many talents.

Her company is called Hummingbird Highway and has a definite bird theme. Lately her main focus has been on lazar cut, pieced bird patterns that she calls "The Flock".  These bird blocks (over 60 of them!) are perfect for birders - they are so incredibly cleverly designed and delightful. 

Joan is a perfectionist when it counts - matching points, using glue to help piece bias edges without that pesky slippage that normally happens, and lazar cutting the fabric for us so that everything fits together perfectly. As a teacher, she is organized, methodical,  informative, supportive and very humorous. Our group was divided into two room and she handled the back and forth between the two rooms like the pro that she is.

The design she did for the cruise was beautiful. It worked great as a
mystery.  We worked on small components  - no one could tell what the design was going to be until the assembly directions were passed out and the final reveal was done. We "oohed and awwed" over the striking quilt. 

I would definitely take another workshop from Joan. I'm also about to order some bird patterns. I think you should too!

Curious about the Flock? Fly over to Hummingbird-Highway and check it out!