Feather Practice and Decision Making

Just thought I would post this for new quilters...  When I have a particular shape that I will be filling with feathers, I may take some practice fabric and draw that shape with pen on the fabric, and then audition feathers in those areas.  I have taken a couple "whimsical feather" or "alternative to feathers" classes, one from Dawn Cavanaugh, and the other from Sue Patten.  I usually stitch out the same type of hump/bump or heirloom feathers or I will do a regular feather....but when I have time, I like to pull out my class notes, and practice those unique or different feathers.  

If you have followed my blog, you will know that decision making is one of my weaknesses.  I have been known to stitch things out, then remove the stitching, several times if necessary, if I don't like it.  I will also draw on plexiglass to help me decide how I will quilt something.  I have also taken pictures of the quilt, and drawn on it with my ipad and a stylus.  Sometimes, though, I just miss quilting feathers, and I have to play!  

Here is the border area of the next quilt I am doing.

A little bit of whimsy here.

Oh, something else I do when I practice:  I grab all the small bobbins and try to use them up so I have some empty ones for my next big quilt.  I used three partials on this practice piece.

 Sloppy, but fast and fun!

 Really sloppy, but super fun!

What type of feather will I end up doing?  I don't know!  I am going to load this one, and hopefully be inspired to do something new and different!

Quilting a Comforter

Well, this was interesting.  My five year old grandson is sleeping in a queen bed and was using a small full size quilt I made him a couple years ago.  I pondered making a new quilt for him, but queen?  Oh my goodness, I thought about the time and expense, and honestly, it didn't make sense to create a true quilt.  I went to our town's version of a mall...  a KMart...  the only store we have in town other than a Home Depot and two grocery stores...but hey, I am not complaining... when we moved here we had none of the above!  They had the perfect comforter, navy blue, at a perfect price, $30!

I wish now I had planned this better, and might have skipped the flame borders.  Now, I do love them, I am just not 100% happy with the way they blend with the super huge meander in the center.  I toyed with the idea of no quilting in the center, just a few more stars, but that didn't seem the perfect fit either.

So, here it is, all done, and I am sure my little guy will LOVE this rocket and the flames and his name on it!  He is going to get the same flame fabric on his pillow cases.

Angi's Buzzsaw

This is Angi's buzzsaw quilt.  Angi told me I could quilt it any way I wanted, so I chose the square spirals panto.  I used a variegated King Tut on it.  I love the way it turned out!  

Road 2 CA Purchases

I had a GREAT time last weekend, and am still recovering from a lack of sleep.  We bring our sewing machines and sew in the room 'til late at night, and then just cross the street to check out the show whenever we want!

 I bought some new thread.  I was directed to the Wonderfil booth to get some thread for my next wholecloth.  The guy was such a good salesman that I ended up buying six cones of  Invisifil and Deco Bob.I also bought more So Fine!

I bought just a bit of fabric.  Other than a jelly roll of Kaffe Fassett, and some black Kona to go along with it, and some white Kona to finish up another UFO...  ugh...  three yards of each, I bought five yards of Kona solids in different colors to go with other Kona solids that I already have.  Christina and I will be sharing the five yards of solids for a Skillbuilder BOM.  

I bought this really cool tumbler ruler at Road.  I thought it would be great for scraps... and I had this jelly roll for years, it was given to me as a gift, but I just couldn't figure out what to do with it, so,... I used them with the tumbler ruler.  Now, to decide how to quilt that one!

Practicing Feathers

I can't remember the last time I quilted feathers.  I LOVE feathers!  But the last few quilts I have done didn't call for feathers, or they were modern, or, I needed to do a panto.  So...  I have had these orphan blocks on my design wall.  Not sure what I was going to do with them.  Yep, I slapped some big borders on this cute little pumpkin and added some orange thread. It was so much fun!

 I started out without a warm up.  I won't do that again.  I had intended on NOT doing hump and bump feathers, but then I just naturally did.  That's how I learned.  Then I corrected myself to do more whimsical ones.  I took a class last year at Road 2 CA from Dawn Cavanaugh (great class!) on whimsical feathers.  I haven't practiced them once.  I will be posted more about feathers, that's for sure.

Not sure I like the way I did the background to the pumpkin.  I just followed the design in the fabric.  Oh, well, I am NOT going to skin this one.  Nope!  I just did some skinning yesterday.  Once a week is enough!

For Madelynn

My niece's baby, Madelynn, is seven months old, and she was recently diagnosed with leukemia....  unbelievable...  they found it on her head... they have just completed the first round of chemo on this little baby.  

I know this quilt won't make her feel better, but I live on the other side of the country, so making meals and babysitting their two other children is not possible.  So, what does a quilter do to comfort?  We make quilts. This is going to Madelynn next week.  

 

I quilted the panto, Camelia, on it.  I am definitely sending good karma with this one.  All the stars were aligned...  perfect tension...  no thread breaks...  the quilting went quick...  I had just barely enough backing...

Cartwheels

 I made this top a couple years ago, and just this week finally got it quilted!










I used one of my favorite and most used go-to designs from Patsy Thompson.  http://www.patsythompsondesigns.com  I love Patsy's free motion quilting, and best of all, she posts it free for us to print and practice!  I have been using her quilting designs for several years now, and they are just fun!

  My daughter gave me the jelly roll, and I used amandajean's free pattern http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/

I will be keeping this quilt to snuggle under on movie nights.  I wanted to keep it simple and soft, just like the fabrics.

Field of Flowers With Closeup Quilting

 Well, I finally have some close up photos of this wall hanging.  It was really fun to make, and I would love to make another one in a different color scheme.  Not sure what, but I sure like it.  It was super easy, too!

  I found the pattern in a magazine that I had laying around for a couple years.  It makes me second guess my past habits of tossing things after a few months if I don't use them.  I just get so tired of all the clutter, but now I think I should just do a better job of organizing.

Bear Lake Utah

 We have a place at Bear Lake Utah, and we love to go there... for the solitude, the quiet, the views... we just love to go there.  Last visit brought some unique views - check out that cloud!  It was so dark and so low, I thought it was going to drop right into the lake.  These pictures were taken from our deck.

 Views of the south end of the lake, getting lighter...

 Views of the extreme south end...taken from the car... heading up to the Summit then down through Logan Canyon.

That's it, no quilting pics today.  I am working on a really sweet top that is being done with a quick freehand Patsy Thompson style.

Chevron or Zigzag?

 This is my daughter's quilt - she made it for herself for their home.  Love the colors!

not sure if this is a chevron or a zig zag...

natural light...but with a crooked photographer...

late night

This is actually a redo...  Initially I did squiggly lines on the seam lines, but it just seemed too poofy, it needed more quilting, I guess.  So since I love skinning quilts so much (ugh - I really do - just skinning that is, not ripping, I hate ripping) I took out those squiggly lines and did lots more quilting.  I like it!