As posted earlier I have been following the 2012 Freemotion Quilting Challenge at SewCalGal and while I am not actively participating I do try a few things here and there. Well, I obviously got the Feather bug (have a look at the great lesson on feathers by Diane Gaudynski featured in February 2012). I started practising some basic feather shapes freehand, concentrating on trying to get the shape right. This, initially did not work for me...my feathers were fairly mis-shapen and looked somewhat like spoons attached to the spine which affected each subsequent feather and the whole thing did not seem to work at all, i.e. as I went up the spine each subsequent feather tended to become even more elongated.
Then, all of a sudden, I seemed to 'get' it. The trick for me was the curve back to the spine and the spacing. I then proceeded to feather doodle over my whole sample and did not have any problems with filling up and evenly spacing my feather shapes along the spine....like magic.
How good does this look? I was thorougly amazed with this (if I may say so myself)...here is the rest of the sample I doodled on. In the end I literally ran out of space otherwise I would have just continued and this, I guess, is how an addiction starts.
The only other thing to add is: While I am a bit time challenged and hence not able to participate in the Challenge itself I really appreciate the effort of SewCalGal for organising and hosting this and would encourage others to check it out. But also, how absolutely generous is it of those teachers at the SewCalGal's Freemotion Quilting Challenge to share their time, skills and knowledge with other people across the globe. Sometimes it is just that one little thing or tip that will resonate and have the biggest impact.
Until next time
Karin
Great feathers Karin and you have encouraged me to go and have a go myself. Being a fellow migraine sufferer you have my sympathy. Take care.
ReplyDeleteYes, very addictive...but so much fun. Really enjoyed doing this.
DeleteI think your feathers look fantastic! I haven't been practicing lately. I've just been busy but I plan on doing more feathers. Hope your migraine is gone for good!
ReplyDeleteThanks...this was a lot of fun and I was amazed on how little time it took to actually 'get' it. But then again, maybe it was the migraine.
DeleteYou should be proud. These feathers look awesome! I have yet to do February Challenge. Need to get that done! Great great job:)
ReplyDeleteThanks Danielle...I was really happy with this as it opens a lot of new possibilities. I find that since I joined Lerah Day's FMQ Wednesday I am practising and trying more things and the improvement is really noticeable.
DeleteYo también conozco las migrañas y son realmente molestas, no permiten hacer absolutamente nada. Finalmente tus plumas se ven bonitas. Estoy siguiendo el desafío de SewCalGal y mis acolchados a lo largo de este año han mejorado mucho.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I need to get a translator gadget happening...lucky for me I was a regular visitor to Portugal in my late teens and early twenties and was able to decipher the general meaning of the comment. Ha, ha...this really impressed my daughter, who enquired whether I speak Spanish which of course, I do not. She now believes that I am pretty incredible.
ReplyDelete