I have been spoilt with some feather DVDs from Patsy Thompson for my birthday recently. Have to say they are very good and I am getting a lot out of it. Only a quilter can sit there listening to the rattling of the sewing machine on a DVD and be completely mesmerized...much to the amusement of the rest of the family.
Here are a few samples I made...
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| Warm-up |
Next sample I gave it my best shot and thought about how I wanted the plumes to look like beforehand. This worked well...actually did not try to achieve a consistent look but concentrated on getting around the corner in an orderly way. Not that easy judging the size of the plumes while you are stitching them, probably could have gone a bit bigger on some on them. Also wonder how I would go with staying consistent if I did this across half of a border, and then placing a mirror image on the other half of the border. I guess there is only one way of finding out...
Yes, and I think I have been bitten by Patsy Thompson's need to fill her plumes with hyperquilting. Tried one of her examples of just stitching some lines into them (did not look that exciting initially) and was amazed with how this transformed the look of the feather. I love this effect. I used Polyester thread to stitch this feather and the orange thread on top of the white just about jumps out at you. Yes, definitely hooked.
Very happy with this....I am getting more confident in the quilting of feathers having done two feather borders recently, each using a different method of quilting the feathers. The freeform feather above has a playfulness about it that I like and probably hard to believe, I find this almost more difficult to stitch than the ones were I needed to backtrack. All comes down to practice, I suppose.
Why am I doing this??? ....I want to be able to use this on my Colour Adventure quilt in the outer border and as previously mentioned I prefer to do as little marking as possible (yep, I will practice for hours just to avoid this). Nothing too fancy, just a nice free flowing feather arrangement around the border. I am planning to put another feather arrangement in the yellow star in the middle (that one will be definitely marked), some filler in the coloured section....and beyond, I am not sure yet. Bit of a loose plan so far.Looking at the picture now after several weeks, I am thinking that I should have made the black border larger....maybe that's it...there was always something that was not quite right with this. Will ponder on this for a while...this quilt has taken me way out of my comfort zone. It is too bright, too many colours and I am not sure how this will all work out.
Linking up to Anything Goes Quilt & Sew over at Stitch by Stitch and Let's Get Acquainted Link by Plum and June Hosted by Busy Bee Quilts
Karin
They're beautiful feathers. Of course, I'm such a novice, everything looks amazing to me! I especially love the use of different color threads.
ReplyDeleteVisiting from Anything Goes Monday! Have a great day.
Oh my, your feathers are absolutely stunning!! I really like the effect of adding different colour threads, and the stitching inside the feather really adds that little something that says, 'hey look at me'.. gorgeous!!!
ReplyDeleteI am greatly impressed with those feathers! What a happy birthday.... Love it!
ReplyDeleteThe Color Adventure quilt is AWESOME!! I love all those bright colors!!!! And BOTH of your feather samples are amazing. I don't think the plumes are to big! There is no rule on plume size;) Happy Birthday:))))))))))))))
ReplyDeleteYour feather samples are fabulous. You won't need to practice for long, you've got the touch!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful feathers! This has been a year of feathers for me as well, though I haven't tried filling them or different colored thread yet--that looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteThese are incredible - I love the echoing around the blue feather and then the additional stitching inside it - so much definition and it makes the whole design pop. Fabulous work :)
ReplyDeleteI love feathers too! I'll have to try using a secondary color because it looks fabulous on yours. And I agree, marking a quilt is a pain. I find that just marking the spine of a feather helps if I'm trying to make them balance around a border. I'm visiting from Stitch by Stitch. Thanks for the feather fix!
ReplyDeleteIncredible and stunning! Always amazed what is possible.
ReplyDeleteWow, your quilting is a-maz-ing! I've never seen feathers like that before or heard the term hyperquilting;) All I can say is Wow!
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up!
Love, love love your feathers! It sounds like you are really having fun with them and that is so nice to hear. The whole feather world is totally addicting and there is no turning back for you now!
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