machine feathers



 It's about time I posted something.  I've been sewing - stitching away on current projects.  I have not started anything new although the temptation has been very great.
I had a week at home in early April.  Our furnace quit and we heated the house with the woodstove for a week until a part could be acquired.  I had to stay home and feed wood into the stove...  One day I made the best of it and basted this enormous quilt on the floor of my dining room.  I used all of my basting pins and still didn't have enough so I thread basted the border just to get it done.

It was my plan to free motion quilt this - hoping it would go fast like my son's quilt.  But as I considered it I decided to use my walking foot to anchor the blocks before I tried free motion quilting. Then I flipped through an excellent book "Visual guide to Free-motion Quilting Feathers" by Natalia Bonner and found this feathered design that fit into a square.  



My quilting is far from perfect but I am pleased with how this design fills the blocks without being too dense.  The design doesn't take over the block like it may appear in this picture.  If I turned the lights on as usual you would hardly see any quilting at all.  I still need a plan for the zigzag sashing.  Straight lines are all I've thought of so far.  Any suggestions??



The design works well for the half blocks too - here it is from the back.  By the last block I will be a pro - lol!

I'm also working on appliqueing my 7th block of Radical Rose and Reel.  I was so surprised to see that I had placed these two pieces in the same fabric side by side.  I didn't notice until it was sewn on.  I usually try so hard to not let this happen.  However, scrappy antique quilts often have blocks in the same fabric grouped together and yet I try so hard to scatter them evenly across the top?!  I love antique quilts!  So even though I know this will bug me  - I'm leaving it. 

Happy Quilting!!