Fancy Feathers

Hi there,

I know I said I was going to do something other than feathers but I just couldn't help myself.  I bought a lucky dip selection of fabrics and found this beautiful navy taffeta and I had a reel of King Tut's ELS cotton just crying out to be used.
This is what I came up with.........

.......... a little wall hanging, 16" x 18".

I designed it myself but took my inspiration from "Feather Adventures , Vol 1" by Patsy Thompson.
A 'must have' book if you are a fan of feathers.

I only marked the spine and the rest is freehand. The leafy plumes coming off the feathers, I didn't mark at all.

For the flower I marked the center then just an indication for 4 petals - the other 4 would fit in between.
I had to use tailors chalk as my invisible pen wouldn't show up.

I used a thread to match the background and stippled it all over. It's worth mentioning that I used 2 layers of Hobbs heirloom 80/20 wadding becasue I wanted the plumes to look full and firm.

To finish it off, I made prairie points in a rainbow batik and placed them all aroind the edge.

I really love the thread build up on thsi piece and the effect.  It looks like an exploding firework.

Rhonda , from Quilter in the Gap is hosting this weeks TGIFF party and there are already several linkys there for you to peruse.  So why not take a minute and pop over.

Today I'm going to the 1st major quilt show of the year in Edinburgh.   Woooo hoooo!  My bag is empty and my purse is full - when I come home it will be the other way around.  I'll be back over the weekend with some inspiring quilty photos. ( I hope)
Enjoy your friday.
Rhianon.

Champagne Feathers.

Hi there.

First off, I'd like to say welcome and thank you to my new followers.  I've gained quite a few this week, which I am delighted about.
Another post so soon but I just couldn't resist sharing this with you.  I've been working on it for the last 3 nights.

It's my very first wholecloth worked on this gorgeous champagne satin.  I think it looks like a bit of foil and reminds me of a Quality Street sweetie wrapper !

I worked fancy feathers with swirly off shoots.

I was going to do outline quilting in the background but decided on good old stippling instead.

The binding is also satin - tricky to work with to say the least but worth the effort.

This is the fabric I used for the binding.  It is genuine 1970's satin.  I got it from a lady on ebay who was clearingout her aunt's things.  She was a dressmaker in the 60/70's.   I have about 3 metres and it was an absolute find.   I'm debating what to do with the rest of it now.  Can I piece a quilt from satin  ? .......   mmmm don't know about that - it's very slippery to work with and cutting the binding wasn't easy.

I used 3 different sized bowls for the uneven scalloped edge.  I wanted it to look a bit lopsided and for the scallops to be different sizes but I think it could have been more pronounced.  Still, not bad for a first attempt at scalloping.

I'm going to put this in my bedroom on a red wall  ( a muted red , not a bright cherry red) - I think it will look nice there.

Anyway , after a week of machine quilting , I feel the need to go and do some piecing now..
Have a great weekend everyone.
See you all next time.
Rhianon.

Memory Cushions with Quilted Feathers.

Hi there.

This week I have continued working on my feathers.  I made these two cushions.

They are memory cushions made for my stepmum.  The check fabric is my Dad's shirt.

I started with a 10" square of satin and appliqued a little heart on a bigger heart.

Then I made some HSTs for the next border and it was ready to quilt .....   feathers!

During the week I made a video of me quilting feathers - if you would like to watch it, you can find it here :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3TXPAHwM6s&context=C370dd36ADOEgsToPDskLkwJrR7l91LjvzbCLH7df8

Next I added some pretty beige lace followed by a white satin ruffle.

Go here if you would like to see how I make up my cushions.

It's Friday so of course I'm linking up  Marsha's Spot - this weeks host of TGIFF.  So why not head over and spend a few minutes.

I'll be back soon - I've been doing a lot of machine quilting but now I am feeling the need to do something else.
Have a great weekend what ever you are up to.
Rhianon.

My Journey with Quilting Feathers

You may have noticed that I am taking part in the Free Motion Quilting Challenge.
I thought it would be fun to do a post on my progress to date.  I think every quilter loves feather and I am no exception. 
When you are free motion quilting - it's the first thing you want to do.

I dug around and found my first attempts.

This was the very first piece I ever FMQ'd.  I didn't even have a proper open toe foot so I didn't use one at all.   I had a very basic attempt at a feather in the border.  It looks more like leaves but I was encouraged to keep going.

I cut a stack of 8" squares with wadding and set about practicing!!!

It's pretty tricky trying to sew the plumes round a curve.  All the time I was practicing feathers, I was working on other quilting patterns such as stippling and just trying to get a feel for the machine.

I used a stencil to mark this circular feather and tried abysmally to follow the lines.  I was having all kinds of tension trouble too.  I gave up with the stencil as I preferred it when the fabric wasn't marked.
Now I only mark the spine.

This was an attempt at feathering an a narrow border.

More feathers - I think you can see an improvement here.

Back of the quilt.

This is from my Bird of Paradise wall hanging.  I quilted feathers on appliqued feathers!

More feathers that don't really look like feathers in a border.

These are feathers on a hand dyed cushion I made.  Think I was beginning to get the hang of it.

They are definately beginning to look like feathers.

More feathers on another hand dyed cushion.  I loved how these turned out.

Feathered sashing on the Tallships quilt.

I made a series of mugrugs and practiced going round corners.

I made progress here - each one was better than the last and plumes had a better shape to them.

More feathers in a border on the Lantern quilt.

These are feathers on a wall hanging that I worked in January.

I was a bit more adventurous here and worked pebbles into the spine.

Then in February, Diane Gaudynski did the turorial for the 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge.
I decided to work my sample on satin.  Something just clicked into place and I was able to produce this :

I was over the moon - this was something I had wanted to achieve for a long time.

Then I worked a second sample - this time on silk and I tried outline quilting to fill the background.

Now I am working on this ;

I hope this post gives some encouragemnt to those of you who are just starting out with free motion quilting.
You can see how far I have come in just 11 months.  I cannot wait to start incorporating my new found skills into my quilts.

My top tips would be to get a pair of quilting gloves and keep practicing.  Draw feathers on paper whenever you get the chance.  It really does help.
Most importantly though - have fun and remember 'Rome wasn't built in a day'!

See you all next time.
Rhianon.

Liebster Award !

Wow ! I won an award for my blog !!!   A Liebster Award.  A huge thank you to Lynn from What a Hoot for nominating me.



I have read that some people don't like awards - well I'm honoured that somebody thought me worthy and it is a fantastic way to encourage new bloggers.

Now I have to pick 5 blogs that I enjoy ( more difficult than I thought)

I'm going to start with 2 new blogs I have discovered.

1.  Carolyn's Quilts    Carolyn is a new blogger and I think she has a lot to share with us.  I'm looking  forward to being a regular follower of her blog.

2.  Tizart      Blog by Liz, from New Zealand - a talented quilter!

3.  Happy Days Quilting   This is a very good blog that I have been following for quite a while.  Patricia is a
very talented quilter and her applique is fantastic.

4.  Borderline Quilter  Kay is a longarm quilter and last year won awards for her work at the Scottish Quilt Championships. Love her work.

5.  Cherry Red Quilter.   This is Jan Maree's blog.  An Australian quilter.  Alaways enjoy my visits to her place.

Liebster Conventions:

*Thank your award presenter on your blog 

*Link back to the blogger who presented you with the award

*Copy and paste the award to your blog

*Present the Liebster Award to 5 blogs that have fewer than 200 followers that you think deserve to be recognized

*Let them know by leaving a comment on their blog

Stars and Scattered Hearts Quilt

Hello everyone.

Friday rolls around again and this week I have finished a child's quilt - for a little girl.

I designed it myself, starting with some star blocks and colourful sashing.  I kept the border a simple checkerboard as I wanted to scatter appliqued hearts over it.   It's the first time I've ever done machine applique and was pleased with how it turned out.

This photo was taken with the flash on.  I much prefer no flash but the weather has been wet, dull and foggy and absolutley no good for trying to get good photos!

This is my set up for quilting - not too bad at all becasue it is quite a small quilt.  It measures 44" x 55".

When I first started quilting the pebbles, I thought I had made a huge mistake but I was too far committed (lazy) to unpick it.  I kept going and now I'm pretty pleased with the result.

For the outer border, I quilted a swirly circles type pattern that I made up as I went along. Turned out great - I love the textures on this quilt.

For the hearts, I just outlined them.

I used a nice bright poly/cotton for the back.  I've been having a discussion with some quilty friends about using poly/cotton for quilt backs.  Is it a good thing or not ??  If you have an opinion please share.
I've yet to wash this quilt but I'm sure it will be ok on a cool/delicate wash.   I'll let you know how it turns out!

I'm linking up with M R from Quilt Matters , who is hosting this weeks TGIFF.  Pop over and check out the Friday finishes.

I'll be back soon with another post.  See you all next time.
Have a great weekend.
Rhianon.