Ongoing Quilt Projects, Continued from the "No Appreciation...." Thread

[speckledhen]

I LOVE feathers!!!! I have taken class after class with big shot teachers @ machine quilting showcase when it was here in KC metro. Irena Bluhm has some really neat books--one of my favs is funky feathers. Speckledhen, you might have fun with that one for some ideas. Remember free motion quilting is your interpretation so no one can ever say you did it wrong. You can even make fun pointy feathers, lots of chicken feathers are pointy. Just make sure you do the same "mistake" numerous times in the quilt, no one will ever know. Ripping is horrible, so tedious and not fun at all. I want to draw out a quilting pattern from the feathers on one of my Easter Eggers. She has beautiful feathers all in shades of gray.

Thanks for the suggestion! I like free motion because I think of it as "free form", wild and free, open to any interpretation. And very forgiving of "mistakes", which end up not being real mistakes, just part of the design, but I do want to develop more control so if I want to do something more controlled, I can.

 

[DuckLady]

Echo Echo Echo.

And I got lost and stuck, but first time on the long arm. Not too bad. It will improve with practice.

Now if I can keep the cat off. She loves these practice pieces as a sleeping hammock.

 

[speckledhen]

My cat is forbidden in my craft room, but he sneaks in every time a door doesn't close all the way, LOL.

My latest practice. I can't do the "normal" feather, but the paisley, I'm getting better at. I combined regular paisleys with a paisley feather in this one. I lost control near the end, though and my bobbin thread ran out. I'd hate to start trying to learn long arm!

 

[speckledhen]

I forgot to ask, would the design I did above be okay on an entire quilt surface, like the full size I'm about to do? I hate straight line quilting, would rather do an all over design.

 

[DuckLady]

I think it would be awesome. Maybe with either busy fabric so it wouldn't overwhelm it or a simple quilt so it wouldn't underwhelm it. For example, I wouldn't do it on a theme quilt, like the Barn Chicks one I need to quilt. It would overwhelm the pieced chicken blocks, but look great on a log cabin.

 

[speckledhen]

I think it would be awesome. Maybe with either busy fabric so it wouldn't overwhelm it or a simple quilt so it wouldn't underwhelm it. For example, I wouldn't do it on a theme quilt, like the Barn Chicks one I need to quilt. It would overwhelm the pieced chicken blocks, but look great on a log cabin.

How about on this one? I really don't want to be too fussy with the quilting, would rather an all-over design to get it done.

 

[DuckLady]

What about a looser pattern? Still the paisley feather, but not as dense?

 

[speckledhen]

What about a looser pattern? Still the paisley feather, but not as dense?

That's probably doable, Terrie. If I can get the hang of the motif on a smaller scale, I can certainly make it larger. I just have to check myself to make sure I'm not doing it smaller and smaller as I go along, which is a tendency of mine. So, big paisleys would work on this one, in your opinion?

 

[jeria]

Echo Echo Echo.

And I got lost and stuck, but first time on the long arm. Not too bad. It will improve with practice.
View attachment 1298449

Now if I can keep the cat off. She loves these practice pieces as a sleeping hammock.

Nice!! Most of your forms are rounded, that is really hard for some people to relax and do that. They tend to get spiky. If you get stuck, just echo your way out.

I'm afraid my cat will do the same thing, a cat is a fairly recent addition. I think covering with a sheet when not working on it is going to be a necessary thing to do. She loves her hammock and uses the basement as refuge from the dogs--they won't navigate the spiral staircase.

 

[jeria]

That's probably doable, Terrie. If I can get the hang of the motif on a smaller scale, I can certainly make it larger. I just have to check myself to make sure I'm not doing it smaller and smaller as I go along, which is a tendency of mine. So, big paisleys would work on this one, in your opinion?

I also tend to get smaller and smaller if I do a bigger design. I think they would work in many sizes. a nice thing about freehand is you can adapt the scale to fit the quilt.