Here's my latest real attempt on a real Carpenter's Star quilt - no practice here!
Freehand Jamie Wallen feathers - not perfect, just much better!
And I think with more practice and quilt application, these feathers will soon be something I can be proud of and offer to clients.
UPDATE 7/7/2013: Finished and bound, waiting for the proper quilt label, still pondering on that ;-)
Used crosshatching in half-circle center alternate gold triangle blocks and...practiced various 'other' techniques in every other center half-circle gold triangles - got LOTS of practice w/different filler techniques and kept it rather consistent w/crosshatching.
Implemented an Irena Bluhm feather filler technique in the half-circles of the navy blue/off-white triangles,
while consistently feathering around ALL the half-circles in ALL the off-white/gold/navy blue triangle blocks
while consistently feathering around ALL the half-circles in ALL the off-white/gold/navy blue triangle blocks
Free-hand feathering to the gold tip corner triangle points helped finish everything out.
Notice how 'crinkly' everything is? That's because I didn't pre-wash 'any' of my Civil War reproduction fabrics just so everything would look 'aged' after I laundered upon finishing the quilting, and Hobbs 80/20 batting really helps out with that total effect...LOVE IT!
UPDATE 7/7/2013: Finished and bound, waiting for the proper quilt label, still pondering on that ;-)
Learned a whole lot about feathers with this quilt that I will be able to apply to future quilts - I'm excited about that! Thinking of how I can mix feathering w/McTavishing - that should be loads of FUN!!
I have 4 charity quilt tops I will be practicing on arriving from Quilts Beyond Borders, along with two lap throws I'm currently piecing, one in colorful summertime prints & batiks:
Lots of space for feathering!
Like I always say - time to get back to it...
Later,
~Deb
PS...Thanks Katy S. for the info on Quilts Beyond Borders! If you all get the time, pop on over to Katy's, she's doing some FUN stuff over there, including some really great quilting ;-)
Deb, I think your feathers look really good. I still have lots and lots and lots and... well you get the idea... of practice to do on feathers. I need to check out Jamie Wallen's
ReplyDeleteThanks Miss Katie! I'm gettin' there with lots and Lots and LOTS of practice... Finally getting a 'rhythm', and since I LOVE to dance, that is what is working for me! Still need to work on getting consistent sizes with my individual feathers, but it's FINALLY happening - my feathers don't stink anymore!!!
DeleteThanks again for ALL your kind words and for taking the time to stop by - know how busy you must be getting ready for SewFest and your Monday morning commitment...Don't forget to have FUN ;-)
~Deb
The Carpenters Star looks WONDERFUL!! I love how you did the points with the cross hatching and feathers. Beautiful!@
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sue! Those points were what was stopping me from finishing quilting this quilt - I was really struggling with quilting those areas and had drawn it out on paper many times and still wasn't satisfied with the final effect, (at least 'my final effect' ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhile using a circle template to quilt out the other areas of the quilt, I happened to 'drop' the circle template in one of those points and that's when the idea hit me to throw in a half circle, feather around it and crosshatch the centers...problem solved and had FUN doing it!
Well, I thought I was the last one to quilt my Carpenter's Star from last summer but that heavens there was someone else who was just as fearful as I was. But you seem to have found what I did, that after doing that whole quilt you feel much more comfortable with feathers and know that you can do them in any direction, any size, and that even if they don't all look alike, like Sue's, they still look beautiful in your finished quilt. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThanks Gari - Yep, I now feel confident enough to 'feather' in just about any direction, ALL that practice is paying off!
DeleteAnd I don't think even I am the last Carpenter's Star hold-out, pretty sure there's at least one more with her first name starting with 'Gail', and there could even be others...;-)