The Year of the Feather

No, this is not some oriental New Year of some sort. That is what I dubbed this year back in January. I set out to conquer (well, maybe just get more comfortable with) feathers.
I know you can't see them at all, but I just quilted up this little flimsy and put feathers in the border.

To be honest, so far this year I have only become relatively comfortable with two types of feathers--the style I put on the black border above, which you can't see, and shaped feathers for setting triangles. Both of them are more visible in this little quilt that you may recall I made up back in February.

I have occasionally tried other types of feathers, like these little swirly ones...

...but the free form feathers have eluded me. This year SewCalGal is continuing to challenge us in FMQ, but instead of one challenge a month, there have been six challenges presented and we have until the end of Oct. to complete any three. The second challenge I have chosen is a tutorial on feathers by Joanne (Thread Head blog). We are to practice different feather types and find what works best for us. Then we make up a few quilt sandwiches "about the size of a piece of paper" and mark our feather spines and get quilting. We are to quilt background designs around the feathers and then bind the pieces.

I have filled a few sandwiches with practice feathers, but today I got down to the real thing. So far I have finished the quilting on this one piece...

I'm not too crazy about it, but it just needs the binding, and it will be good to have one under my belt.

My second one, below, doesn't have any background yet, but it is an improvement on the feather, I think.  Deep curves are still a challenge.

I'm toying with the idea of only using one or two designs on the background of this one.

I think I'll try one more sandwich after this and get a little more adventurous with the feather style.

I need to give a shout out to two very kind bloggers who quilt beautiful feathers and have gone out of their way to share information on their methods with me. Thank you Sharon (Grass Roots Quilting blog) and Debbie (Stitchin' Therapy blog) for your efforts in sharing your design sheets. I have referred to both many times, studying them, tracing them, and practicing the styles. It has helped immensely.

Just for fun, I tried to find the sandwich that had my first feather attempt from almost 2 years ago. It is nowhere to be found. I must have chucked that one. I do remember, though, that it didn't even remotely resemble a feather.

One other small thing I did this weekend was finish up two pincushions that have been partially made for months now. One is from the Schnibble Tuffet pattern, from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co., and the other was just a way of using up 6 leftover HST from another project. How do you use 6 HSTs? Answer--make 3 faux flying geese and put them into a pincushion. I made both of these into the "box" style cushion as demonstrated in my Tuffet tutorial on the tab above.
That churn dash is only 1 1/2" finished. I'm thinking it would make a great little ornament. : )

That is all for now.
Until next time,
Janet O.

A Grand Day Out!

 I don't know how many Wallace and Gromit fans there are out there, but you know who you are and you will recognize my title. I just needed a day out--or even part of a day. This past Thursday I was going stir crazy. I had been home from the hospital for a week and hadn't been farther than a walk around the farm. I still can't do much for any length of time, but there is a mountain canyon 10 minutes from our home and the fall colors are at their peak. DH had taken the afternoon off, so I suggested we just buzz up the canyon a few miles and see the color. Then I realized we wouldn't be far from a very fun quilt shop on the other end of that canyon, but I didn't know if I could tolerate 30 minutes there and 30 minutes back. DH's idea was that we could stop in the canyon and I could walk around a little to break up the trip. It was a great opportunity to get some photos of the color, too.

The quilt shop did not disappoint. Along with some great CW fabrics from the clearance corner and a few Jo Morton FQs, I snatched up this pattern when I saw it.

I have enjoyed seeing the Schnibbles everyone makes, though I have never made one. The thing that caught my eye about this one was that last May I purchased a couple of pin cushions in The Gathering Place, a great quilt shop in Rupert, Idaho. I gave one away and kept one and I have wished I could find a pattern to make more. This is the one I kept and I thought with the help of this pattern I could make something like it.

So the pattern came home with me--after we had stopped for fresh peach milkshakes at the local burger joint. Yumm!! The adventure wore me out, but it was worth it. : )

The mail had arrived by the time we got home and I found a surprise from my friend, Mary C., in Washington. She had sent me shirt parts and photos of a quilt she had posted recently that boggled my mind. Thanks so much, Mary. Always fun to get surprises!

Today was the day for doing something with these treasures. First I put a couple of the shirt parts to work in the most recent Barrister's SAL block. Thanks for an easy one this time, Randy. Turned out well.

Then I went to work with the Tuffets pattern. These "tuffets" looked very much like the purchased pin cushions I bought in Rupert, except for the fact that the "tuffets" are more like little pillows and I liked the dimension of the one I bought. I put my brain in a higher gear that it has been in for a while and thought I could figure out how to make them have the dimension I wanted. So I played around and made my first one with the leftovers from my Halloween mini quilts (I knew I would end up making something with them). I followed the pattern pretty closely for my first attempt and it was much larger than I had expected. After that I started winging it and made them a little smaller.

There was some trial and error involved, but I think I have the bugs worked out now. I filled them with walnut shells, but you can use poly filling, too. I think this is my new obsession--I can see so many possibilities, and wouldn't they make great gifts?
Here they are with the one that inspired me. I think it feels right at home there. : )

So Thursday was a grand day out, and today was a grand day in--sewing!
Until next time,
Janet O.