SewCalGal - FMQ Challenge - February

Directions for February Feathers 

February

Diane Gaudynski   (Diane says on her blog (Jan 27-12) My tutorial will be available online for one month, so please print it if you need it for future reference.)

Feb 3 2012

Back

Front

I drew the pattern actually on the fabric - I'm not sure why I didn't just use paper.

When I did the practice, I disregarded the pencil marks and did it all free hand instead.

Next time I want to add a larger bulb at the top of the spine and work on how the bottom of the spine looks too.

I was sewing on the edge of my practice sandwich - it would be easier to do in the center of a properly prepared block!

But actually, for where I am with my sewing skills, I'm pretty pleased with how this looks!  I think my feathers have the correct shape - need to really work on everything but next time hope my echoing will be closer to the edges of the feathers.


Feb 8 2012

Front

Back

I made a new practice sandwich, and did another feather - although I have to admit that I sort of forgot it was supposed to be a feather - I was thinking leaf as I sewed this....

I did put the larger bulb at the top and was tighter with following the feathers/leaves on the way back.

These are not the flowing feathers others are doing, but this is the way I draw it on paper so guess for now this is the style I sew!  I'm pretty happy with it actually, as long as I don't compare with the beautiful examples others are creating for this challenge.

I will add more feather practice shots here - it's a busy month so I'm linking to the SewCalGal site now... I'm entry #40!

Added some more echo stitching and stippling around the feather - to join up with my LeahDay practice.

The color of the fabric and the thread makes this feather look really nice.

Back

Front

Feb 12, 2012

Front

Double click to see the bearding on the back.

I did another sample and learned that even when things are going well, it's important to actually look at the back every once in a while.  I could feel that there was a build up, but everything was working well - I had put a fresh needle on too.  Anyway, I got my practice in, but the needle was blunt or something as it caused all the stitches to pull out a little of the batting to the back.  So good thing this is a sample.  When I was working on one of the FMQAL I had a similar thing happen (also polyester) but because of the colors it doesn't show as much....  (I think you'll need to click the image to see it large enough see this....)


Changing the needle made everything look great again.  The second feather I did top down (the directions say to make the vein, then to start the feathers at the bottom, when you get to the top to echo back down and then start the feathers on the other side go up, echo down.  I did this one in reverse, and actually flipped the fabric and did the echoing so I had the feathers on the bottom - made it much easier to do the echoing...


I don't really see a difference between the two ways - and it looks to me like my right and left sides are pretty much the same too....


I can see that the color of the fabric and thread can really enhance the look of the design though so that is something to be aware of!


I'm working on this design as part of the SewCalGal 2012 Free-Motion Quilting Challenge.  This event will have a new designer and design each month - it will be open all year - so go to the site now to see the updates!

To enter the drawing: 

1.  Write blog entry or post a photo on Flicker.  Copy and save the URL.  
2. Then go to http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/p/free-motion-quilt-challenge.htm 
3.  Click on the February link  - you'll go to the screen with information about the challenge for February. The direct link is: http://www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com/2012/02/february-2012-fmq-challenge-tutorial.html

4.  Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and add the link to your site. I'm #40 on this list!

I'm coding all my entries about this project with SewCalGalFMQ2012 so clicking on that will show the most recent post on top.