2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge - February

February in July you ask? Better late then never right?

I've wanted to be able to quilt feathers freehand since I first saw them on a quilt. It was the dream, the ultimate FMQ goal. Well, I may not be there yet but I am a whole lot closer then I was before this tutorial. I've been looking forward to trying it since I saw it, Diane Gaudynski sure made it look easy enough ^^ I really LOVED her tutorial! Super easy to follow thanks to very clear pictures and just the right amount of text that you would actually read it all (otherwise I always skim, I'm a bad girl), but still feel you've gone in depth on the subject

Luckily, it wasn't as difficult as I had feared! It's not easy and I do have a lot of practice to go before I'll be happy with my feathers, but at least, it's one of those "terrified to even try" things I can cross of my list!

 My brain is not made for echo quilting! I was really bored after the first round back from the feathers... And it shows. But it does give a pretty cool effect.

I really like making feathers though and there's a lot of fun stuff I'm dying to try, like the branched feathers, more swirls and twirls, leafs and tendrils. But unfortunately, work doesn't permit much play at the sewing machine atm so I figured I'd settle with the above, my second attempt to show you. I really hope I'll have time to play some more with feathers soon though.

This was my first attempt, I actually prefer the more regular shape of the feathers like the ones here I think, then the more crazy ones I did for my second attempt above.

If you haven't taken the pledge yet, it's not to late, you can join up any time during the year to become a better free motion quilter and have the chance to win fabulous prizes!!