Visual Guide to Free Motion Quilting Feathers

So if you have been following along with my blog for a time, you know that I love to Free Motion quilt!!!   But you also know that quilting Feathers still kind of scare me.  I have tried to add them into quilts, mostly in borders, to get more practice on them as I know that is how to gain confidence.   I am feeling better about a basic feather, although it still needs practice :)  But honestly,  I know that I have just scratched the surface of this beautiful design and I have really wanted to "up my feather game" .   I want more confidence in quilting the basic feather designs and then learn how to take the design to the next level.   So when my very good friend Natalia Bonner announced her newest book, Visual Guide to Free-Motion Quilting Feathers I was thrilled!!! 

Natalia is an amazing Long Arm Quilter!!  She actually quilted my very first published quilts back here ;)   I absolutely love her work, and a quick stroll their Natalia's Instagram feed will show you her mad skills.  And Natalia happens to live 40 minutes away from me, so it is super exciting for me to see when she quilts some of my quilt designs from folks in the area that have taken my classes.  So fun!!! 

The thing that I liked right off the bat about Natalia's  Visual Guide to Free-Motion Quilting Feathers is how neat and organized it is and how easy it is to use!!!  Natalia walks you through the basics, including lots and lots of tidbits on how to make your basic feathers great!!  (So need that!!)  And then, when you have that down, she has included 68 amazing feather designs to really add that wow factor to your quilts!!!  And I love that every design has a visual thumbnail in the Contents so you can find the exact design you want to try without having to flip through the entire book.     

Once you pick the design you want to try, you can flip to that page and find amazing step by step directions on how to quilt that particular variation of the feather.    The step outs are in great detail with lots of helpful tidbits.   They really are an easy to used guide that works for both Long Arm and domestic machines!!!

But I have to say, I am just blown away by how many variations Natalia comes up with!!!    And each one is just as pretty as the next.  And she also includes ideas for different parts of your quilts including block centers with beautiful spiral medallions, what to do in those flying geese triangles, and ideas for borders, both large and small.

So ya, I am just thrilled with Natalia's awesome Visual Guide to Free-Motion Quilting Feathers and am excited to use this wonderful guide to increase my free motion quilting feather confidence and hopefully take it to the next level ;)  Time to get quilting some feathers!!!

And if you are like me, and really want to get quilting some Feathers, whether you use a Long Arm or a Domestic Machine, I would highly recommend Natalia's Visual Guide to Free-Motion Quilting Feathers.  It is an awesome guide and we can all practice and gain that Fee Motion Feather goodness together!!!   

Happy Quilting!!!!

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Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!!

It's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day so let's have some fun :)

But first, we need to announce the winner from last weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway!!  

The winner of a Pair of Scissors from   Warm Crochet.   is . . .   Number #105. Congrats Emily Swaby!!   I have emailed you :)      

 

  

And on to today's

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by Shabby Fabrics!!   Shabby Fabrics has so many fantastic Kits and Projects and I absolutely love their Laser Cut Kits!!! Shabby Fabrics  also has an amazing  Clearance Section, you are sure to find some amazing deals here :)

And for the Terrific Tuesday Giveaway  Shabby Fabrics is giving one lucky winner an Irish Chain Pre-Cut Quilt Kit  using Sprinkle Sunshine by Maywood Studios   Well you all know that I love Irish Chain Quilts, and how adorable is this one!!  Someone is going to indeed have the luck of the Irish this week!!!

You have two entry chances, the second being optional, and please leave a separate comment for each.  All Entries are welcome, including International Entries.  Please just be sure to leave an email address if you are a no-reply blogger ;)  

ENTRY 1 - Simply leave a comment that tells me your favorite animal (my daughter picked this one today and she is super excited to hear your answers ;)  

 ENTRY 2 - Show your Shabby Fabrics love. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Pinterest, or Instagram.  You can Sign up for the Shabby Fabrics Newsletter (top right hand corner) or Follow their Blog,  or you can Visit the Shop and then share a favorite item ;)   Just be sure to leave a comment of how you showed your Shabby Fabric Love!!!

And that's it ;)  The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, February 13th when I will announce a winner at the beginning of next weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Post :)

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Weekend Fun!!

I had such a fun quilty weekend!!!  I woke up on Saturday morning to find that my Stamp Collecting quilt had surpassed 1000 likes on Instagram.  Which I know, is just a number, but it is the first time I have reached that particular number so that just put a huge smile on my face to start the day.  Seriously, I just can't say thank you enough for the sweet response you all have given me for my Stamp Collecting quilt ;)   Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

And what better way to follow up such a great start to the day than some fabric shopping!!!!  Quilted Works, a fantastic store in St. George, was holding their Super Bolt Sale (Get it, Super Bowl, Super Bolt :)   So Barbara, Jessica and I (I was so excited my daughter wanted to come along, train them young ;)   took a quick trip down the I-15 and got there in time for the stores opening and a fun little dash to their amazing bolt sale!!!!   Meaning, you buy the whole bolt, but at prices of $2-$4 a yard, who wouldn't want to take the whole bolt :)

Which was of course, a wonderful excuse to seriously stock up on some quilt back goodness!!!  Since I was stocking up for quilt backs, I tried to keep the prints pretty basic so they would be easier to mix and match with other lines.  This is most of the bolts I picked up sans a few Low Volume and Red/Black/and White prints that I store in a different spot ;)  Aren't they just so pretty all in a pile :)  I was just thrilled to score some favorite prints and designers!!!

And I was having so much fun playing with fabric, that as soon as I got all of those bolts put away, I went right to cutting.  It was just the motivation I needed to get cutting on the almost 600 strips I needed as the triangles and hexagons have been done for 3 weeks and I was totally procrastinating the strips.      

But it turned out good that I procrastinated cutting them, because once again, Fat Quarter Shop just happened to send the perfect tool for this project in my January Sew Sampler Box!!!  The Lori Holts Cute Cuts 1 1/2" x 6 1/2" ruler made this job so much easier ;)  It was the exact width I was cutting my strips and even the exact length on 99 of them.  Paired up with my Matilda Rotating Cutting Mat (honestly, one of the best quilting purchases I have ever made)  allowed me to make quick work of the red and pink scraps and before I knew it, my tape tally marks were up to 99 in each pile.   So awesome and so happy to have this done!!!

And ya, this was just in time, because I leave for this retreat on Wednesday!!!  I am so excited to go teach at Bryce Canyon and to even have time to squeeze in a class to take :)  It's going to be so fun!!

I hope you had a very Happy Quilting Weekend and are having a wonderful start to your week!!!


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Stamp Collecting Quilt

I am so super excited today to share another finish.  And this finish has been over a year in the making which is what makes is so super exciting to share.  So without futher ado . . . my Stamp Collecting Quilt!!!  Isn't it just so fun!!!!

A long time ago, like clear back here in 2015, I broke up all my Moda Candy packs and sorted them into a whole slew of piles.  (which of course I add to each time I have a small scrap when cutting out new quilts ;)     I planned to use all of these little 2 1/2" squares  for Leader and Ender Projects.    I used the strictly tone on tone piles for my first Leader and Ender project, the Super Scrappy Triple Irish Chain quilt.    When I finished it, I wondered what I could make with the next pile of  2 1/2" squares, the ones that read a certain color but had other colors mixed in with them.   And then it hit me, I have always wanted to make a postage stamp quilt and what better way to make it happen then as a Leader and Ender project.   And how perfect would it be to show a collection of all my favorite fabrics and designers!!!

So a postage stamp quilt became my next Leader and Ender project.    I love that these projects just slowly build while working on other quilts ;)   I started by making 2 patches, sewing a white background square to a color background square.  Some of the "white background squares" read pretty dark and some of the "color background squares" read pretty light, but I didn't stress to much about this.   I just went with it, trusting it would come out in the end.  After having a massive stack of 2 patches, I turned them into 4 patches, and then 8 patches and finally into 16 patches.  

I didn't worry about counting out the squares in the beginning, I just kept working up to 16 patches, and when I had a large enough stack of those (as in a few weeks ago) I finally sewed the blocks into a quilt top, and I am just so excited with how it turned out!!!!  I didn't stress to much about placement, again, I just tried to keep it relaxed sewing and made sure I didn't have a super dark print right next to another super dark print.  It pretty much balanced itself thanks to the initial 2 patch sewing.  

And I just love all of those happy colors popping out among the lighter prints.  I just love how it kind of looks like there is a pattern but then it also looks pretty random.  So ya, Balanced is a good word I guess, and I am just thrilled with that because it is just a wonderful way to show off all of those 2 1/2" squares :)   And I can now say I made a postage stamp quilt!!!!

When it came time to quilt it up, I decided on simple arches.  I just love the way it makes the squares pop ;)   And in the border (which I added last minute and love how it highlights the patchwork all the more) I did fun little swirls.   

And look how awesome that texture is.   So much fun!!!  I love that arches come together to make that cool orange peel design.  The interlocking circles just make me smile ever time!!  And I made it 72" x 72" so we could use it as a picnic blanket and you better believe I will be running my hand over all that yummy texture every time we take it out :)

And for the binding, I got to go to my binding extra's box ;)  Every time I finish binding a quilt, I put the bit of leftover in this cute little box.  Then when I need a scrappy binding, I just pull out the pieces that match the quilt, sew them end to end, and I have a scrappy binding ready to go in just a few minutes.   Love it!!!

 And I just love how it adds that happy color of finish on the edge of the border.  It really ties it back into the patchwork :)  I just love, love, love a scrappy binding.   And if you noticed in the picture above, the brown got nixed while I was sewing it to the quilt, it just didn't fit with all of those happy pops of color ;)

And that is my Stamp Collecting Quilt!!!!   And I just love it ;)   And like any true collection, the fun part now is looking over it and seeing how many little pieces of patchwork I recognize.    My kids were blown away last night when I let them randomly pick a square and then I would tell them the fabric line and the designer of the fabric ;)  I did pretty good too if I do say so myself !!   It truly is a fabric Stamp Collection of so many wonderful projects and memories all tied into this quilt ;)

You can play along too!!!   It really is fun :)  See a square your recognize, (you can click on the picture to see it larger)  leave a comment with the name of the fabric line name and the designer.   I wonder how many we can list ;)

And just in case you are wondering, I have my next Leader and Ender Project all planned out and ready to start working on.  You can see more about it here :)  

I hope you have a very Happy Quilting Weekend!!!

Linking this finish up to Amanda's, and Sarah's :)   

Bumped way up the "To Make List"

So remember on Monday when I said my girls loved the new Flitter pattern and fabric that I got in my sew sampler box and how I would have to add it to my To Make List ??  Well, as my kids would put it  . . . "it butted in line" to the front :)  I am totally sidetracked by this project and so loving it and it just makes me smile to see the girls so excited!!!  I cut the quilt out on Tuesday, ya know, gotta "get back on that horse" after my little Monday Accident. 

And then yesterday I had a lovely little chain stitching session and then pressed it all last night ;)  And how fun is that, you can already see the butterflies coming together.  I think this quilt top will be getting done rather quickly, although it might have to wait for quilting as I am teaching out of town next week and have another tutorial to get finished before I go.  But we shall see, gotta love these little Sidetracks that are just so fun, you can't seem to stop sewing on them!!!

I am off for some Happy Quilting!!   I hope you have a very Happy Quilting day as well :)