FMQAL Row 5 - Feathers!

 I appear to have got my weeks mixed up, so instead of my intended celebrity guest, you have ME again! Lucky you! Actually, I've been dying to do feathers - I did practice a bit on my 'create' pillow - I'd recommend doodling these first. And a few glasses of wine, especially with the second one.

And as this was a bit of a rush, I had to take the photos at night, so sorry about the crap quality (again!).
I've also been doing so much FMQing with different threads, my machine went into shock when I used normal quilting cotton and I automatically lowered the tension on the top thread. So, err, the pictures of the back are a good example of how your quilting will look with the tension set too low. I did that deliberately just to show you.






Block 1 is a free-motion, free-style feather. No stencil, no tracing. Just go where you will. Ick, the contrast doesn't show up at all. I'll show you the back.

And here's how I did it. It's a longish explanation - I just repeat myself a lot, it's not that complex, but I did it for those who said my voice puts them to sleep to give them a better chance to nod off. (Please don't nod off at your sewing machine. Fatigue is the leading cause of needles through fingers in women over 12 in this country. Drinking and driving a sewing machine is fine though. I'll just mention that again.).

Block 2: Feathers in a circle
The second block is a bit trickier. It's the same principle  but it's the first one I've drawn myself guideines on. You can see the grey chalk pencil I used.

So: take two round shapes - I used the bottom of a mug and a smal bowl and traced the inner and outer guidelines, then I estimated the middle of those two rings and sketched that in.

Start on your central circle and do exactly what you did before. I worked the outer feathers first, and the inner feathers second. You can see clearly in the second photo that even with the guidelines, I haven't got it exactly right. More guidelines required next time!