Feathers at last!

Yep, finally I have feathers! I have to admit I love seeing feathers in the traditional and some of the current artwork out there. But...I've never been able to free motion quilt feathers. Something about my right brain and left brain colliding with each I! It's always been a struggle but YIPPEE!!! I did it but it sure took a team of professionals to guide my brain to work!!

First off, Patsy Thompson has some great free motion quilting videos. I purchased these a few years ago in Florida (I said I've been trying this for years!). I did learn lots of new quilting patterns and ideas but still didn't master the feather..close....then there's the great Ricky Tims who has another DVD with really good tips and, again, basic training to show you how to do feathers. OK, so I was half way there but still my feathers looked like they came off my parakeet from his tail! Mary Nordeng was my last ditch effort and finally it all came together for me!! No, it's still not perfect and it was hard for me to be consistent with my stitches because I was trying to focus on where I was going but I did it!!!

I made 10 fiber post cards yesterday and thought the silk dupioni I stitched on would be a perfect background for the cards. After I quilted the feathers I cut it all up! Go figure!! After all that work and now I'm cutting it up...hmmmmmmm...oh well...at least I did feathers!!! Now I'll probably never do them again! Actually, I did feathers in my dreams last night! No joke! All I could see when I closed my eyes was stitching feathers!!

So here's a few sneak peaks at some of the cards I worked on. The gold on this one is metal that I put through my paper crimper and stitched to the feathers.

This one has a heart made of Etal which is a metal type fabric. I purchased it from Joggles.com quite a few years ago but I'm not sure they still sell it. The sheets came in copper, silver and stainless steel. I've used it in my art work on several occasions and it's easy to sew through.

Yep, those are feathers back there!

OK, this one doesn't have feathers but it's the finished piece I did with my zentangle doodling in free motion work.

So now to start putting the edges on all the cards and address them. Another project behind me. I did finish all the quilting on my BJP for January and now I need to add the beads. I ended up only doing a small bit of doodling/zentangle work on the bottom of the piece. Actually, it's more McTavishing but the end result is the same.

It's 31 degrees, overcast and rainy today. Yep, a typical Michigan day when we don't have snow! Good day to be in 'playing'! I wrapped the majority of my Christmas gifts yesterday and I'll finish those up this week as well.