Thursday, February 16, 2012

Plumed Rio Grande & February's Free Motion Challenge with Diane Gaudynski


Quilt #75


Plumed Rio Grande
I have often tried quilting feathers but not with very satisfactory results. This tutorial by Diane Gaudynski was excellent.


See other quilter's results by clicking The Free Motion Challenge button on the sidebar.

Here are my results of February's Free Motion Challenge.

This was my first practice piece.
Sample #1- front
Not too bad for a first effort but the main feather was way too big, this piece measures 17” x 21”, the plumes were hard to control and the thread doesn't blend in.  I l think the thread on the back blends better with the fabric.

Sample #1 - back
After re-reading the tutorial, I decided to try again with a smaller piece this time (14” x 14”) and work with a smaller design.  Much happier with the results.

First I drew it on paper to get the feel of the curves.  Not pretty but it helped a lot
.
Sample #2 - drawing
With  Diane's design right beside me at the machine, I tried to follow it as close as possible. 
I also tighten my background stitiching.


This is my Sample #2.

Sample #2 - front

Sample #2 - back



Quilt # 75

Plumed Rio Grande


After much practising, I was ready to tackle a “real” quilt.  This table topper and prepared back have been sitting in my UFO pile for a few years.  I'm hoping to finished a UFO a month using the Free Motion Challenge each month.  So far, so good.

Plumed Rio Grande 
Plumed Rio Grande - back

This is what I learned and things I could have done differently:

I like the feathers in the star. I drew a couple of different curves for the spine and chose the one I liked best and practised stitching it out.
Drawing of different curves
Practice sample
One the outside border, I decided to swirl into the squares and triangles around the star, and was happy that I could make the plumes fit the spaces.


It's a lot of feathers.  In hindsight, a better option might have been to fill in the squares and triangles with a background stitch, maybe some Diane shiko.


I think the colour of thread on the star works.

Star  - front
Star - back

I don't like the thread colour on the outside border, should have been lighter, so it would show up on the dark blue.  


The picture below show the feather design going into the triangles and corner squares on the back of the quilt.  Too bad it does show on the front as well.
Feather design going into side triangle and corner squares


I now have a pretty good idea of how to cover an area or a specific space.

Love using wool batting. 

I found that you need to remember to leave space for echoing.

Also not go too close to the outside edge or the binding will cover it up.  I made as small a binding as I could but some of it still got covered up.  You can see that in the picture below.

I couldn't find a spot on the quilt to sign it and did not want to add a label so I put my name on the back binding

Name and Date


There is a lot of room for improvement, but I am happy with the results.
Another UFO finished! The block Rio Grande is from Judy Martin”s The Block Book and I used it to teach precise piecing. 

Many thanks to Diane Gaudynski for this tutorial.

Terry




DOCUMENTATION 

Quilt Name:  Plumed Rio Grande
Description: Table topper 
Pattern: Rio Grande from Judy Martin's The Block Book
Size:  28 1/2" x 28 1/2"
Fabrics: 100% cotton
Predominant colours: Navy, gold, white, red
Construction Techniques: piecing
Back: 100 % cotton
Batting: Wool - Hobb's Heirloom Premium
Edge finish: Single fold  binding
Quilting: Free motion feather quilting
Quilted by: Terry Whyte
Sleeve: No
Label: Signed and dated
Date completed: Feb 2012
Maker: Terry Whyte



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful job! I love the way you worked the feathers around the corners, etc.
Pat in Oregon

Anonymous said...

Мне понравились ваши перья, особенно в ромбе!

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed the details about finishing up a project this month with feathers. It turned out pretty wonderful even though you list a few picky little things you would do next time! Seems few of us are satisfied with our own progress...

All the best for the rest of the year and more UFO's out of the closet.

Mary Ann said...

Thank you for all the tips - just marvelous progress you've made!

Diane Wild said...

Great job. The feathers came out beautiful in your project.

Pat Merkle said...

All of your feathers are just beautiful. Awesome job!