To Do Tuesday - Two Days Late!

 I missed  the last two weeks of checking-in with Carol over at "Quilt Schmilt" for "To Do Tuesday".  Now due to technology problems,  I'm two days late to review how August finished up and to set up the agenda for September!

The past couple of weeks were as productive as the weeks that started the month but as always when they were done, there was still more to do!  

I also had a slight interruption as I decided at the last minute to sign up for this year's Free Motion Quilting Summit hosted by Mary Davis of Mary Go Round Quilts.  I had enjoyed last year's summit and picked up quite a few new stitch pattern ideas so joined in while the early registration discount was still in effect.  I'm glad I opted for the "All Access Pass" as I still have some videos from Day 2 and all the ones from Day 3 still to watch.  

So the things I was able to accomplish since my last To Do Tuesday report were as follows:

1.  Add the borders to the QOV top by adding "filler" to the strips sent in the kit.  That got done although it took way more days, time and thinking than planned!  

Then last week there was more to do here as I seemed to have messed up that lower right corner of the borders as you see in the picture.  I don't know why but that was the only border section like that and it was pretty wavy so had to be be opened up, trimmed and re-done.  I also pieced together the binding strips that were provided in the kit which was an easy enough task.  

I contacted the guild's charity quilt coordinator for instructions on where to send it and checking the tracking, see that it arrived in North Carolina on Tuesday.  Next it will be passed on to the guild's longarmer for quilting.  

After it's quilted, my MIL will probably put the binding on it unless they can wait until we go down to visit her in early October for me to add it myself.  The guild's QOV presentation event is in November.

2.  Continue the "Alaska" BOM block making.  

Did well on that too!  As before, I continued to sew up the blocks as I worked on the QOV top.  The good news is that I got them all done for the second month of this self-directed BOM!  

I also sewed up the four scrappy blocks I also cut out.  

So looks like I made the month-end deadline ahead of time for a change!  

3.  Focused on getting the QOV done and on the "Alaska" blocks, I'm not sure if the "Gathering A Garden" backing will get a push this week.  

Well contrary to expectations, once the QOV top was off the design wall, I did finally make  the backing for the "Gathering Garden" top that had been completed in July . 

I basically mimicked the front layout using strips to create the pieced backing.  The light strip will also serve as my label area.  I also already have a simple quilting plan for it.  However, I don't know if it'll move any further forward since I now have two deadline projects I need to work on.

4.  I have now gone back to working on my "New York Skyline" cross stitch project. 

Definite progress on that:  I now have two pages of the pattern completed on this one!   

I still have three more pages to go and figure each will take at least a month.  This means I should get this done by the end of November and then hopefully can display it before the end of the year.  

Speaking of which, I also did some more shopping at my local "At Home" store that is closing and was lucky enough to find the perfect size frame for this!

A $10 score that I'm hoping to mount the finished piece onto the board in the frame.  What I'm not sure at this point is whether I can do that and still have it under the glass or will have to remove it.

So moving forward for the start of September:

1.  I now need to get September's "Alaska BOM" blocks cut and ready for leader/ender sewing.

2.  I will resume stitching on my "New York Skyline" cross stitch project.  However, once again I won't be "monogamous stitching" this month because I have something new I've decided to add to the cross stitch rotation.... 

3.  Continuing work on a new holiday cross stitch project.

The Fat Quarter Shop had done a Quilt and Stitch Along for "Christmas In July" called "Up On the Rooftop".  While I downloaded the free patterns, I hadn't planned to do either since I already have two Christmas quilts that need quilting and had finished last year's "Letters To Santa" cross stitch for CIJ this year.  

However, thinking now about how things will be displayed, I realized that another piece that could go along with "Letters" would help fill the space where I want to hang it.  I also plan to incorporate the "Patchwork Bow" I had made for Melva's "CIJ Blog Hop" into the display as well.

What pushed this to the forefront was that the "called for" fabric was the same used for "Letters" and I had enough of it left over to make up the new one.  Once I saw the finished design, I liked that it seemed like a relatively quick and easy stitch.  I also liked the look of the Classic Colorworks "fancy floss" it was stitched up in.  I like hand dyed flosses but since they are more expensive than DMC I need good reasons to stash them.  Needless to say, this seemed like a good enough reason, LOL! 

Once the threads arrived, I got started on it during the last few days of August and did a little more on Labor Day.  

4. Make a quilt to raffle at the community garden Art Show.  

At our monthly meeting two Saturday's ago, the President of our community garden announced that they'd like to try to hold another of the garden's Art Shows and want me to participate.  A date hasn't been formally set yet but I've thought about my display theme which will be "Fall Quilts".  

Everyone would like me to sell quilts but it's too short notice to think about making something for that.  However, I can make another "9 Fat Quarter Disappearing Nine Patch" to raffle off like last time.  It just so happens that I already had a fall themed FQ bundle that I purchased on a Shop Hop back in 2023.  This design is quick to make and hopefully to quilt with tips from the Summit so I could be ready for when a show date is announced.  

5.  Start work on the Children's Tumbler quilt for the North Carolina guild's donation efforts.  

I had picked up the set of pre-cut tumbers shown above from the Charity Coordinator back in February.  While down there I also got the backing (on the top right).  I had also purchased a light fabric to make more Tumblers and another for a coordinating border fabric.  Unfortunately, I decided to use those in another project so then had to purchase the replacements shown.  

I have the same Accuquilt die that was used for the pre-cuts so plan to cut more out of the light fabric and work out a pleasing arrangement in EQ8 while I work up the raffle quilt on the design wall.  I want to get this one made up and quilted so I can take it down with me in October completed and ready for donation.   I feel like it's a doable project but it means I have to plan it out in order to be sure to stay on track.

So with a list slightly longer than in the past few weeks, I'll stop here so I can amble back over to Carol's Quilt Schmilt and check out the plans everyone else has more promptly posted for "To Do Tuesday" for the coming week!

To Do Tuesday: End of the Month Plans

As July draws to a close, my design wall is full and yet there's still a few more things to try to get done as this month ends!  So with that I'll join in with the others over at Carol's Quilt Schmilt for some "To Do Tuesday" planning for the rest of the week!

Alaska and Other Kaleidoscope Block Designs - Month 1

I'm posting an update on yet another project undertaken this month!  Despite a lot of focus on "Christmas in July" cross stitching and then participating in a Blog Hop, I also managed to squeeze in a little time to finally get this long desired project underway!  

My original plan was to focus on starting work on the Red, White & Blue version of Edyta Sitar's "Alaska" design during "Red, White & June".  However since I didn't get that done,  I've decided that now I will do this project as another of my self-styled "Block of the Months".  I will note this hasn't gone all that great in the past but you know the old saying:  "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again"!  

I'm pleased to say the blocks (on the upper right) for the first month are all done!  I am using Marti Michell's Kaleido-rulers to cut the pieces for the blocks.  As I've pulled out all the information I had gathered for this project, I am also now taking a look at other Kaleidoscope designs.  

In her book "Kaleidoscope ABCs", Marti explores many different designs for Kaleidoscope blocks.  

Since the blocks I made this month are the simple ones with just plain triangles, I picked another design using the same type of block to try making.  Those are the small scrappy Kaleidoscope blocks under the "Alaska" blocks.  I'm doing them as inspired by this design in Marti's book:

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  I am ALWAYS looking for blocks or designs that will use up scraps!  I had decided to make these 5 inch finished as the strips needed for cutting the triangles is 3 inches and I already have a lot of scraps of that size in my Scrap Users box.

Initially, I thought I could then have the option of teaming the blocks with my other overflowing box of scraps:  Charm Squares (5" cut) which would give me more design options.   Unfortunately I had to check myself when I remembered that a five inch finished block means unfinished it's 5-1/2" so actually won't work with the Charm Squares after all.  

No matter, I'd still love the quilt of just the scrappy blocks.  Since I also have a big box of scraps sitting in my space that I need to process,  now I know to also try cutting some 5-1/2" squares that I can try teaming with these blocks.  So this will be another ongoing scrap project.       

A Long Overdue Flimsie Is Now Also Done

While piecing the "Alaska" blocks (as well as the project I made for the Blog Hop),  I was also able to finally put together the top for my "Gathering A Garden" quilt project that has been laid out on my design wall since May --- that's it on the left in the picture at the start of the post.  I used piecing the rows of blocks together for that top as a "leader/ender" for the Kaleidoscope blocks and the Blog Hop project piecing.  I am glad to finally move forward on this project.  I had worked up this design all the way back in 2010 and now can finally get around to completing it.

Plans for the rest of the week:

1.  Recently I spoke to my MIL and found out that the QOV kit to make for donation that I took when I joined the guild back in February is due back to the guild in August!  Uh oh!  

This is another project I had thought I'd work on during "Red, White & June" but didn't so now it's crunch time!  Fortunately it looks to be pretty easy so I'm hoping I can get it made up over the next two or three days so I can get it in the mail ASAP! 

2.  Before we went camping over the July 4th weekend,  I made up another of the Fat Quarter Gypsy - Sew Organized Design "Stacking Pop-up" buckets to use in our tent as a small garbage bag holder.  It's the second one of these types of bucket that I have made, the first one was for my Juki machine's travel kit.  

I have another set of fabrics to make one for my Featherweight's travel kit.  They are pretty easy to make so I think I'll try to get that done this week too. 

3.  Lastly, I need to cut out the next set of "Alaska" blocks as I really want to try to stay on track with this project.

That's it for me!  Once again trying to see if a short list means I can actually get what I plan done!  If you want to see what is populating other crafters "To Do" lists this week, head on over to Carol's Quilt Schmilt for the "To Do Tuesday" linkup and check out all of the fun things that will be going on in crafting spaces this week! 

To Do Tuesday: Quilt Projects for June

The start of a new month is a good time to do a "To Do Tuesday" planning post so I'm linking up with everyone over at Carol's Quilt Schmilt blog.

I already outlined my cross stitch plans for the Fat Quarter Shop's "Red, White & June" SAL,  so now I want to think about the slate of quilt projects that I want to work on this month under the same theme.  As a month-long list,  this will be a bit long at this point.  Hopefully I can try to keep up with shorter updates as the month progresses.  

UFO#1:  A Pillow To Finish

Quilted cover featuring the "Seeds of Glory" fabric line.

I had started this back in 2022 and all that needs to be done is the final assembly of the cover.  However that involves installing a zipper and working with a round pillow form so that may be easier said than done, LOL!  I've made a cover for this pillow before so hopefully it's like riding a bike and I remember how to do it.  I also sheepishly admit that I recently saw designs for two more pillows I'd love to make but I'm not committing to those until I can get this one completed.  

A New Start

Thinking about RWB projects, one that I am really excited about is to finally get around to making my long desired Laundry Basket Quilts "Alaska" project!   I had seen and liked the original Blue version that I believe premiered in 2019,  the Red and Green holiday version that, if I remember correctly, came out around the holidays later that same year and the Rainbow version that came out during the pandemic quarantine in 2020.  Then while reading Edyta Sitar's blog that year, I saw a version she had made that was Red, White and Blue!!  

Oh boy, RWB quilts are my jam so that pushed me over the edge to really wanting to make this design!  

I did try pre-ordering a pre-cut kit for it through Hancock's of Paducah that I saw in the Fall but my PayPal authorization timed out before the kits came in stock.  I thought that was the end of it for me but eventually I caught sales of her "Perfect Union" and "Sweet Sixteen" lines of fabrics.  Those were made up of Blue, Red and Pink prints from three of her previous fabric lines and she had used scraps from those lines to make her version.  When I found the same fabrics as the ones in the kit I had tried to order,  I gathered together what I needed to make my own kit. 

Edyta has  templates for this design and also has a Creative Grids ruler that was introduced in 2021.  However,  it always struck me that these were essentially Kaleidoscope blocks and I have long had and have yet to work with Marti Michell's ruler that makes those blocks.  

Marti is now retired but her books and templates are still available around the web.

So even though I am a Gadget Fanatic and love a new tool,  I am going to first try making the blocks with the ruler I have and only go the new ruler or template route if I can't make that work.

A Charity Project

When I had visited my MIL back in February, I joined her quilt guild: the Tar River Piecemakers Quilting Guild.  I've attended meetings with her when we've visited and even gone to a few of  their workshops and small group meetings so a long distance membership seemed like a good idea.  While there I also picked up two charity quilt kits to make and return to the guild for distribution.  One of them is for a simple Quilt Of Valor Staggered Bars Quilt.

The good news is that it's already pre-cut so it will be easy to get it started.  I had purchased the backing for it while I was down there since that has to be submitted with the top for one of their members to long-arm quilt it.  I would love to get this pieced up so I can send it down early enough to be finished before they need it for the award ceremony in November.  

UFO#2 But Not RWB

Lastly, I do have one non-RWB project that I want to also work on this month.  Ever open to prompts and encouragement to get through my UFOs,  I signed up for Rebecca's "Mission: UFO" group on her Sugar and Sand Quilt Company website.  There's no obligation to participate every month although you earn points towards prizes if you post projects you will resume work on and additional points for posting updates on them.  She also offers monthly prompts to help you decide on which UFO to work on.  The prompt for June is to work on a "Summer Bright" UFO.  That brought to mind my "Modern Bohemia" top.

It is one I've long wanted to get quilted so I impulsively threw my hat into the ring to try to get it moving!  I had planned this year to try to get a To-Be-Quilted-Flimsey done each month so I couldn't resist the opportunity to try to once again make good on that.   

Whew, I've gone back to the usual "full crafty plate" for this month!  However, I am ever hopeful of staying on track.  What I've learned in the past is that whatever gets worked on, even if only moved a little bit forward is still progress.  As always, Bonnie Hunter puts things in perspective:

Have fun checking out what everyone else has planned for the week (or even the month like me!) over at Carol's Quilt Schmilt blog.  Give everyone encouragement to get some things done! 

A Saturday "Finished Or Not Friday" Report For Another "Christmas" Finish

 Yesterday a finish got done just under the wire so now I can send it over to join those gathering at Quilty Girl Alycia's for some finished project review!

This week I've finally got my first finished (although not the first I ever started) string quilt: "Cherry Crunch", woo hoo!

This quilt design is by Bonnie Hunter, the queen of string (and scrappy) quilts who you can find at her Quiltville website.  It was a fun romp through the neutral Strings stash and a chance to use up more of the red fabric scraps from the stash I had gathered for holiday sewing projects. 

This is also another of the projects I started last Fall with the intention of using it for decorating at Christmas and is the next to last of those projects that I needed to finish.  The theme for the holidays was Red & White and the projects were planned to be spread around the house for that.  I clearly didn't start them soon enough because I am still working on them, LOL!!  

In addition to this being a project for the holidays, I had also worked on the string piecing part of this along with another of Bonnie's string quilt designs.  Both of those kept me busy during her annual "Mystery Quilt Season" between the day after Thanksgiving and New Year's while the new "Chilhowie" mystery was being revealed.  The other project I worked on was "Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll" which is one of her old mysteries that now can be found in her book "String Fling".  

Last month I finished the string blocks for that one but I am still working on these pieced blocks to complete that project.  I sewed those up as leader/enders as I worked to finish the top for "Cherry Crunch".  Unfortunately, that piecing was interrupted once I got "Crunch" layered and ready for quilting!

For the backing,  I used up the rest of the same wide back print I had used for another of the holiday decorating projects:  the "9 Fat Quarter Disappearing Nine Patch" quilt that I finished up just after New Year's.

Even though I had made my top a little smaller than patterned, I still needed to extend what I had of the backing fabric a bit.  So as I usually do, I pieced in a label area using more of the leftover strings and some of the light inner border fabric to give me areas to write in the label information.  

In this design both the light portions of the blocks and the red "piano key" outer border are foundation pieced using old phone book paper to stitch up the strings.  I caught a few selvedges among the strings and left some in for fun:

A reminder of the benefits of "harvesting" your string scraps!

I did consider doing a scrappy binding using more of the strings but figured this quilt was busy enough!  So instead this was finished with, appropriately enough, Cherry Grunge for the binding which I had purchased during a shop hop back in the Fall.  This holiday season was the first time I've used Grunge and now it's in this quilt and in the tree trunks of the blocks in another of the holiday quilts (and which will be the last of the holiday quilts I need to complete).  

I also tried a new binding width based on a new-to-me technique I saw demonstrated by one of my favorite designers, Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts.  For binding, I normally do the traditional double fold method using 2-1/4" cut strips.  Her method starts off like the traditional single fold method, stitched to the front using 1-3/4" cut strips.  Then the strips are pressed to the seam allowance and that folded edge gets turned to the back creating a double fold binding effect!  

While she then hand stitches her binding down in the back, I prefer to machine bind my quilts.  I glue basted mine and tacked it down by stitching in the ditch from the front.  It worked well for the most part with only a few missed spots that still needed to be hand tacked afterwards.   

Because of the busyness, I stuck to doing simple quilting for it:  free-motion stippling in the center and just straight-line stitching to frame the borders.  

I had expected to have finished this a little sooner since I thought the simple quilting would allow me to quilt it up quickly.  All but one of the other Red & White quilts completed have remained out in honor of  Valentine's Day this month.  I had another quilt that was not one of the holiday quilts but does have a lot of red in it so I decided to layer it up along with "Crunch" and try to get it done this month too.  

Inside this tidy bundle is my version of Pat Sloan's Block-A-Day design "String Beans" which is now also ready for quilting.  However, now I'm not sure I'll get it quilted before the month ends.  No matter, it was stitched during last year's quilt along and Pat will be starting this year's QAL on March 1.  So if I can get it done at some point in March, I will be happy that I got it moved along to facilitate that!

So that's it for today's late report!  Once this is posted, I will be headed back over to Alycia's to drool over the other finishes this month and you should too!  

Make A List and Design Wall Monday

Not quite as short a project list as last week:

1.  Finishing Up the Hexie Snowflake blocks

After the big finishes last week, I didn't do any quilting this weekend as we prepared for the "Big Storm That Wasn't".  We decided to get our warehouse club shopping done on Saturday in the event we had to hunker down after the storm.  Sunday was a lazy day of clearing out the DVR while waiting for the predicted snow to come.  

My watch party friend had recommended the Yellowstone prequel "1883" and I recorded the first two episodes when CMT ran them last week.  It didn't disappoint and now DH is also hooked!  We tried watching the third episode on the Paramount streaming service but when we stopped to rewind to pick up something we missed (or I missed --- DH saw some quilts in a background shot) for some reason the service would only restart the episode not resume it.  It was late by then so we switched to watching some of our regularly scheduled live shows.

Sorry, I digressed...all that to say that I did some stitching on the last hexie block during last week but I should have been stitching on it and finishing it up during all of the TV watching.  Since I didn't, I really want to finish the last block up and start working on the layout for all the blocks this week.

2.  Rainbow Scrap Challenge

As per last week's MALM,   during the week I did pick the fabrics for the two projects from last year that I want to sew up now (pictured above) and did finish the cutting and piecing for another two that may or may not continue on for 2022.  However, I also have two more projects that will definitely transition to being projects for this year's RSC and I had expected to work on those this past Saturday but the shopping got in the way of that.  

I also still want to see if there are any new ones I want to add to the RSC queue.  So we'll see what gets done on those either during this week or if I can carve out time Saturday to get back to them.

3.  APQ UFO on the Design Wall

As I said last week, this is the week I want to resume work on the "Box Trot" project which is #12 on the list of UFOs I made for this year's American Patchwork and Quilting UFO Challenge.  I had made up the top when we last visited my MIL in October.  I had slightly changed the positioning of the fussy cut rectangles and now am not sure I like the extra sashed strips to the right of the  bottom rectangle.  During the holidays, I was able to get more of the fabrics from that old line and have some ideas for taking that piece off and adding borders to fil out the top.  So that's a big thing I want to try and work on this week.

4.  Techno Quilters Training Catch-up

Last summer, I signed up with Kari Shell for her Techno Quilters training to really learn how to use Electric Quilt 8 software.  I had tried out her free "Summer Games" series that honored last year's Olympics and that really gave me a good taste of what EQ8 could do.  The next six month series is set to renew and I have only done one module of the first one!  I now have two projects I want to try my hand at designing in EQ8 so along with catching up on the lessons, I want to work on those as part of my "training".

5.  More Work with the Planner

Well, I did crack open the planner this week and made a few notes in it, but still need to add more stuff.  Also I had a printout stuffed in the planner about a "By Annie" cover I could make for it!  I'm torn:  I picked the cover because I want to see it but admit a quilted cover will protect the book over all and I do like that it provides a zipper pocket for pens and such.  Plus, I'd love to try my hand at making another "By Annie" project.  Well, we'll see what happens on that front! 

So much to do, so little time!  What's on your "To Do" list this week?

The Seven Days of New Years 2021 - Day 7: Happy New Year and Welcome to 2022!

I'm hopping in early on this one!  DH and I rang in the New Year and right after, started watching "Another Thin Man"  playing on Turner Classic Movies at that moment.  TCM ran the whole "Thin Man" series yesterday and this is one we hadn't seen before.

It's a good thing we also set it to record because not too long after it started, I fell asleep!  When I woke up again,  DH was now also asleep and the TV was watching both of us, LOL!  Of course, now that I was up, I couldn't go back to sleep so here I am!

So what's on the quilting agenda for today?  Just more of the same from the past six days of quilting.  First off was to pick the fabrics for the next and (for me) last "Snowflake" block.

The mottled print in the center is another fabric from the NC Shop Hop in October.

I'll die cut the pieces today and can work on prepping them for a Slow Stitching Sunday session tomorrow.  

On the quilting front, I have twelve more panels in my "Serendipity" project to quilt.  I estimate it takes about an hour for each so maybe in the course of today I can get half of them done? 

Plus one more not seen here.

I doubt I'll get to more than that because the real priority today will be New Year's Day cooking.

There's cola-basted ham, cranberry sauce and Hoppin' John with Kale on the menu and a new to me Ginger cookie recipe to try out.  DH is a pretty good cook so we'll both be in the kitchen today which should help free me to quilt from time to time.

I hope your year has already gotten off to a good start!  Let's hope 2022 passes by a lot slower and grows brighter in the days ahead!!  

The Seven Days of New Years 2021 - Day 6

We're almost there.....

So this is the last check-in for 2021.  The good news is that one more "Snowflake" is done!

Hopefully by the end of the weekend, I can get the last block done and have a winter wall hanging well before January ends!  

On the quilting front, I started on the green "Wine Glass" sections today and got three done.

I played with two more feather types today, one from Angela Walter's Fabulous Feathers Challenge and one from a book by Sue Nickles.  So at this point I have about a third of the quilt done and look forward to getting to the finish line on this one soon too.

Also, let me say this:  An important gadget that has helped keep the stitching going without interruption:  my Sidewinder Bobbin Winder!

So, I'll be spending the rest of the evening waiting for the ball to drop.  Hoping you are either celebrating with friends and family or relaxing and waiting for another New Year to start.  In either case, I look forward to seeing you on the other side!

The Seven Days of New Years 2021 - Day 5: Another Snowflake and More Quilting.....

 Another busy day!  This morning there was work on the "Snowflake" from yesterday while DH and I watched a little TV.  

The center is stitched together and I should get the last outer ring done while watching tonight's Accuquilt Live in a little while.  They are once again looking at quilts currently displayed at the Boston Museum of the Arts.

On the quilting front, I got a few more panels stitched using the feather designs from Angela Walter's Free-motion Feathers Challenge (Week #2).  

Today I used the "Basic" and "Wonky Feathers" in two purple panels, the "Ferny Feather" in a brown panel and the "Feather Meander" in two white panels as well as continuing the practice of stitching the "Custom Feathers" along both sides of the vertical seam allowances of the panels I've stitched.  They are hard to photograph at night due to the matching thread so I look forward to getting a better shot during the day when this is all done.

Gotta run, the show's starting!

The Seven Days of New Years 2021 - Day 4: Quilting Has Commenced!

Before going to bed last night, I laid out the next "Snowflakes" block:

I had to make a few extra of the textured medium blue hexies since I had changed the color placement in the patterned layout a bit.  Wanting to get started on the quilting, I decided to save the "sit and stitch" on it for this evening's Accuquilt Live event and I'll work on it then. They will be viewing quilts from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts both tonight and tomorrow night.  

I'll update this post with the actual video links once they air since the videos live on You Tube and Facebook for good.  Actually if you like quilt museum visits, you can also check out the ones they made at the International Quilt Study Center back in July and September.

Today's focus project was quilting the "Serendipity" quilt.  It took me a while to review all of Angela Walter's Feather FMQ Challenge videos again and make some decisions about what to quilt where.  One thing I had decided last week was that I wanted to use Angela's "Custom Feather" (seen in this video) to quilt along all the vertical seams that run the length of the quilt.  

It is the one motif that doesn't work from a pre-stitched center stem and she used it to quilt along block seams.  The twist for me is that I'd need to watch how the feathers transition from one rectangle to another since I'll need to change the thread color then.  I also decided to take her advice and mark the outer line that the feathers needed to meet to help keep the stitching even (I'm using 1-1/2" away from the seam as my guideline).

I started in the middle of the quilt with the blue rectangle and once the feathers were stitched on that side, I decided to continue with the same thread and stitch the feathers in the center of that rectangle. I really debated for a while about what to use here as on close inspection of the print I used, it actually has a sort of feathery/frondy motif in it already.  I decided to use those as a guide to stitch along.  Initially, I sketched out on preview paper Angela's "Basic Feather", then thought her "Curly Feather" would look better.  However, I have a few other books on stitching Feathers that I decided to consult and found another option that I liked even more.

Patsy Thompson's book "Feather Adventures" always intrigued me with her technique of layering colors when stitching feathers to make them pop.  I won't be going that far this time but I did find a feather motif that when sketched out on preview paper, really picked up the underlying motifs on the print so I went with that.

Oops!  While I marked the right side of the rectangle for the seam feathers, I forgot to mark the left side before stitching the feathers in the center!  Not a big deal, fortunately I realized it before I had stitched the rest of the rectangle.  I just fill stitched by the seam around those bottom two and resumed the feathers along the seam further up the rectangle.  

It's a little hard to get a good shot of it at this hour but it all stitched out pretty good!  Needless to say, I know I was pretty tense because I was starting off so, I'll break from this for tonight.  I am pleased with the good start and hopefully tomorrow, I can continue and get a good deal further now that I've warmed up!   

Now back to the hexies for the rest of the evening!