Bonus Stitch Talk this week--the designs from two of the blocks from the Blue Heart quilt, Feather Whatever and Feathers.
These two are very similar in that they are feather designs. I do my feathers in the bump-bump method, which means there is some backtracking involved. I'll go over the steps below.
Start by drawing a feather or teardrop shape.
Add another
feather by going up the on the inside (creates the vein), and coming
around the top to meet the other feather. Don't go down to the spine.
Backtrack
over the top of that second feather, then curl out and up to create the
top of the next one. Come back to the second feather, creating the
vein.
Backtrack over this vein, up and over to create the fourth feather.
Backtrack over the curve, then bump out to start creating the fifth feather. Continue in this manner until one side is done.
At the top, there are two options: the thread can be cut, and the thread picked up at the start to begin the other side, or stitch back down the vein to come back up the other side. Some people can stitch feathers coming back down, so that is another option, though not for me!
Feather Whatever is a feather variation. In it, I put curls and hearts in instead of a full feather.
I also did both sides at the same time, creating a more free form design.
Have fun experimenting with feathers and its different variations on your quilts!
This week's Stitch Talk is more circles! Double circles, a circle within a circle.
I made this starting with one circle, then stitching another inside it.
Backtrack a
bit to start the next circle, if necessary. Stitch that circle, but
when putting the one inside it, locate it such that it's not right across
from the other one.
Continue on, filling in the space.
For fun, I kept the inner circles across from each other, and come up with an interesting vine. Reminds me of something growing in the ocean.
It's February and time for my Book of the Month challenge. This month, I've chosen French Braid Transformation by Jane Hardy Miller. Click on the picture to get the book from Amazon.
Now, I have to admit, I haven't even made a French braid quilt, so this will be new for me.
The pattern I've chosen is called Stax, which looks relatively easy, but we'll see. And since I make a lot of baby quilts, I'll do this one in that size.
Here's the fabric choices:
I'll post pictures of my progress, and if you own this book, feel free to follow along! And if things go well, and I have time, I've got plenty of fabric to try another!
