Machine Quilting: Feathered Star

Judi sent me this Feathered Star to quilt for her niece (I believe, it's been awhile) for a wedding present. The theme was all about snowflakes so I kept that in mind while designing the quilting.

 The blues used in this quilt were very icy and bright which made it all the better. The way the colors and fabrics were laid out made my job so much easier.

 I'm not sure if you can see in the pebbles there, but I quilted it like a snowglobe (or so I like to think). Every so often in a pebble I quilted some simple snowflakes and it just adds a bit more to an already fun texture. Then I quilted the spikes in the border like icicles. Both of these designs work well in these spaces to fit and fill these non-square shapes but they are very forgiving too - the spiky border for instance are all different sizes and widths in order to round a curve so some pieces have more down-and-backs than others.

 Here you can see more of the snowglobe quilting.

 The center is always fun for me. It's the heart of the personality of a quilt like this and it's naturally where your eye is drawn to so it has to look good. And this is where you can play and try new things.

 Basically I try to keep the quilting plan simple (if you can believe that). With a quilt like this with several shapes and areas to fill, I try to stick to a few basic quilting plans and use them throughout the quilt. Here you can see the "icicles" again in the white, some simple lines in the light blue and some swirls. The straight lines were used in several areas of the quilt and the swirls were used in the dark fabric around the outer edge of the quilt, so this brings it all back around.

 Keeping the pebbles going in a slightly new way, I stacked them to fill the other side of the spiky border.

 I really wish some of these quilts look as good in photos as they did while I was staring at them. I honestly try to take really good photos, but it's just not the same as the quilt in your face. And under your hand. So you can pet it. And squeeze it. And name it George. Hahahaha. Don't mind me.

 Here's some more photos once it was off the frame and the sun was hitting some of the fabrics.

I love this quilt! Any Judy Niemeyer design challenges me in ways some other quilts can't because I rarely encounter a square or a rectangle in her designs. It's all shapes and curves unlike any other. But in this case challenging equals fun.

Thank you, Judi!!! This quilt was fun and amazing and I hope it is being well loved at it's new home!

Lumina Feathered Star

Wanda contacted me about quilting her Lumina Feathered Star and I couldn't wait to get started. As many of you are aware (if you're familiar with Quiltworx patterns), Quiltworx offers computerized designs specific to many of their quilt patterns and they're amazing. But many, if not all of them, are super dense, super detailed designs. Wanda didn't want that much quilting, yet she didn't want to settle for just a plain pantograph over the entire quilt. So that's why she contacted me.

 Wanda was hoping for more of a semi-custom touch - my specialty! The fabrics for the Lumina Feathered Star are a ton of metallics and they are very busy. In several areas the quilting would only show up when the lighting is "just-so". So what's a quilter to do? We opt to keep those areas simplified and put the details in the areas you're actually going to notice it, like the center and that amazing satin in the border.

 Wanda requested swirls and just whatever would work to make the center pop and amplify the quilt as a whole. I thought of these fun circles in the spiked border and they worked out perfectly. In order to fit the curves, not every spike is the same size and shape, so circles are easy enough to adjust as needed so the border as a whole looks finished. Some designs may not be as forgiving and the small differences would stand out terribly.

 This quilt has ginormous pieces (for a Quiltworx pattern) so the center was played up and kept subtle at the same time. I kept the swirls in the satin and played with straight lines to emphasize the feathers where I could.

 The majority of the quilt was covered in swirls, and you can see some of the other details here in this shot. This quilt plan definitely fell into the less-is-more category. Swirls, circles and straight lines in a variety of uses are all that made up this large quilt.

I love how you can see the sheen from the satin in the spiked border here. I think that was my favorite part of this quilt. And in case you're wondering, Wanda knew satin wouldn't respond the same as a quilting cotton, so it all was backed in a super light interfacing to make it behave, yet it wasn't too bulky to interfere in the piecing or quilting process.

All in all this quilt was a stunner and I was sad to send it back home. However I know it went to a great place and is probably being loved on as I type! That's what makes my job a tad easier, knowing that the quilts I spend so much time on go to good homes where they are loved and used!

Thank you, Wanda! Your quilt was spectacular, your piecing was phenomenal and I had so much fun working on this quilt with you!

Machine Quilting: Feathered Star Queen

Now this quilt differs slightly from this one and this one. Same basic pattern, same designer, same principle. However, this one is the Queen size and then some.

 Now, this quilt actually has less in the star itself than it's smaller counterpart, but has this awesome pieced border. Then in true Doris fashion, she added borders to make this quilt bigger than usual. When I asked her what she wanted, her reply was, "lots and lots of feathers."

 So with that in mind I got started. Every so often I try to take in-progress photos and they're fun to look back on.

 Plus it helps with a design like this that is so large. Usually by the time I would get to these same pieces on the sides, I might forget some crucial detail and the reference helps to keep it all the same.

 And before you know it (or a few days later really) it was done.

 I added in feathers where I could on the larger pieces. Since the pieces in this size are MUCH larger than those of the smaller size, I could add in a TON more detail, like these feathers.

 I kept the overall plan simple. It was basically feathers, stippling and tendrils.

 The center of this quilt was HUGE! I actually had to quilt it in sections it was too big to quilt all at once in the span of my machine. I was puzzled on how to fill this large area without detracting from the overall design. And then it hit me, a feathered wreath in the feathered star with some tendrils. I love how it turned out. It filled the center nicely and adds to the design I think.

 I love the colors for this quilt. Granted the movie is so popular right now, but when I look at this quilt, all I can think of is Frozen. Am I right?

 And here's more feathers...

 Oh and the one border was extra big so it got a TON of feathers quilted in it. I swear I never quilted so many feathers before.

And because you can actually see it, the backing shows off the quilting nicely. 

I know this one might be a little harder to see the details, but that's because it has all of the details. This is a shot of about half of the back of the quilt. If you click on it, it should make it larger to see more details.

Thank you again, Doris! Your quilts are beautiful!!!