Birds of a Feather

Birds of a Feather is finished and was gifted this weekend.  I put the last stitch in on Saturday morning then I handed it my cousin and his new wife on Sunday morning.  I'm bummed I didn't get more time to admire it on my wall, but it was nice to be able to give it to them in person.

What a sprint to the finish!  I spent every free moment I had last week to complete it.  I got up early to work on the quilting before going to work and then sat right down again after dinner.  It all went smoothly until Monday night, when suddenly my bobbin nested and the top thread snapped three times after only stitching a few inches.  I panicked.  I had quilted not quite half the quilt and it had gone so well!  No skipped stitches; no broken thread.  How could this happen?  I swapped out the needle and the bobbin and cleaned all around the plate and mechanism.  Don't know what fixed it, but I was able to continue along.  Whew!

I finished the last of the quilting on Wednesday morning, ripped out and restitched a few spots where the tension was really uneven.  The quilt amazingly remained straight and true through the quilting phase (although I managed to shave off a half inch off the bottom when I cut it... oh well).  Once I added the binding and fused on the label, I knew I was in the home stretch:  everything else was hand stitched.  Thursday I embroidered the label's edge and started hand stitching the binding.  I packed it up for Family Weekend on Friday so I could finish it there.  I was exceedingly grateful the whole project went through as smoothly as it did.  I wouldn't have finished it in time otherwise.

The last challenge was finding a suitable place to photograph it.  I can't possibly part with a quilt until I document what I did!  I was blessed with a beautiful day plus a tall clothesline in a sunny spot at an aunt's house.  A couple of cousins helped me set up and gave some suggestions on where to shoot.  It was my first chance to really see the whole finished quilt in good light.

Last week I had shown my mom the sandwiched quilt.  I described how I was going to quilt the feathers and that I was still deciding how to quilt the background.  I wanted something swirly, but not too tight.  She thought I didn't need to quilt the background at all.  But when she saw the finished quilt she was amazed at how the texture brought it all together. 

I used a grey shiny thread to quilt three different patterns on all the feathers (a wavy zig-zag, a loop and a ribbon-candy design).  I did two of each design on each row of feathers.  I ended up quilting the background in white cotton - I couldn't find a green or a grey that was light enough.  I started out with swirls but eventually worked in some paisley designs as well.  The background fabric has a very faint print of swirly paisleys, so it all goes together quite nicely

 

The feather quilting was perfect front and back.  Overall I was pleased with the background quilting, but I still need to work on my hand-foot coordination.  I get so focused on the feel of the swirling motion that I don't run the needle fast enough to keep up with my hands.  I keep trying to slow down what I'm doing, but I take off again.  That results in long stitches which occasionally left loose stitches in front and a bobbin thread pulled tight.  I ripped out and restitched the worst offenders.  I work hard to have it look nice and be up-to-snuff technically.  So I see the flaws in my technical work, but no one else will ever notice.

 

Doesn't the quilting look cool?  I love all the movement on the back.  

This turned out to be such a joy to quilt.  I stopped only when I ran out of bobbin thread (except for the bad start with the snapped thread, and one corner that I puckered the fabric).  I only had to ease in a few places in the front and didn't have any folds in the back.  Wonderful!

The recipients loved the quilt.  They had picked the basic color scheme which turned out so nicely.  One of my aunts said she'd like a slightly smaller version of this quilt (hint, hint).  I really liked the Feather Bed Quilt pattern, and would be willing to make another one (although maybe only three and a half feathers tall instead of four full feathers).  

 

Sharing with:
A Quiltery - Put Your Foot Down Thursday
Alycia Quilts - Finished or Not Friday
Nina-Marie - Off the Wall Friday
Quilt Schmilt - To Do Tuesday
My Quilt Infatuation - Needle & Thread Thursday
Quilting & Learning - What a Combo! - Free Motion Mavericks