Mrs. Peacock's Revenge

Mrs. Peacock's Revenge
2015
54x56
machine pieced and quilted

A while back I said I would do a proper introduction of this quilt.  This is one of my new favorites where I got to use a bunch of low volume prints I've been hoarding.  There are Liberty prints, Japanese prints and cotton linen blends.  This was my second feather quilt and in this one I decided to add some gentle curves.  Like any liberated/improv block, the more you make them the more you experiment.  

This quilt idea came to me when I heard about our guild challenge, Inspired by the Game of Clue.  We were to choose one suspect, one location and one weapon and somehow use them in the quilt.  Mrs. Peacock was pretty easy since I wanted to use some blues and I could also make more feathers!  Then I settled on the Conservatory because these background prints have birds, flowers and trees.  The weapon was the hardest to decide upon, but I finally came up with the idea of quilting in some candlestick shapes.  I did them in turquoise on the background so, while they are subtle, it's not as subtle as the main quilting.

I had great fun with the quilting motifs.  I went back to the pebbles after discovering how much I like to do them on Shattered Dresden.  Each feather is surrounded by pebbles as if they are strewn on the floor of the conservatory.

Above and below you can see the candlestick shapes, which I did in just a few places on the quilt.

I had even more fun with the motifs in other areas.  I love trying these new shapes that are inspired by mid-century modern graphic design.

The larger pieces in this quilt lent themselves to trying something new in each space.  As I got to each new bit I spent some time decided on a motif. I've found it helpful to have some sketches of my favorites nearby, just to remind me.  Many of these are ideas from books in my library, such as Christina Cameli's First Steps to Free Motion Quilting.  I also will get out other quilts I've made with lots of motifs and use them for inspiration.

The patch above is one of my favorite Japanese prints.  It's so charming and always makes me smile.

I really like the back too!  The feathers show up great here because I used the turquoise thread on them.  It's easy to see all the different designs I used too.  

Mrs. Peacock's Revenge won 3rd place for Viewer's Choice at our quilt guild show.  Although I intended it to go in my bedroom, I've decided to put it away for safe keeping for just a little bit and enter it in some shows.  We'll see how that goes!