Here and Now
Here and Now
48x58
2016
machine pieced, machine quilted
The first quilt of 2016 was started on the day after Christmas. I got all the feather blocks done that day. I got the top put together in time for New Year's Eve. Then, I spent that day and the next quilting it. I got the binding finished at 11:45 pm on the first.
The feathers are all made from black and white scraps from the scrap basket. When it came time to quilt it I considered free motion, but went back to my old stand by, straight lines. I did mix it up by quilting it in a big V shape. I thought that would echo the shape of the feathers nicely.
I didn't do any marking except for laying down some masking tape for the first V shape which I did right in the middle of the quilt. I then worked up from the middle and down from the middle, using the edge of my walking foot as a guide.
Here it is with the binding on, but not hand sewn.
I put up some Christmas lights around all the windows this year. It's nice to have a little ambiance when working in my studio on these short days. We've been having lots of cold weather and snow, so the days have often been dreary.
And here she is, all finished. This is one of the most subtle quilts I've ever done. I guess it's the wintry feelings being expressed. I tried several different layouts for the blocks and ended up with this which was my first idea anyway. I only had 6 blocks made and didn't want to make more. I believe this is Kona Snow for the background, which is kind of perfect.
I needed to make this one quickly because I'm teaching Improv Feathers in May at the Stitchin' Post and wanted a sample that I didn't mind leaving at the shop for several months. If you want to join me, just check the Stitchin' Post website. I'm doing this one as an evening class. You can learn the most basic improv techniques with this block.
This coming Saturday, January 9th is the class preview party at the Stitchin' Post, 9-2. Come on by to see this quilt and register for classes.
You might also notice in the shot above that I break rules all the time. Until this one I've always created my feather shapes so the vane is in a V. On the feather on the right I had two strip sets that were the same direction (normally I would make a left leaning set and a right leaning set). In this case, this was the last two strip sets and I wanted to be done, so I made a feather with what I had and as you can see it works too!
My scraps include some text prints which I love. This is one that doesn't really make any sense, but it did inform my title for this quilt. On the bottom text section it says Live in the Now, hence Here and Now.
The back is Kona Ash. You can see here how the center of the V meanders a bit. That doesn't bother me one little bit. I hope you like this one and will consider joining me for this class! Happy New Year!