Quilting with Rulers: Feathers Off a Curve

Somehow summer has nearly ended and it's time to get the kids ready for school and make some plans for myself while all three kids are in school each day. It's been hard to get any actual quilting time in, though I've been doing some work in my studio. When I can, I'm still plugging away on my sampler.

Feathers drawn out.

I decided to use a curved ruler around the edge of the white square and then add feathers. The square is actually made up of 4 triangles so it was easy to plan the feathered areas. Since I wanted them to be pretty uniform, I went ahead and drew them out.

Two feathers down, two to go. It's hard to see but the stitching isn't right on top of the lines.

I don't like marking much, but I knew in this case that marking would be faster than ripping out feathers if they weren't even enough. I used my trusty air-erasable marker.

The markings are nearly all gone so you can see the feathers.

They're not perfect, but if I strove for perfection, I'd never get done. Good enough is perfect. I still need to work on the angle and spacing of the stitching where a plume gets close to the spine. The seams gave me a little trouble, changing the feel of things as I stitched on the seam allowances. There's one spot where I got right into the seam (which was pressed open) and the stitches practically disappeared.

I'm really loving this quilt and all the opportunities to use rulers on it. It will make a good sample for my classes.