Friday, January 8, 2016

The BIG Reveal!! Friends of a Feather!!

OMG you guys!! Early this morning I checked the tracking on both Renee's mine headed to her and my mini headed this way - and they were scheduled for delivery TODAY!! I was told Saturday, as was Renee for anticipated delivery. We have both received our quilts!! Renee has posted about my quilt, make sure you check it out! OMG, you guys!! It is fabulous!! We agreed to do a swap back in May. Due to both of our schedules, we agreed that at some point late in the year we would swap. I don't think either of us thought it would actually be 2016 before the quilts actually made it to their forever homes - BUT, it was definitely worth the 'wait'! Not that either of us was chomping at the bit or had the quilts finished any earlier LOL OK, here it is! I introduce to you, Friends of a Feather! :D
Friends Of A Feather :) I had a blast quilting this mini for Renee!
I knew this quilt would be filled with feathers. The question was, traditional quilting feathers (like the ones in the background or corners), bird feathers. . . peacock feathers??? WTH, why not all of them? So then I started doodling. And trolling the internet. And plotting. Have you seen Renee's mad quilting skills? If not, when you go check out my quilt on her blog, check out her other work. You will not regret it!! I wanted this quilt to be all thread and had to get over the desire for everything to be 'perfect.' Anywhoo, back to this quilt. I initially thought I would put Quilts of a Feather (Renee's blog name) on the quilt. And then I started second guessing it. I went back and forth. I changed my mind about a bajillion times. And then it was go time - I had to make a decision because I was ready to finish the background quilting. . . I did what any sneaky person would do ;) I emailed Yvonne and asked her what she thought about putting Renee's blog name on the quilt. I did send her a picture of what the quilt looked like at that point. What she came back with was nothing short of amazing!! What about putting 'Friends of a Feather' on the quilt? Holy best idea ever!! Friends of a Feather indeed! :) Thank you, Yvonne, for a spectacularly ingenious idea! And I named the quilt Friends of a Feather and put it on the label (which yes, on one end is actually hand sewn down! LOL). Here's a bit of the story. I planned to document this well but when those Christmas commissions came in, those grand ideas kind of fell to the wayside. I do have a couple of pictures that show a bit of the process.
I wanted the feathers to overlap so it would look kind of 3D. I started with the feathers on the sides. Then I added these two feathers trying not to worry about quilting over lines :)
Here are the threads that are in the bird feathers. All Aurifil - the cones are Aurifil Longarm Poly. LOVE!! Seriously LOVE!! :)
I had started quilting the background at this point. The darker blue feather in the bottom right corner was done through the bobbin with 8 wt thread!!! I had to restrain myself to not put it all over the quilt! LOL
OK, that's where the documentation ends LOL I think the overlapping idea really worked :) The lighter blue variegated thread in the peacock eye is a Wonderfil 12 wt thread, the 8 wt thread that I did the bobbin work with (first time I had ever done this and I highly recommend giving it a go!!) is also Wonderfil as is the very middle of the peacock eye. All of the rest of the thread on the front of the quilt is cotton or poly Aurifil in various different weights and colors.

More pictures anyone??? :D

And the back!
I used one thread, Isocord 50 wt poly for the back of the quilt.
The fabric is Cherrywood hand dyed in Silver. I can't say enough about this fabric! It's feels and looks like suede. It is lush and beautiful. No, not affiliated in any way, its just that good! :) The binding, hanging triangles and label came from a FQ bundle called Modern Muse from Massdrop. I don't know the color as none of the FQ were marked.

So the suspense is over!! And here's a couple of pictures of what Renee sent me. Go visit and see her pictures (much better than these, still raining here!) and her process of making the quilt!
I told you, totally mad quilting skills!! :)
It's PURPLE!! :) LOVE!! It will be hanging over my cutting table so I can look at it when I'm cutting, sewing AND ironing :D
So how was my first swap experience? Freakin' fantastic!! :D Thank you, Renee for this beautiful piece of you!!

Linking up with Finish it up Friday

Until next time, keep on quilting!!
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31 comments:

  1. Yay!!! The photos of your quilt do not do it justice, at ALL. I will try to get some photos of it out in the sunshine once these storms blow over (it has been cloudy, rainy and snowy here for days! I'm not complaining, aside from the fact that the accumulation has been significantly less than predicted). I forgot to take pictures of Purple Paisleys while it was sunny last weekend, so all my photos were during a cloudy day too. Anyways, this swap was almost definitely the best of the whole last year. I think part of the fun was not worrying about normal quilting rules and just going with what I thought you might like, or what I thought looked good. I'm so glad to count you as one my friends of a feather ;-)

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  3. Saw the quilt Renee made you on her blog and WOW it is wonderful and now the one you made her is WOW. What fantastic double eye candy in one day. Love the way you have used many feather designs and the overlapping is a great idea, There is nothing not to love about it and a wonderful name. Any future swap you do has a high standard to live up to!

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  4. Wow, Judy, this is amazing! The colors are so "Renee" and I *know* she must be over the moon to have received something that was obviously made with such attention to detail and care for what she likes. And all that free motion quilting? You knocked this out of the park. I'm glad I could help out a tiny bit, this was a spectacular swap to watch from the sidelines.

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  5. wonderful and amazing quilting! I really love feathers and yours are soooooo beautiful!!!!!
    Greetings, Rike

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  6. You both are so....... talented with your creative skills--I always look forward to seeing what that creative brain of yours is up to!

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  7. They are both absolutely incredible. x

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  8. Way too cool! So glad you had a fantastic experience with your swap. Ok off to check out Renee's quilt for you some more.

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  9. Stunning!! Gorgeous!!! How will you ever out do this one?! What a great way to start and end your first swap!

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  10. You are a wizard my friend...as is Renee. Dumbledore and Harry of Hogwarts in FMQ. I love love love both quilts; so much to gaze at. Marvel at. Drool over.

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  11. Beautiful! The thread colors are fantastic.

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  12. Friends of a Feather - how perfect! Yvonne is great with words. This is so magnificent Judy! It's so richly quilted and simply stunning! You and Renee did each other proud!

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  13. I can't wait to have Renee show me this in person. I'm sure she loves it.

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  14. You both have mad skills so I can't image better match for swap! Well done both of you.

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  15. Wow Judy this is just gorgeous. Love the finished project and the few progress shots. What a a study in different feathers - it makes me want to go and play!!!!

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  16. Wow! So gorgeous! I love the 3D effect of the feathers, and the different types of feathers, and the colours, and the name! Fantastic job, Judy!

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  17. She is not the only one with mad quilting skills. This is amazing and totally perfect for her.

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  18. You two are perfect swap partners! Really like the peacock feathers - the texture is great - makes me want to reach out and touch it!

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  19. Feathers is beautiful! I'm a bit overwhelmed!

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  20. Jaw-droppingly stunning! Your hard work has clearly paid off.

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  21. AWE.SOME! Two very well matched quilters, and friends!!!

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