Free Motion Fun…With Feathers! Volume 3 is Here!!

We are happy to announce that “Free Motion Fun…With Feathers! Volume 3” is finally here! With a total run time of 2 hours, 7 minutes, this DVD covers a variety of innovative feather spine designs that are sure to dazzle any quilt, whether it be of a traditional or contemporary style! If you’ve already been through the second volume of Feathers DVD, then you know that coupling hyperquilting with these designer spine designs will really take your feathers over the top! If you are a feather lover and on the lookout for new and exciting feather designs, then this DVD is for you! Here’s a quick snapshot of some of what is covered:

· The Pearl Spine-This one is probably familiar as you may have seen this one on traditional quilts before, but we’re just getting started!

· The Snake Spine-Basic and easy to stitch, but it can still create a nice splash!

· The Swirl Spine-Now we’re starting to see some fun action!

· The Diamond Back Spine-The complexity of this spine is what makes it so appealing, but once we break it down into manageable parts, anyone can stitch this spine!

· The Scalloped Pearl Spine-Now we’re entering the world of spines that do not have a smooth edge, and it’s even cooler when you stitch it in a feathered wreath! (see below):

· The Bicycle Chain Spine-Ooh-la-la is all I can say! This spine is my favorite and it works really well in circular spine designs as well! (See below):

· The Feathered Spine- Big or small, those feathers just seem to work everywhere!

· The Curly Cue Spine- For real elegance, give this one a try!

· The Embellished Curly Cue Spine – Doesn’t it look as though we have just gilded the curly cue spine?!

· The Over-The-Top Feathered Spine – You’ll need your strongest pair of reading glasses to stitch this one out!

· The Irregular Swirl Scroll Spine – Even scroll spines can be jazzed up with some additional design work!

· The Swirl Scroll Spine – Another variation on a swirled spine…

· The inverted Feather Scroll Spine-We demo it here in a feathered heart, but it also works great in a feathered wreath with a wide spine or any scroll spine!

· And we also demo how to use circular spine designs to custom-fill rectangular quilt blocks with feather designs! And these work well in traditional quilts as well…

On top of this, we’ll be debuting a new line of quilting stencils shortly that take off from this DVD but carry spine designs much further! I’m hearing from quilters who love free motion work but prefer “follow the line designs” instead of free hand, so these new stencils will give you both options: feather designs with empty spines that you can fill with whatever you wish, or detailed spine designs that can be created by merely following the lines! Keep checking the web site over the next several weeks as we will be adding a series of new stencils and many of those spine designs will be even cooler than these!

Be sure to check out the preview video clip to see exactly what’s on the new DVD and Happy Quilting!

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Spine Fun!

I have been messing around with feather spine designs for many months now, and it’s really surprising how much you can get away with inside of a feather’s spine! They’re very fun to develop by adding one layer after another into the design. Here’s the baseline block that I’m using for the final 4 corners of the outer border of a quilt I’m working on now:

Of course, this whole thing could be done in one thread color, but I just can’t pass up the chance to add more threads! In the next phase, I fill in a quickie rotating swirl of plumes into the dead center of the block, using that strategy called “improvisational quilting” from the 3rd volume of Fast and Free:

In the next move, I create a design merely by doodling with thread inside the spine area. I’m using 24 karat gold rayon thread by Robison Anton and color #307 (the blue) from Ricky Tims’ Art Studio Colors by Superior Threads:

I’m starting to like it, but it’s just not done…plus, I don’t feel like the whole design is integrated well. Hmmm…what to do? Hyperquilt it, of course! And in this way, the design works as a whole, even with 2 different thread colors!

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