February FMQ Challenge

I bet I'm not the only one who took one look at the February FMQ Challenge tutorial  over on SewCalGal's blog and blanched. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end - not only is the challenge for FEATHERS but Diane Gaudynski feathers at that !

It must be every quilters' dream to produce workmanship like this, but unfortunately, I am nowhere near this level of work.   I thought I did quite well with these quilts and
not too bad with this one ...

 ...but let's be honest I've still got a long way to go :-)

So onto this month's offering - first some practice.....

...not brilliant, but a couple of lessons learnt!

I must reposition my hands more often.
I must practice echo quilting -  this is awful
I must stop being afraid of my machine
I found these small feathers more difficult than larger ones on a quilt

Bearing all this in mind, for my folder sample I decide to go with what I feel I do best, and that's free form feathers a la Patsy Thompson which I've been practicing forever! Still not perfect, but something I feel more comfortable with.

Don't get me wrong, I am a great fan of Diane Gaudynski and her work,  and who knows - maybe one day I will be able to quilt these wonderful feathers !!

Pink Lemonade

You may have noticed a new-ish button on my side bar linking to Lori at  Humble Quilts, well,  do pop along there today and see all the lovely versions that have been posted of her Pink Lemonade Quilt A Long which has been running thoughout January -  this is my offering

Finishing at approx 19" x 25" there are LOTS of  small pieces, but it was also lots of fun to make !  Thanks  Lori for sharing this little quilt !

If you'd like to join in, the tutorial is still available.