FEATHER BED QUILT

Feather Bed Quilt : free pattern by Anna Maria Horner
Background Fabric : Inkwell by Crabapple Hill Studio
Quilted on the workroom Bernina Q24 Longarm
King Tut Thread : Valley of the Queen (feathers) & Sahara Desert (background)
Started March 2013 / Completed January 2016

Quilts tend to be a many year journey for me. Since I usually have about ten of them on the go at once, I try not to feel too bad about it. It always feels extra amazing to get to the finish line after all that time. I posted some epic winter photos of this finished Feather Bed quilt top two years ago. I finally finished up the quilt back this summer at the cottage.  This quilt particularly reminds me of our cottage sewing weekends where most of it was made. Especially since so many of the feather fabrics were shared from Katherine and Jacqueline’s stashes.

I got it on the workroom Bernina Q24 longarm and did all the background quilting with loop de loops (technical term). This is one of my favourite free motion patterns because it is continuous (so it flows nicely across the quilt), it looks great on everything and you can really vary how it looks by changing the height and width of your loops. To do this easily, I loaded the quilt sideways, so that my loops flow from top to bottom of the quilt in between the feathers. I took it off the longarm and didn’t get it back on for a couple months. It’s possible to re-load your quilt, which is handy if you run out of time or get stumped on your next step like me. For the feathers, I ended up doing a modified loop that echoes the plumes and goes up one side and down the other. If you look carefully you’ll also see some hidden words, including my name and the year. I also used a different colour of King Tut thread for the background than the feathers and I really like the effect.

I must also mention the beautiful background fabric. Almost everyone comments on it. If I could have bought bolts and bolts of it, I really would have! At the time it was already scarce and I had to get the last two yards to finish up this quilt from a shop in California via my friend Amanda. The collection was called Inkwell and this print also came in a neutral colourway. It’s definitely in my top favourites for fabric.

I’ve got the quilt hanging up in the workroom studio indefinitely, so you’ll be seeing it make some guest appearances in future posts too. I’m pretty happy to just stare at this one for while.