Good Progress

Made good progress of the double Irish chain yesterday.  I think I may have got almost a quarter or the way done.  But a lot of the times when working on these big ones,  they just get bigger as I go along. Ha!  Had to stop long enough to go and get a new air erase marker.  Both of the ones I was using were getting too faint to stay long enough for me to get the spine stitched.

When doing a feather wreath, I mark the spine and then then the  inner circle that is the border for the edge of the feathers on the inside of the wreath.  I mark this boundary because it is hard to get a circle out of the inner feathers if you don't, and believe me, this will show and look wonky.  For this particular size of feather, the top of a  ziplock container is perfect.  (The old design had a circle in the middle that could be cut out).  Another way to make the perfect circle template is with freezer paper and a compass, then mount it on a piece of cardboard (cereal or cracker boxes are great for this) or template plastic.  Be sure to cut out the center for the edge of the inner feathers.  After I get the marking done, I build the feathers without marking.  This takes some practice and I did this practice on a couple of charity quilts for my guild.  when I turned in these quilts I was told, " Oh, Mary Ann these quilts don't have to be quilted so beautifully, just an all over design will be okay."  I responded with.  I hadn't ever done these wreaths before and had to practice somewhere, so I practiced on these."  Charity quilts are a great place to practice new designs or your skills on new a sewing machine or equipment.

Remember, the more you quilt, the better you get and that is the ONLY way to get better.

Happy quilting!