Finally got this customer quilt finished after a dryer crisis and being sick 2 days last week… Beth made this Stack ‘n Whack quilt and is giving it to her brother for Christmas. She wanted feathers (for those of you who are not quilters, they are the paisley/heart/half-heart shaped designs stitched into the quilt) all over it with the background filled in with stippling, which is a tight meander. What do you think?
This is the “before.”
And, this is after I turned the quilt on the frame and did some quilting.
Here’s another angle so you can see more.
And, a close-up of one of the Stack ‘n Whack blocks… Stack ‘n Whack is basically fussy cutting fabric so that those triangles all look the same. You stack the fabric so that the copies are all on top of one another and then whack (cut) it. Or… you can do it other ways which I will let you research on your own…
Quilting between the “stacks”
I think Beth did a superb job of picking out the color of thread. You can’t tell it here, but she chose a sage green to “pop” off the background sueded blue fabric, and it also went well with her stacks, borders, and backing fabric. I was really impressed that she knew exactly what she wanted when we first discussed this quilt. I think she did a great job on it and hope she likes the quilting I’ve done for her.
Cowtown Quilts 
Ida, your feathers are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.
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Are you kidding? You wouldn’t believe all the negative self-talk I was doing when I quilted them. Really!
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Pretty! Are you pre-marking your feathers or freehand? I’m trying to get my nerve up for some all-out, freehand feathers.
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I am DEFINITELY marking them, Tina! And, actually, this customer pre-marked the feathers that are in the blue. They are marked with chalk.
If you use chalk, I would highly recommend NOT using the chalk stick that comes in the red plastic case with the yellow top. You either cannot get the mark lines out or it’s really a lot of work. Sewline is great, though – it’s the red plastic holder, but without the yellow top. That’s what I used, but I ran out of lead and was having trouble getting the new lead back in, so I used pounce chalk for the hearts in the border and then “guessed” on the swirls for the feathers in the border. You can find both the Sewline (I think) and the pounce chalk at Quilted Memories. (www.quiltedmemoriesllc.com).
Also, for the triangles where the fabric is fussy cut, I used a 4″ plume template and then free-handed the feathers along the line from the plume. It’s the orange one made by Off the Edge Quilting. I bought that at Quilted Memories as well.
Definitely mark your feathers first until you feel confident to do them without marking. Also, try just marking a line (swirly, straight, circle-y, etc.) where you want your feathers and then do feathers along the line.
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