Oh man, this is awful. The Log Cabin I'm having such a love/hate relationship with has a lot to teach me, and I am suffering with it. I want to do feathers in the white areas, and simply stitch the ditches of the dark areas. I've never done feathers outside of some playing around freehand, and it's SO hard!! They need to gently follow the non-existent curves, but how do you do the corners? And why won't the feathers follow the curves smoothly; they keep kind of changing shapes. All this on paper so far, of course, as I try to form a stencil or pattern to follow. 
I really want to do it, and I'm really afraid. Clearly, if this one comes out OK I'll be walking on air, and if it doesn't, well......
(big sigh)
OK -- I'm big, I'm tough and I am determined. I created this thing, right? So it can't have more power than I, right? And I'm the one with 20 different feather patterns and a copier that enlarges/reduces. So why do I want my mommy???? lol -- as if she could help me now. 
This is my Mom -- not a great picture, but it was 16 below that day and she was bundled up to her eyeballs. Mom is 72 years old, lives on a ranch in a remote part of Utah and spends most of her days on horseback, herding sheep in 12,000 ft mountains. When she is bundled up like this, soaking wet and with all 6 feet of her hair wet too, (yes, 6 feet of hair!) AND with boots/chaps on, she might weigh 110. Yes, my Mom's a cowboy. She's not exactly sure quilting is a viable pastime, but since I broke my neck in a horse wreck I looked for a more sedate hobby. Oh, the horse is her new little Islandic mare Brita, newly arrived that day from Newfoundland. As round as she is tall. If I were to ride that horse, all 5'10 inches of me, I could drag my toes to make her stop! So, as you can see, Mama is no help to me whatsoever. I can call her and whimper, and she'll say all the right things and cheerfully admit she has no idea what I'm talking about.
I love my Mom!! She sure has helped out tonight! LOL!!
4 comments:
Well, the quilt top is lovely, the borders are perfect and the quilting plan sounds great. (I can't help beyond that as I send my quilts out to a professional long armer!)
The Log Cabin is going to be a work of art when you figure out your "feathers"...and I know you will!
P.S. Wow! Your Mom is so full of energy, just like you!!! Great story to honer her, thanks for sharing her life style w/us!
You plan to do this on your regular sewing machine, right? What if you use that doctor's table paper (I know they were selling it in quilt stores a few years back - or maybe your doctor will look at you strangely, but take pity on you and give you a few yards) and drew out the feather you want, then pinned it in place to follow? The paper is so wide, you could get several lengths from it.
As a longarmer, I started at the bottom of the feather, made my spine to the end. At the end, I made a loop, then came down one side with the half hearts, and up the other side with the other half. Margarent Miller says that feathers should not be half-hearts, but they looked so pretty, I disregarded her advice. =)
Playing Strauss waltzes helped me get a nice rhythm and made for smoother feathers. Keep drawing them out until you are happy with them. The brain makes a pattern to follow, too.
Stick with your plan. It will be beautiful.
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