Jaime's Feather Quilt

--jaime

I fell in love with this quilt when I first saw it debuted by Anna Maria Horner at Quilt Market in Spring of 2012. In August of 2012 we had the amazing opportunity to host Ms. Horner here at Fancy Tiger Crafts for some workshops, of course, we asked her if she could teach the feather quilt. She was thrilled and all my dreams came true when I took her class for the amazing feather block that she designed. I only made one block in class, but it was the start of a new quilt that I was very excited about.

If you read the blog, you know I sew a lot of garments and quilts are fewer and farther between. I love using quilts on my bed so I almost exclusively make queen-sized quilts which take some time. In this case, a year and a half, but it was oh-so worth it.

This quilt is almost all from Anna Maria Horner's Field Study collection which had just come out when Ms. Horner visited us in Denver. I used Kona Cotton in Ash for the background color. The quilt took me so long that I ended up cutting Ash from three different bolts over the course of a year and you can see the different dye lots in the quilt. I don't mind, though, I think it adds some movement and character (but lesson learned: fabrics have dye lots, too!).

Each feather block is made up of 9 pieces of fabric. The "feather" pieces are cut from strip-pieced yardage, which actually went quite fast to make up. This is the most intense piecing I have ever done. I ended up developing an assembly line system which made it go faster and I used some downtime over the holidays to really dig in and finish it.

As with all my queen sized quilts, I sent this one off to be quilted. I used our local quilter, Jason Spicknall of Secret Stash Quilting. He did such an amazing job on this quilt and I love it. His simple ruler lines reflect the feathers in a way that compliments the design and does not detract from the feathers themselves. Perfect.

For the back and binding I used fabric from Anna's current collection, Dowry. I love love love the back of this quilt. The print is so amazing, I didn't do any additional piecing on the back. We have the full line of Dowry in stock now, if you're inspired to make your own feather quilt. This Feather Bed Quilt pattern is available for free here.

I love this quilt and am really proud of my accomplishment!

Epic Sewing Weekend!

We just had the most epic weekend! We had two amazing sewists visit the shop for tons of funtimes, learning and inspiration.

First up on Friday night, Jacquie Gering, author of "Quilting Modern" was here with millions of quilts! Jacquie displayed tons of quilts from the book as well as new designs. They were amazing. It was like being in a museum where you could touch things.

We loved her attention to detail in everything from thread color to fabric choice. She was amazing to meet and we can't wait to have her back one day to teach.

A surprise treat was that Angela Walters (author of Free Motion Quilting) was also in town and stopped by! We about peed our pants having two such famous quilters in the shop at once!

Angela Walters, Jacquie Gering, Susanne Woods (of Interweave), Jaime and Amber

Saturday night, Anna Maria Horner was here! She has been a huge inspiration to us since the beginning with her amazing colorful,on-trend fabric designs and her smart, fashionable patterns. We were so thrilled to welcome her to Denver and Fancy Tiger! Many people came out to meet her, chat about her new line, "Field Study" and generally just hang out. Funtimes were had by all.

Sunday, we really got down to business with back-to-back classes with Anna. First we learned about strip piecing in her "Feather Quilt Block" class. All of the feather's made were amazing and Amber and I are both looking to make queen-sized feather quilts.

Anna shows Anna some piecing techniques.

Some serious cutting

Amber and Jaime's blocks

On our way to making a quilt!

The second class was her Multi-Tasker Tote. Anna warned us that making this bag in 4 hours was going to be a squeeze, but the Fancy Tiger students rallied and everyone finished their bags!

Amber and Jaime's bags.

This bag comes together in a way that let's you know Anna Maria Horner is a sewing genius! It is awesome with pockets on the inside as well as 4 outside pockets for quick and easy access to keys, phone, etc. Everyone did such a great job and each and every bag looks amazing!

Happy students with a happy Anna.

Thanks so much Jacquie and Anna for making the trek to Fancy Tiger Crafts and sharing your amazing inspiration and knowledge!