a feather quilt

I think I've said this a zillion times--  writing a book is no joke! But I am so excited that my book, Beyond Cotton, is almost out and that I'll get to see the first copies at Quilt Market in two weeks! You can see some sneak peeks of the pages and projects on the Lucky Spool site too. I'll be sharing more of the projects on here very soon.

Now that it's wrapped up and the kids are back in school, I've had a bit more time for new projects. I joined the Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt swap on Instagram and decided to make a version of Anna Maria Horner's Feather Bed Quilt (I was going to link it up, but it looks like her website is getting a bit of work done). My partner likes bright and bold fabrics, so I used a mix of shot cottons (my favorite) and some Cotton + Steel basics on an Ivory Essex linen. 

The free pattern calls for strip piecing a grouping of fabrics, then cutting the feather sections out using a template. Since I knew I wanted each feather to have different fabrics, I ended up using the template as a guide for paper piecing. I cut each fabric into a strip that was about 1-2'' wide and 6 inches long, stitched and flipped them one by one until the template was covered, then trimmed the feather to size. It went very quickly! It's a technique I'd use again.

I quilted it with my latest favorite design, a diagonal grid.

It's backed with a bold print from Heather Ross' Briar Rose line and bound in more Cotton + Steel.

With the extra time, I'm also starting to restock my neglected etsy shop with items like these watercolor dyed pouches. 

It's fun to get back to it! I hope you are all enjoying some creative time as well.