Are you still frantically quilting away on Christmas or holiday gifts? If not, good for you! For those who are - there is still over a week until Christmas so you're right on track.

This is when I'm usually starting to decide what type of quilt motifs to put on my gifts. I waffle between small designs, such as pebbles, that take me forever to finish. I did this last year on a table runner for my brother. Loved the results, but man, did it take a long time to finish!

This year I've been working on free motion feathers after watch Patsy Thompson's Craftsy class, Ultimate Free-Motion Quilting. Patsy creates stunning designs and with her practical, step-by-step approach, it's easy to learn how to create wonderful feather designs.

Remember last week when I talked about being afraid to try something new. Well, feather quilting was always on that list for me. Now that I've taken Patsy's class, feathers don't seem nearly as daunting!

Here are some photos of my first attempts. This is what Patsy calls hyperquilting, where you start in one colour and then go over with a second thread in a contrasting colour. By using two different colours I could really see my work - and where I need to improve. The best part of doing this was that I really enjoyed quilting feathers! Now I've got another quilt motif to add to my repertoire.

Another overview - need to work on the curves a bit more

Back of the feather - or should it be the front? :)

And, feathers can spread over a large area and don't take as much time to quilt as pebbles :)

If you've been afraid to try free motion feathers, but would like to, I highly recommend Ultimate Free-Motion Quilting by Patsy Thompson.

Creatively,

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