Friday, March 29, 2013

Bella Feather


This post contains info for the Bella Feather set, 12 patterns overall for $40, including a pdf file showing all the patterns and ways to use them.  (one triangle pattern is not shown below, as it's just a mirror of the simplest one.)  You can purchase the set from my website here.
  If you like having jpgs of patterns you can save them from this blogpost.
 I designed the panto first, to be a P2P that could go over Log Cabins in various settings,

and then I went on to tweak the design elements into other useful patterns.  The second panto forms a serpentine feather,
 but I also love the fact that it can turn into a panto that looks like a whole lot of feathered wreaths.  I've wanted to quilt a quilt of my own like that, but never got round to designing the pattern, and now I can use this P2P pattern to achieve that result.  If only I had the time to do my own quilts.

 The border is also a P2P, making it easy to place the repeats and the corners.
The triangles are really versatile, being P2P also.

I like these borders with the straight lines built in, they are a great way to finish a quilt with unruly edges.  You can place the pattern so the lines extend off the quilt, and trim off those lines if you want, or let them stitch out on the waste fabric.
There are several options for this border; there is a diagonal effect to it, so you can choose the pattern to give the effect you want.

Jan Foster, of Red Shed Quilting, has used the Bella Feather triangle to great effect, on a beautiful quilt.

Jan created this beautiful border using the triangle pattern, which gave me the idea of making a P2P pattern with the same effect.  I love it when quilters use my patterns creatively and inspire me to make even more patterns.

 These pictures are from her Red Shed Quilting Facebook page, which is full of other inspirational photos of her wonderful work.

And for reading through all this. there is a free pattern to download.  I love this little border because it's a P2P, which makes it very easy to place the corners and repeats. I let the edge of the border act as the spine of the feather, it's a very neat way to fill up a small border.

Free Pattern; Simplest Feather

To download the free pattern, click on the link above.  When the new page opens, click on the 'File' tab at the top left, then choose 'Download' from the options.

I've been super busy lately, moving back from my rented house to the Freemason's Lodge that I own, which in reality is just a huge 2-roomed hall.  In an ideal world my new workshop would have been finished before I moved all my stuff into the hall where the Statler is, but that didn't happen.  Now I'm quilting customer quilts amid piles and boxes of my possessions, which is not ideal, but the end is in sight.  The workshop has to be painted now, which should be a two day job; then the fun begins, pulling the Statler apart, setting it up in it's new home, getting it running and then shifting all the thread, backings, batting and customer quilts as well.  I think my Easter holiday won't be very relaxing at all.  But it will be very satisfying.