More Feathers

 One thing I know--from a student's perspective--is that a teacher can never have too many samples for a class.  Since I'm teaching classes on quilting feathers, I decided to make a more complex piece showing how you could use all of the different elements that are taught in the class.  Unfortunately, my picture doesn't quite show all that I would like it to, but I hope you can see well enough.  The fabric is a hand dye by Ellen Ann Eddy and I think it "confused" the camera somewhat (not to mention the quilter!).
I've been to several classes lately in which the teacher had the diffinitive answer on what needle to use and the proper weight thread.  The truth is that these figures are merely guidelines and that many other threads and needles will also work--depending on the fabric and the tightness of the quilting, etc.

For this piece I used a 75 quilting needle and had absolutely no problem.  The purple thread is a Superior 50 weight Masterpiece thread on top and a 60 weight Superior Bottom Line thread in the bobbin with a 2.00 tension.  For the background quilting, I used Isacord thread in both the top and the bobbin with a 1.5 tension.  For use in my Bernina 430, I also threaded the Bottom Line through the little hole in the bobbin case--which helped to pull the top thread down into the fabric and prevented the bobbin thread from showing on the surface of the quilt.
Of course, one of the major challenges of this piece was using a dark thread on a lighter, fairly blank top because any boo-boos are sure to stand out.  There are some, of course, but overall I was very happy with the end result.