Josh's Eagle Quilt

Today the fabric pen came in the mail, and so I got to work and finished the quilt. I have taken pictures of the quilting process, and so I am going to show them.

I started quilting the background back in the middle of February.

I have spent the whole of last year practising on baby quilts to do free motion quilting on this monster. Quilting this big of a quilt is a big difference though, and I learned a lot. I still made puckers and the bobbin thread is tight in some of the curves. I will have to still work on that.

I started the actual eagle the end of March.

I decided how to quilt the feathers by starting with the tail.

Staying with the white thread, I then quilted the head. I had to switch to yellow for the beak and the eye.

Next I quilted the feet with orange thread, and the talons with black. 

Then I dove in on the wings.

I had to use a few different patterns for the different feathers, but I managed.

Then the body was one big piece of fabric. I pondered, but really had to sit down and figure it out as I went.

The second wing was the same process. I had to just start and see what I came up with. The last to be quilted was the black stop border. Next time I do this, I will make sure the quilt top is tighter when I pin it. There was too much extra fabric. Taking a bit more time, I could have lessened my problems with the fabric tucks if I had been more carful with the pin basting.

Here it is in the middle of binding. It took about two days to hand sew the binding down on the back.

The label. The new pen is fabulous. The ink glides over the texture of the fabric and gives a good line.

This is the fabulous pen.

And here it is on Josh's bed. I have ordered a black bed skirt. Still waiting on that to come, but soon his bed will be complete.

A sneak peak at the next project.