Did you catch our June 2020 Quilted Joy Clubhouse live online meeting? This month we looked at quilting feathers in a square. If you missed the livestream it's available to watch (or re-watch!) whenever you'd like. Find it on the Quilted Joy Youtube channel!

Our main program for this month's meeting was all about quilting feathers in a square. Watch the video below to see how to fit quilted feathers into this common shape and so much more!

Quilting Feathers in a Square

I've been on quite the feathering kick lately, haven't I? And really, it's because quilting feathers is such a massive topic that we can all continue to learn about. So let's look at quilting feathers in a square!

In the video you'll see that I shared three ways to quilt feathers in a square. What all of these techniques have in common is that I broke the square down into smaller sections. For the first square I marked both diagonals and quilted my feathers within the four triangular units. In the second square I used those same diagonals, but I also marked a curved spine in each unit. In the third square I only marked one diagonal, and used that as my feather's spine.

You can fill you square with whatever kind of feather plume you prefer. I really enjoy the curled plumes, but there are countless kinds of feather styles out there! Be sure to join us on July 1, 2020 for our next Clubhouse meeting when we'll be talking about 5 beginner friendly feather plumes.

Mary Lou's Bonus Room Studio

For our Looky Loo Tour this month, we took a peek into Mary Lou's quilting studio. Mary Lou set up her APQS Lucey in her home's bonus room. And you can see she has the perfect amount of space for her 12 foot table. The first thing I noticed about Mary Lou's set up was the bench she has at her machine. She said she's only 5' 1" and with her Lucey set as low as it goes, she can't quite reach the back take up bar. So her husband built and carpeted those benches for her to make it easier to reach. I love seeing all these helpful additions husbands have created for their longarm quilting wives in these studio tours! Thank you again, Mary Lou, for showing us your fabulous quilting space!

Angela's Favorite Things - Hobbs Packaged Batting

There are a lot of things that can really change the look and feel of a quilt. Often we think it's the piecing or the quilting, but batting plays a big role too! The batting you use in your quilt will really affect the overall feel and look of your quilt. So this month, my favorite thing is Hobbs Packaged Battings.

I've carried Hobbs batting on the roll in my Louisville, KY store for years now. Recently we decided to also carry pre-packaged Hobbs battings as well! Over in our shop you'll find 100% cotton batting, 80/20 cotton/polyester blend batting in natural and black, and 100% polyester battings. My personal favorite batting for everyday utility quilts is the 80/20 blend. It washes well, which is so important when you've got kids and pets using the quilts! And after washing it shrinks a little bit, but not too much.

For more of my thoughts on batting, be sure to also listen to my interview on the Quilt & Tell podcast. You can listen to it here.

How Would You Quilt It? Claudia's Hometown Blooms Quilt

Over in the Quilted Joy Clubhouse on Facebook, Claudia posted a picture of her quilt asking for advice on how to quilt it. And I squealed when I saw it, because it's one of my Fons & Porter quilts! The quilt was featured in the 3400 series of the Love of Quilting TV show and the January/February issue of the Love of Quilting magazine.

When I first quilted my Hometown Blooms quilt, I chose to quilt it with a simple all over edge to edge design. I felt like the fabrics used in the quilt were just too busy for the quilting to show. But Claudia's version of the quilt will show off some fabulous custom quilting! It was so much fun to finally create a quilting design for this quilt that highlights the secondary designs in the piecing. Thanks for sharing your quilt, Claudia! I can't wait to see how you choose to quilt it!

The Quilted Joy Clubhouse live meetings occur on the first Wednesday of each month at 1pm Eastern. Our next Clubhouse meeting will be July 1, 2020 at 1pm Eastern/Noon Central and we'll be talking about 5 beginner friendly feather plumes. If you'd like to watch live, you can find us on Facebook in the Quilted Joy Clubhouse or subscribe to the Quilted Joy Youtube channel to be notified about our videos. Don't worry if you can't join us live. The videos will remain available on both Facebook and Youtube afterwards so you can watch them whenever you want!

Hope to "see" you at the next live meeting!