The Feather Zone
"Feather Zone" by Jeanie Sumrall-Ajero & Teri Lucas
This quilt is a collaboration between me (Jeanie Sumrall-Ajero) and Teri Lucas. I designed the quilt at the same time I was designing the template shapes for our Feathers Template Mini-Pack. It was a bit of a challenge to put together the first time around – so much so that I scrapped that attempt and started over.
Almost the entire quilt is printed on 8.5″ x 11″ sheets of inkjet fabric with an Epson 2200. Only the thin red border is not printed. The dark purple border actually started as a lighter purple commercial fabric, but I needed it darker, so printed over it. Problem solved. 
Close-up #1 of Feather Zone
Construction of the quilt was a bit of a challenge because the center medallion is four squares of printed fabric (i.e., I used the poster print function in Kaleidoscope Kreator.) The pentagons and the gold wedges on the outer edge were pieced together forming a decagon with a hole in the center. I pressed back the seam allowance on the inside border of the pentagons and thought about applying glue stick, but was afraid that if I didn’t place it correctly the first time it would be a disaster. So I chose to cut thin strips of fusible and applied them to the seam allowance. Then on my work table, I put down a few layers of batting (for an ironing surface) and laid the medallion face up, then positioned the star border exactly where I wanted it. A quick press with a hot iron fused everything together and then it was a piece of cake to take it over to the sewing machine and stitch that seam!
When I sent the quilt to Teri, my only request was to “quilt it like a show quilt“. I got a couple of progress photos early on, then nothing until the quilt arrived at my hotel in Houston on setup day for International Quilt Market & Festival! To say I was blown away would be an understatement – in fact, I may have been dancing down the crate-filled aisles of the convention center.
A few of you may have already seen photos of the quilt posted on Facebook since a number of people stopped at our booth at Quilt Market/Festival to take pictures. I finally found time to take some photos of my own. Hope you enjoy them!
Close-up #2 of Feather Zone
Close-up #3 of Feather Zone
Close-up #4 of Feather Zone
Close-up #5 of Feather Zone
And now for the back… (Always remember to look at the back of one of Teri’s quilts!)
The back of Feather Zone
Close-up #1 of the back of Feather Zone
Close-up #2 of the back of Feather Zone
Close-up #3 of the back of Feather Zone
Teri & I plan to enter this quilt in some quilt shows, so hopefully some of you will be able to see it in real life.
Comments feed
What a beautiful quilt and the quilting is fantastic! It is hard to believe this is all printed fabric!
Thanks Connie! I used EQ Printables Premium Cotton Lawn Inkjet Fabric to print on. I’ve done a lot of testing of the different inkjet fabrics available and the type of fabric really does make a difference! The EQ Cotton Lawn not only gives me bright, vivid colors, but it’s nice and soft as well.
I absolutely love this!
Teri’s quilting is amazing.
this is stunning and is what convinced me to purchase the software. Now if only the pattern were available. I did purchase the project pack # 1 but found it disappointing, there is nothing I would ever use or try. Now I am thinking of purchasing pack #2, perhaps there might be projects on there I would try
Apologies for the long delay in responding Chris. I think I was in a holiday whirlwind when you left your comment. Favorite Projects Vol. 2 is all quilting/sewing projects. There are some good tips and how-to’s included in the project instructions, so even if you don’t want to make a particular project you might find some of the techniques useful.
Another thing you could do is look at commercial quilt patterns and find ones where it is easy to substitute a printed kaleidoscope for a block in the quilt. Patterns that are designed for focal point fabrics tend to work particularly well for this.
As far as instructions for the “Feather Zone” quilt, it is by far the most complicated quilt I’ve put together and doesn’t leave much room for error. (In fact, I had to scrap my first attempt and start over after I’d finished 80% of it.) When I write instructions, I want to be sure someone else can be successful and I’m not sure I can guarantee that with this particular quilt.
W0W, this quilt is stunning! The colors and the quilting are just so awesome, it should win quite a few awards!
Thank you for your kind words Karen!
I just saw on Facebook that you’ll be in Lancaster! How exciting..I’m definitely stopping by your booth. Feather Zone is stunning…when you know where it’s displayed, would you post that?
I’ve watched your lessons on “The Quilt Show” and found them very helpful. I can’t wait to see your booth!
I saw this quilt at the Machine Quilters Expo in Providence, RI. It was fantastic! Congratulations on all the awards it is winning.
Thank you Mary!
Carol, Feather Zone will be in Houston at International Quilt Festival this fall (Nov 1-4, 2012).
WOW! This is gorgeous…both the quilt and the quilting. The back of quilt is as beautiful as the front.