More Feathers

My FMQ Feathers are starting to get better.

I used to really hate feathers, but as I improve my technique, I'm learning that it is actually a pretty fast fill that gives some good motion to the final quilt.

I had some transparency sheets (from the era of teaching on overhead projectors).  I placed one on the section I had to fill in then played with some placement using a dry erase marker.
I have some trouble with the direction change and it took a couple tries on the inner feathers.

I have this taped above the machine for reference.

I made a template from poster board to mark the spine.  I just traced over the transparency with a ball-point pen which gave me a scoring mark on the cardboard to use as a cutting line.

The blue chalk pencil is working well on the red.

It is also helpful to have a reference line to remind me where the inner feathers divide for the upper and lower parts.

I am slowly figuring out that on the home machine, my secret is to keep the feathers relatively small.  Otherwise I don't have the room on throat-plate to make a continuous looping motion.  The bigger feathers tend to end up more square as I am trying to squeeze the end in or have to re-position my hands.

OK...back to the machine.