Making 'art' for the sitting room

First I cut out four petals and used Seam a Steam to apply them to the background. I placed a bit of batting behind it.
Then I stitched them down using Patsy Thompson's EKG sitch.

I added a bit of texture with some purple thread.

The stitching shows more from the back in the photos.

I added a bit of grey/black fabric for the centre of the flower.

Then stitched on the middle. This bit took the longest (about an hour or so)

I then cut away the excess batting. This flower now has built in trapunto.

Today I shall try and find time to add some borders and feather them, and hopefully do the background quilting.
This piece is to be mounted on a 20" square canvas, though I still haven't found my staple gun.

And then the fireworks

The back before the fireworks.
My current favourite pen for dark fabrics (though you have to wait a little while for the white to show up). This one disappears by just holding the steam iron above the work. You can also press it out but I don't want to compress my quilting.

And the fireworks. This is straight from Patsy Thompson's DVD but on my feathers. It's harder to keep the central spine clear, but it's worth it for the effect.

And the back after the fireworks. I used black Bottomline in the bobbin.

Can you guess what this will be?

Firstly I drew a circle and two basic lines for the fireworks feathers,
Then stitched the basic feathers
Added the fireworks
Two different gold Isacord threads
Then some background.
I'll post the finished when it is done.

I just had to do a little more on it.

So Marion was right to be shocked when I said I wouldn't finish it (grin). She knows I finish almost everything eventually.
I haven't had much time for sewing this week due to a combination of gardening, insomnia, not receiving the batting for the wholecloth until yesterday, chiropodist visit, taking the quilts to Southampton collection point etc.... But I had to do some just to maintain some sanity.
So I've finished the feathers and done a little of the background. I still feel the fabric colour is either not light enough or dark enough to show the feathers off nicely. I haven't a clue as to what I shall do with this piece. All that thread stops it from being cuddly enough for the kids at the refuge.
Anybody know what to do with a 40" square quilt?

The basic feathers.

The basic feathers.
I've quilted them using Madeira Polyneon. This is heavier than what I am used to using on a daily basis. I find my stitch length isn't too bad on the Patsy feather on the left but my hands go on auto pilot to do the more traditional one and want to do tiny stitches. I also found because I stitched the traditional one first, I had a muscle memory of doing more even feathers. I didn't manage to get the more organic look until the top of the feather on the left. And then when I went to the traditional feather, I had the opposite problem, my hand wanted to make the design more loose. I don't know if you can see it or not but the markings on the right hand traditional one are only used as guidelines, the lines are not written in stone. I find going for the more natural curve when sewing gives a better result than following the design religiously.
The outlining is an idea from Diane Gaudynski. I like the 'finish' it gives a feather.

Todays Playing

Today I thought I'd play again with Patsy Thompson's feathers and my own.
I've drawn out two areas about the size of a normal piece of paper. One the left I have just drawn a vague spine, like a question mark like Patsy guides you. On the right I've drawn a normal feather. I have given it a double spine and I've just realized I don't want that for this technique, so I'll just ignore that.
I want to see what these look like side by side.
I found out just now that it's not a good idea to try and draw on an ironing board. Far too soft.
I'll post more pictures as I do each stage.