Feathered wreaths and stressfree feathers

I've finished a charity quilt for a wonderful friend of mine. I really wanted to highlight the circles the piecing made.

I decided to do a feathered wreath in each circle.

My next step was to elevate those organic curvy lines with very straight and rigid lines.

I put 1/4" echoed lines between each of the circles. The contrast in graphic style between curvy and straight works nicely with each other.

Finally, I treated her outside borders as all one unit.

With my tan thread, I stitched a broad ribbon spine for some long, sumptuous feathers expanding and contracting down the length of each border. Each feathered ribbon is filled with curves that arc in the opposite direction from the actual feathers. The result is a balance to the eye but movement around the quilt as your eye dances from corner to corner.

It took me longer than usual to do this quilt as it involved a lot of ruler work for the straight lines. However, my using the stressfree feather technique, the wreaths and border were almost meditative for me.

Next up on the frame- Tigger!