UFO to WIP: Eagle - Quilting plan, take #2

Here is where I am at the moment on the Eagle.  Not entirely happy with the look, and not sure where to go next.

I tried my Trapunto (stuffed quilting spaces), on the small star and then horribly micro stippled around to get the feel for the puffiness of the batting.

Here is my start: stitched to one layer of batting and top fabric (looking at batting)

Right side up - outline of star 

Trimmed the excess batting from around star, using kids blunt tip safety scissors.

Picture below shows puffiness of one layer of batting.  Shiny reflection is Glad Press n Seal plastic wrap.  Open it up on hard surface (kitchen table) and use stencils or cookie cutters or whatever you have to draw out design.  Then stick it to surface of quilt.  Works like paper piecing - will come right up after you sew outline.  However, I forgot to pull it up for stippling and it made a mess. Guess that is another reason why its a test!!

Overview of yucky stippling and nice puffy trapunto star.

Here is an idea I had for quilting the tail feathers of the Eagle.  I need tons of travel stitching practice to work on before quilting this top.  I feel another couple of table runners to practice on are next in the FMQ (free motion quilting) list of things to do.  Maybe I'll do a turkey with feathers of same size to practice??

I live in military housing, and as such can not "improve" the unfinished basement.  So to hide the storage area, my husband hung up copper pipes with 550 cord for me (through the rafters).  The pipes hold some fabric shower curtains.  This rig is recycled from the last house where the pipes and curtains were used on our covered back porch for privacy and shade.  But here, they screen off the storage section of the basement.  And another use??  Why not!  Using skirt "clip hangers" close together, I have the Eagle hanging up on those same copper pipes.  It helps to get her off the floor and see what I am doing from a distance.

You will notice in the above picture that I have Glad Seal n Wrap stuck to the Eagle in the lower corners, with tracing of my current trapunto idea.  Here is a close up of those tracings, one swirl left and one in reverse.

Close up on Eagle of tracings...  about 80%  happy with this pattern.  I either need to shrink it to fit over the shoulders of the Eagle ....... or......  use only stars?  Maybe two at wing tips and one each over each shoulder to make it a complete design??  Or go back toward the idea of bunting with softer swirls (no edgy points), maybe in three echos.  I like the size of the stars, and the rest I am unsure of.

Oh, and lastly...  The idea of thread painting around the Eagle head to better transition from white and gold head feathers into his blue body feathers.  Below is my first ever try of that technique...

Real colors would be to start on the inside with white, then tan and then gold (instead of red seen here).  Another new technique.  I need to piece a few eagle head blocks together and practice that again to see what it looks like over a pieced section.