Free Motion Quilt Book

I am always on the look out for more filler type patterns for free motion quilting. I saw the cover of this book and was intrigued. It looked like patterns that I could replicate on my home sewing machine and they were different than many I had seen in ither books.

The title says First Steps and presents the book for beginners, but I feel that any tips I can pick up to improve my machine quilting us always worth the money. The design that really caught my eye was this one made using leaves. It's quite unique and I haven't seen one like it. The way it branches will make it so versatile for me.

Christina takes the branching one step further and developed these other designs.

I love doing swirls and feel very comfortable filling in an area with them. The leaves and berry designs are just an extension of that. I can't wait to try them.

Christina includes a bunch of small projects that are perfect for practicing. If you would like to learn more from her about free motion quilting, visit her blog: www.afewscraps.blogspot.com

And as I promised, it's noon on the East Coast, so it's time to announce the winner of the one yard piece of Grand Central Station fabric. Drum roll please! It's jwchevan@umass.edu. Your comment made me think about how you must have felt as a 6 year old traveling on the train. Shoot me an email with your snail mail and I'll send it right out.

 

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Choosing A Quilting Design

I have just emerged from 6 days of machine quilting.   Choosing the design for free motion quilting is pretty challenging for me.  I am pretty good at meandering or stippling which is like wiggle waggling all over the quilt.  Th goal is to keep the stitches even and the curves smooth.  I have used this method to quilt many quilts, so now I look for other types of quilting designs that make it a little more challenging.

I am always looking for sources for ideas.  There is a great blog, by Leah Day.  Her goal is to create a new quilting pattern every day for 1 year.  I believe she is on design # 240.  Here are thumbnails of the designs thus far.  http://www.daystyledesigns.com/365project.htm  She also posts videos so you can see how she does each one.  I have ordered her book,   From Daisy To Paisley that has 50 beginning designs that I really like.  The other books that I like are:
Mindful Meandering   by Laura Lee Fritz
Freehand Filler Patterns by Sue Patten
72 More Ways Not to Stippl or Meander  by Dijanne Cevaal
Machine Quilting Solutions by Christine Maraccini

When I have a new project to quilt and I do not know what design I am going to use, first I sit down with these books.  I look through them to try to ignite a few ideas.  Then I open my FMQ notebook to a fresh page and I start doodling with a pen or pencil.  I start with the original inspiration and see what it morphs into.  I need to be comfortable with the design to be able to do it in a repetitious manner all over my quilt top.    Very rarely does my final design end up looking anything like the ones in the book.

Sometimes  I start quilting and end up not liking it at all.  Some quilters have told me that they like to see mistakes or mis-steps as I like to call them.  So I will share my mis-step.  For  one section of the quilt, I decided to use echo quilting. 

I just wasn't happy with the way it looked.  

I ripped it out. 

I ended up stippling.

This is the finished  quilt.  I've named it Filigree Fantasy.  It measures 60"x 60".  

I am relieved and thrilled that it is done. 

Why Can't I Finish That Project?

The snow and the quilting of my latest quilt have conspired to keep me housebound.  I have not left my house since Tuesday night.  Today is Saturday.  I finished this quilt top in the Fall and I want to take it off my "To Do"  list. I really love it, so what's the problem?

What keeps us from finishing a project?  If we ignore time constraints, I think it is degree of difficulty, lack of direction, not enough knowledge and fear. This applies to many things in life.  In this case, it applies to my quilt top and it includes all of the above reasons. The easy things are what we do first.  It makes me feel so good  to accomplish items on my "To Do" list.  I even put little boxes in front of each item and put a big check mark there when I am done.  I tick off the easy things, 1-2-3 and then it gets harder and harder to go down the list.

Lee Cleland wrote a book called Quilting Makes the Quilt.  I have to say that the antithesis of that saying is that quilting can ruin a quilt. This is my biggest fear.  I gave up hand quilting years and years ago.  It just takes too darn long.  Many people who are not quilters think that quilting with a sewing machine is cheating and it makes the quilting a  piece of cake.  I can't tell you how many times I've heard "Is it hand quilted?"  I am here to tell you that quilting by machine is a skill unto itself.  It certainly does reduce the amount of time required, but it is in no way easy.

Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) adds another dimension.  It is like doodling with your sewing machine.  You put on a special foot, drop your feed dogs and away you go.  There are no rules and there are no lines to follow.  Your hands move the quilt and your foot controls the speed. Picking a doodle to quilt that complements your fabric design is another difficult step.   When the quilting is going well, it's like a beautiful dance.  When it is not going so well, you can make quite a mess.  It is stressful to say the least.  So there is the potential to ruin a beautiful quilt top that you have spent days/weeks sewing.  Procrastinate?  You bet.

And I am blogging because?

Great Blog

http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/
Everyone needs a friend like Kelly. She always seems to be on the cutting edge of anything fabric. AND she shares the links to what she finds!
This is a link she sent me to a wonderful blog. If you have any interest at all in free motion quilting, then you MUST click on this link. Leah Day is designing a new fill-in quilting design every day for 365 days. The link takes you to the start of her challenge. She is currently on Day 44. Leah has even augmented some of the designs with video, so you can actually see how she does it. This is wonderful.