Days 8 & 9 - Janet

Day 8 - Yesterday was busy so I didn't get a chance to post, but I did get some stitching in.  I had so much fun last weekend with my Sunny Days quilt, I decided to play again!  Same idea, only this time with some raw edge applique.  I got the sun fused to the background, and a layer of batting FMQ/trapunto'd to it, and then got it sandwiched and ready to go.



Sun FMQ appliqued with layer of batting
(sorry about the colour it was late and dark!)

Day 9 - Then today I had some real FMQ fun.  I wanted to do different things then the thread work one, so started with the sky where I echoed the sunrays, and did a little curved cross hatching in the process.  My object with this was to try and keep my stitches neat and a relatively equal distance apart.



I used a 50/3 varigated King Tut thread by superior up top and Gutterman 50/2 in the bobbin  80/112 topstitch needle

Then, because I really like the Gold holoshimmer sliver I used on the sun last time, and the McTavishing I did in the sky, I combined these two in one of the sun swirls.  I like it!

Now I have to decide what I'm going to do in the rest of the sun - I am going to leave that one swirl unquilted so that you get the pouffy effect on it, but I'll need to do some more on this tomorrow.

Happy quilting!
Janet

Colleen/Oz day 5 - 6

I havent had much time to sew but did work on a couple of Mug Cozy's I am making for the fundraiser Festival. The pink with black dots was fun I tried to create a flower pattern by connecting the dots with curves. These are only 3" x 10" finished. The USMC mug cozy I did a mini meander stitch around the emblems, you cant see it from the front side in the pic but can see it on the back. I have made 10 of these so far. They will have velcro for closure. They fit a 10" mug.
Happy FMQ!
Colleen

Day 1 and day 2

I have to admit that I was bad. I had every intention of posting about day 1 yesterday but by the time I got home from work I barely got the quilting done!

After seeing some of the beautiful work y'all are doing I'm almost ashamed of mine. But I am a very much a beginner at FMQ and the only way to get better is to practice, practice, practice which is why we're doing this isn't it?

Day 1 was mostly getting prepared to quilt. I did do a little on a scrap of fabric and batting. this is the result

All in all not too bad.

Day 2 I worked on a practice piece. I have a hard time with basic meandering. This wasn't too bad, I only really messed up two places. One I got to close to the line, the other I actually crossed it. The line meandering technique was a whole lot easier for me but for some reason I could not slow down doing this technique. My machine sounded like it was preparing for take off! lol But all in all it came out pretty good. The next square will be loops and then the last square will be clamshells. I hope it will help me learn more control. My ultimate goal is feathers! I adore quilts with feathers and REALLY want to master them.

after all this practice I'm going to be brave and quilt this:

Bonnie

Day 6 and Day 7 from Cheryl

I seem to only be able to grab a 15 –30 minutes time frame each day, but at least it’s something. Thanks Wendy and Joanne for the challenge, it was just what I needed to jump start the FMQ again. Here is what I have been doing for the my day 6 and day 7.

For day 6 I finally figured out the swirl design for my daughter’s quilt. It was staring right at me in one of the fabrics in the quilt.

It’s a  feather design with swirly curls for the feathers. I wanted to quilt the red blocks in red and the only red thread that I had left was a spool of invisfil 100 wt. poly.

So I did one small area and it was a dream of a thread to work with, It melted into the fabric and showed very little wobble in the back tracking areas. The small area that is next to the swirl feather is about 1/2” wide by 1”  long. The invisfil thread is so fine that you can get very detail in the spacing and control of your movements. If you ever get a chance to work with this thread, do try you will be amazed by the control you can have.

On day 7 I started quilting the red blocks in DD quilt, going slow and that is OK. I mark each 3” block with a pilot frixion pen just enough to see. It might take me the next 7 days to do this quilt, at least I will have been working on it and not folded up in the corner. One thing that I noticed about this design is that every now and then the swirls form a heart shape, fitting for who the quilt is going to.

Cheryl M.

Joanne's Day 8 and 9

Day 8

Day 9

I have been working on a little (12" x 18") sample inspired by a free pattern from Ivory Spring.
I recently purchased a few Aurifil 50 wt grab bags from Tristan Threads and wanted to try something new to me - using different colours of thread. I still have a few more things to add to the sample.

Day 8 & 9

I am glad I got all of the lawns thatched before all of this rain. Wonder how much snow we will get tonight?? I started on my tablecloth today but decided I needed to change the top color because my stitch in the ditch wasn't always that accurate. (Ripping is a good job to do when watching hockey playoffs.) I had a nice time in Stonewall at the quilting store (in between my daughter's hockey games). It sounds like the Morden show next weekend includes several stores.

Wendy

Day #9

I finished my Pink String quilt tonight! WooHoo! Nine days at the machine and now I can move on to something else. Still need to bind it though.  I hate to post these dreadful pictures but its the best I can do at this time of night. I will get a better one in the morning. 

Colleen - Day 6

I finished all my corner triangles. Now all the orange triangles are quilted.

Click on the photo to see an enlargment.

Next I will be quilting inside the center star. I marked it today. I did the Orange first to get myself warmed up. I didn't want to do the center until I was used to quilting more. I want it to look good.

Nice Loops...

Day 8 - I did long wavy FMQing line on a plastic bag keeper. It was good for a larger practice piece. I liked how most of them turned out...but they definitely are not symmetrical.

 I did do some stitch-in-the-ditch before I did the FMQing.

I really like how it turned out. If you want to see the finished project, check out today's post.

Now, for today's accomplishments...I made a log cabin block and quilted it for my FMQing practice for day 9. The loops turned out good, still not symmetrical, but Oh well...if I want to keep FMQing, I better not worry about symmetry for a while!

 

I really like today's results.

I've noticed with FMQing that I think I like the results better when I hold the sandwich a little father away from the needle and just pull it around. Also, pulling the material towards me rather than pushing it away.

The fun has just begun...
Amanda

FMQ Challenge Day 9

Busy day today - in Perth - I think I must have driven over 400kms today...However I have managesd to get a small amount done and hope to get more accomplished tomorrow.

Trying some different varigated thread - Aurifil top and bottom.  Till I ran out of bobbin thread, and as I need to clean and oil the machine.  I have some wonderful instructions for that from the Bernina8 yahoo group.

I thought that was a good time to stop as I am way to tired to tackle more!

Also did a bit of filling, and tried out some 'bouncing bananas' that Diane Gaudynski does....not too good at those.

I hope to also learn some new things tomorrow as I have some leaves to work out...if I can ... in between getting my cushion done.

Will catch up again tomorrow.

I am astounded at how everyone is progressing - all the work is coming on so much.  Just great!!

.

FMQ Day 9 Mary Ann/ND

Today my goal was to completely free motion without any pre-set design.
YLI see-through clear in the top
Sulky 40W rayon sunny yellow variegated thread in bobbin
I chose fabric with a design I could follow, then chose to continue to add thread in circles and swirls, for a 'sunshine' effect.
My batting was white felt which would be appropriately flat for a mug rug.

It is such a dark, gray morning here (rain and snow) that it was quite challenging to take photos.

Now you can see why I'd like to create a little sun :-)

Prom is tonight for my DD!  Crossing my fingers that there won't be a blizzard, even though we are currently in a blizzard warning.

God bless the families across the southeast who have faced such terrible destructive tornadoes this past week.   

Sending lots of loving thoughts and prayers your way!

Ruth's days 8 & 9

I worked on the border to my basket quilt yesterday and today.  I finished about half of it.  I layered the quilt in 2 pieces so I wouldn't have the whole quilt to work on with my small sewing machine.  At least this half is finished!

Today I'm getting together with two quilters that I met via blogging!  Gotta go get ready.

Days 7 and 8

The FMQ Challenge is going great.  Lots of fun and we all see TONS of improvements!  My weekdays are hectic and I don’t get much chance to sew, but because the Challenge is to sew every day, here’s my days 7 and 8. 

 

This is the weekend, however, and I' have more time to quilt.  This piece will become just a warmup piece.  When the week begins again, I’ll find another small piece to work on every day.

-Wendy

Sue - Day 5

Taking the easy way out today.  I was FMQ straight lines on a Bargello.  I know I don't need to FMQ the lines, but really it goes so much faster!  Just doing a diagonal line through each square to try to enhance the pattern.  On the border I would love to do a curved grid, but not sure I'm brave enough.  Anyone have any helpful hints for a curved grid?  Other suggestions for the border?  Your comments are greatly appreciated!

Raewyn Day Four

Day Four

I didn't get to my machine until late tonight so when the bobbin ran out of thread I called it quits.
Tonight I sat and stared at my calico sandwich for a while then decided I needed to practise at getting the needle and thread where I wanted it to go - last night I seemed to suddenly head off in a direction I wasn't intending for no apparent reason -sigh - So I concentrated more and tried to keep co-ordinated!!
Maybe doing some Brain Gym exercises before I started would help to cross over the right and left side of my brain.
I'm sure my fmq looks heaps better in real life than it does in the photo (grin) so I live in hope. I feel it won't be long until I feel confident to do some on a real live quilt.
Thank you for the encouraging comments for my last several posts.
Keep up the great work everyone,
Raewyn

Corina - Day 1

True to form I am starting on the last possible day! All week I was planning on which quilt I was going to free motion quilt on. At the last minute I opted to start with some muslin and scrap batting (totally chickened out). I've quilted a few of my quilts with good old meandering, or wavy lines, but never with actual designs. I find the thought of starting on a real project a bit daunting (which is why I have a stack of free motion doodling samples, but not many finished quilts). Perhaps after a few days of practicing I will give it a go. For now I would like to practice my feathers. I'm not unhappy with them from far away, but up close I need to get my stitch length more even and the feathers a bit smoother and longer (the whole feather seams kind of narrow). I also need practice following marked lines. Every time I've tried to quilt a motif on something by following the lines it looks like I've been drinking more than just coffee!

front

back of sample

Jen Day 3

Yesterday I quilted 3 more feather sprays and 1 more wreath. I don't know why, but feather sprays are much easier to quilt than feather wreaths. Maybe because I have spent a little bit of time doodling feather sprays on paper.

I dreamt I was FMQ last night. I was graceful and flow-y and quilted like a ballerina. Not like the hunch-backed ogre I feel like when I FMQ. I've been working on trying to relax my shoulders. I find that wine helps.

Day #8

I had very little free time today but I did manage to spend a bit on my string quilt.  It is looking good! I am determined to get it finished on the weekend.

Colleen - Day 5 sick but did a little

I did this corner. Bad photo. I hope my next photos are better.

This is what is in the corner. I left out the center circles. With black thread it just becomes to dark at the circles.

FMQ Day 8 Mary Ann/ND

Sew much more success with the right threads!
YLI on top
Mettler silk finish in bobbin
90/14 needle
muslin and Warm & Natural batting
tension 2
Baby Lock Quest Plus machine
"Heirloom Machine Quilting" pattern from Harriet Hargrave

I am VERY happy with this result!!

Please tell me what you think...