Cindy Needham's Tutorial and new thread

Well I've been practicing fill designs using repeating lines, circles and curves. I bought a 50 spool starter kit of 100% polyester embroidery thread from Marathon Threads in Winnipeg. Look at these pretty colours!

 This box holds 48 spools.

 

 

I used my Bernina 930 sewing machine with a Bernina 70 needle.

It was great fun changing thread colours while practicing June's fmq challenge.

 

 

 

The first five photos are the front side because I used matching fabric and thread colour on the back side, it is difficult to tell the front from the back.

 

 

 

On my fmq sample quilt I used Gutermann 100% cotton variegated thread.

I'm also working on a girl in the yoga lotus position. 

Her clothes, skin and hair were coloured in with pencil crayons. 

The checked carpet is 100% polyester variegated serger thread.

 

 

I used the Marathon silver metallic thread on her jewelery.  This was the first time I used metallic thread in my Pfaff Creative 2.  The thread was breaking even with a metallic needle. More often than not the machine was making horrible noise in the bobbin area. 

I used white embroidery bobbin thread so it is very easy to tell the back side from the front.

 

This isn't finished, the background behind her needs filling. I'm thinking about filling it with green leaves or gold filigree.  Perhaps a golden budda?  Any suggestions on filler would be very welcome, as well as tips on sewing with metallic thread.

Free Motion Quilting - June - I'm not the last one this time :)

I had so much fun with this one.  Started with a square, sewed some random lines and then started filling all the sections.  No rulers, just free motion and seriously I was so very surprised at the checker board squares and how they turned out.  I will definitely do that again.  What fun!!  Oh and I used silk thread for the first time.  Man was that nice.  I also have two layers of some type of  left over poly batting.  Bottom  line in the bobbin.   The quilting was tiny, I put the dime in there so you could see the scale.  

Kaleidoscope quilt done

Oh I had fun with this one.  Well it started out fun, then it went to "uh oh what did I start" and then back to "well maybe it will look ok" to taking it off the frame and hey, I like it! What a crazy roller coaster ride, do you have quilts like that?  And because I knew it was for me I used every scrap on the back. I really wish I would have had a solid color backing.  Ahhhh next, live and learn :)

I knew this was going to be one I kept so there was no pressure, and I could do what I wanted.  I used two layers of batting, 70/30 blend Quilters Dream and Poly Down Quilters Dream.  I used two strands of bottom line in the top and bottom line in the bobbin.  

FMQ

Completed the quilting on this black WCQ - now it needs to wait a bit for me to get a zip, to make into a cushion!

I learned lots of things NOT to do here...forgot some of the 'ribbons at the sides of the designs.

Didn't get my tension right...This white ares in the centre are the white thread peeking up, and under my signature, I used brown silk in the bobbin - and it cam out brown...too tiny for me to undo!.

Andrea made a video of me quilting the small circles...and I wasted a whole day trying to get it onto a program  that would download on line...- but it wasn't successful.  Maybe some knows a good free program to tell me about ?  :)