Days 6, 7, & 8

I’ve been having so much fun! I find myself rushing home everyday to get to spend more time with my sewing machine. Day 7 I could only spare an hour, but I managed to quilt 5 wreaths and 2 feathers! Wow, I am getting so much faster. I am also doing much better on my backtracking. Quilting the feathers feels more natural too! I can’t believe the progress I’ve made after just 1 week!

Here’s my picture from last night. I left the paper on because I was rushed for time and I just wanted to quilt.

I can’t believe the rate I’m going through bobbins. I think because of all the backtracking I am doing and also because I have the stitch length set so low. I like it that low so I can tear the paper easily.

Last night (Day 8) I got home and was so exhausted. I still managed to quilt 3 feather sprays, but that was a struggle!

This is how my quilt clips have lasted! I get tired of rolling it up or rolling it out and just leave them off. What a lazy girl!

Jen’s Days 4 & 5

I had to skip a day because I was having other kind of fun. But I came roaring back this weekend by getting about 2-3 hours in each day. Since I’m doing all the black thread first, I can finally say that I completed one row of my quilt! I started my second row and am already making some fabulous progress. Here’s a picture of the back so you can see better.

It seems like that first row took forever to complete. Probably because all I could see was all the unquilted areas. Now I can see my quilted row and I feel like this project is within my reach! Some nights I feel like I have to wrestle and fight the quilt. Other nights it flows freely and we do a quilting waltz. Still a bit awkward and hesitant but my flow is improving.

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.

Jen Day 2

I was so excited about quilting yesterday that I left work an hour early to get more time in! I took pictures of my quilt all prepped for quilting:

There's my kitchen chip-clips holding my rolled quilt together. And there's my paper pinned to the top of my quilt. I pin in small, manageable sections so the paper doesn't get all wrinkled from me wrestling it through the machine.

I quilted a wreath and two feathers. Then I unrolled the quilt and counted how many wreaths I need to do. 64 full wreaths. One billion feather sprays. Oh my. Now I hate my quilt again.

I have quite the Love/Hate Relationship with this quilt.

Jen’s Day 1

Yesterday was my first day of the FMQ Challenge. I spent my break at work playing with the copy machine to enlarge my quilting patterns. Then I printed them on regular printer paper. When I got home, I pinned the quilting design right to the fabric and sewed right through the paper. The look on my husband’s face was priceless: “What in damnation are you sewing?!”

I traced the wreath first. I made my stitches very tiny since I have to remove the paper after. My lines were wobbly and not-so-good. But not bad either!

Then I traced the four feathers sprays around the wreath. These I felt more confident about and it shows! I greatly improved my backtracking skills. I even got comfortable enough to not sweat it when my needle strayed from the printed design. I spent about an hour and a half, although some of that was prep time: winding bobbins, picking out thread, clumsily trying to pin the paper to the quilt. To begin, I rolled one side of my quilt top in a tight roll and secured it with chips-clips from my kitchen. They held pretty well and I was very surprised. I am going to try to roll the other side tonight and I’ll take pictures of that too.

Yay! I’m officially in the Challenge!

Jennifer's Project

Hello everyone! I’m Jennifer from The Quilty Home. I joined the FMQ Challenge because I want to learn how to quilt beautiful feathers and flowers and swirls. My experience is quite limited, although my courage is limitless! For this challenge I will be practicing on my Rehab Quilt. Go here to read the story of this quilt.

I will be piecing on my Bernina Activa 220, using a FM foot and my walking foot. I will be choosing designs from the book 501 Quilting Motifs. I will be doing several designs. I am determined to get my practice in!
This week I have been working on piecing the back. I am using an old red sheet with some of the leftover black fabric thrown in. I am debating whether I should unpick a row and piece it in the back. I think that would look nice and make it just a little bit smaller for quilting. This guy is a monster! I bought some Warm and White batting (on sale at JoAnns) and will baste it this weekend.

I haven’t even thought about thread. Oh my.

I am so excited about this challenge! Reading everyone’s posts has made me even more excited. I can’t wait to quilt up this monster UFO. It might take 15 minutes a day for a 6 months; it’s so big!