20 Mar WIP Wednesday
Wherein I try free motion quilting! Not too bad for my first try, but plenty of room for improvement. I’ve been wanting to learn to FMQ for ages, but just kept putting it off due to more urgent items on the to-do list and a bit of fear of the unknown. I spent some time on Sunday afternoon reading Angela Walter’s book, Free Motion Quilting, so I felt better prepared. I’ve also made up a few practice quilt sandwiches to work on. I did forget to change my needle and realized after I finished that I’d been using a 70 needle. I think most people recommend an 80 or 90, so I’ll try that next time.
Here’s my progress so far on the leaders and enders quilt: I’m focusing first on the dark-light-dark strips I need for the nine patches. I need 46 of these and have all 46 of the dark-light part done, so now I’m adding the second dark and am nearly halfway finished with those. Next I’ll work on the light-dark-light strips.
I’ve been piecing some plus blocks from my stash of Bella (and a little Echo) by Lotta Jansdotter.
More to come on this in a few weeks. I’m almost ready to pin and quilt.
I’m linking up with Lee’s WIP Wednesday. Click over and see what everyone is up to!
How are your WIPs coming?
Ginia
Posted at 19:22h, 22 MarchYour FMQ looks great. Have you looked at Leah Day's "Free Motion Quilting Project" at http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/ The videos are great. I have found them to be very helpful.
Casey York
Posted at 19:15h, 21 MarchYour free motion quilting looks great, Debbie! I hope you're enjoying the process. I'm still trying to get over my fear and start practicing!
Love your Lotta Jansdotter blocks, too!
Renee
Posted at 14:45h, 21 MarchI have a few pieces from the Bella line and love them, especially the little trees and birds! Your plus blocks are a neat idea! Your FMQ looks good! There's always room for improvement, or new designs to learn and practice, or tension issues to overcome. But as long as you like the process, it's worth it! I always try out a new design on a practice sandwich, and use a needle size 80, though I honestly I haven't tried anything else!
Leanne
Posted at 14:14h, 21 MarchHave fun with the fmq! I use a 90/14 topstitch needle. The topstitch part is important, there is a grove in the needle that the thread will ride in so there is less friction. Your quilting looks lovely as do your blocks.
Added: Please consider turning the word verification off, I am joining a friend blogged to request this. If you have a lot of spam, turn off anonymous comments and the spam will clear, but the word verification is slow and hard and takes time away from fun things like quilting.
JHNickodemus
Posted at 14:55h, 20 MarchBut most importantly did you have fun free motion quilting?! I got bit by the bug after I realized I could complete a quilt from start to finish!