So now I can appreciate why people love free motion quilting. I'm not at the love stage yet, but I'm pretty happy with how my first FMQ top came out - and I haven't even put it through a wash/dry cycle yet! I completely the entire top in a day of quilting which I think is pretty fast considering how many stops and starts I unnecessarily threw in because of my own mistakes.
What mistakes you might ask? Thank you for that encouragement but in the middle of my second block I was simultaneously forgetting to breathe, lacking planning enough to know where next to direct my fabric, and interrupted every 5 seconds by the kiddos. I panicked and did this:
It's so spastic that it defies all logic! I figured that the best thing to do instead of swearing and spending 15 minutes picking it all out was just to stop, pour another glass of wine, and move onto the next block. I could always go back and redo it before I bound the whole thing. Whoops. Forgot to do that last part.
I know that most everyone considers the meandering stipple to be the easiest of the free motion designs, so I must be stipple-challenged because I just can't easily create the pattern in the machine. Instead, I did continuous curlicues in the black and white portions of each block and travelled column by column. When those were all done, I did a micro-curlicue through the black sashing between blocks. I think it's going to crinkle up SO nicely in the wash!
The Summerville was just so perfect for the backing because all those cute little characters are a pretty good color match for the mix of solid color sashing on the front.
I used more of my leftover black and white strips to make a pieced black binding. This quilt finished up at 52 x 68.
I was toying with the idea of giving it away but my husband likes it a whole lot more than I anticipated, so it might end up staying home with us. One more quilt to add to the pile!
Yay! Congratulations on a fantastic first FMQ finish! The curlicues are great but particularly impressed with the little mini ones! And I think it is OK that you kept the somewhat-less-than perfect quilting in the quilt. It proves you did it by hand, so to speak, and you will see your progress when you perfect the skill (which will be very soon I predict!). Beautiful quilt...definitely a keeper!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your first FMQ finish!! YAY :) Love it, the quilt is beautiful. I laughed about the spastic part, cannot tell you how many times I have done that!! LOL Wine does help :D You will see improvement with every quilt for sure. As for stipple, I can't do it either! And when I try, I get a LOT of that spastic quilting :)
ReplyDeleteYAYAY!!! I can't do a stipple to save my life - it always becomes loops. :D And once its crinkled and in a ball on the sofa, you'll never notice the mistakes. You could just call you're little whoops an animal cracker...
ReplyDeleteYou've made me laugh...stippling is not easy!! ...and I'm glad you left your spasticity :-)) character!! Good job!!
ReplyDeleteGood for you! I am going to take your attitude to my first FMQ projects and learn as I go. I'd be thrilled if mine turned out as well as yours!
ReplyDeleteYUM! What a perfect name for this beautiful quilt. I used to get all worked up about the quilting part. But love your attitude and totally agree its worth moving on than picking up and those stitches. Isn't every quilt beautiful in its own way?
ReplyDeleteWith FMQ everyone is different, whatever pattern you doodle a lot on paper, that's what would be easy for you to quilt. That could be your next FMQ design ;).
I love this little quilt! So much fun. I think you did a great job with you FMQ.
ReplyDeleteThis is fabulous and no one is going to notice a little wonky FMQ when they are cuddling up under this... Another beauty to add to the collection:-)
ReplyDeletewow!! this pattern looks so cool with the bright colors setting off the black and whites!
ReplyDelete:) Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation
Wowzers!! What a gorgeous quilt! Love the pattern and the colors are beautiful! Congrats on your first FMQ! I've yet to do it, but it scares the heck out of me. Lol. Visiting (and new subscriber) from Finish It Up Friday
ReplyDelete~ Jess ~
Everything Is Coming Up Rosie
I would have a hard time parting with that quilt, too. This turned out pretty spectacular! I love the bright solid block edgings!
ReplyDeleteI love the colors in your quilt. Really beautiful. I love the little "special" patches of FM in my quilts. I always leave them in. When I see them later, I always smile at the memory of whatever it was that caused me to momentarily go just a wee bit crazy:)
ReplyDeleteSuch an effective color scheme. Congratulations. I think it's best to use whatever FMQ stitch feels most natural to you and curliques are you.
ReplyDeleteLove the back, too.
Way to go for tackling a larger scale project for your first free motion quilting adventure! People are forever saying that it's all about practice, practice, practice. They're not wrong! :) It's a great quilt and those little speed wobbles will just make you smile down the road!
ReplyDeleteI love it! I remember when you were bringing the blocks to BMQG meeting at Quilter's Way. It's absolutely stunning! I love all the bright pops of color!!!
ReplyDelete