January 2015 FMQ Challenge

As you may have read, QuiltShopgal (formerly SewCalgal) is hosting the 2015 FMQ Challenge. Several design options are given each month to chose from and the task is to make a pillow featuring your design.
This is going to be a long post!

I chose LuAnn Kessi's feather filled heart version for the challenge. Just loved the look of that. I made my pillow 14 inches as I have two pillows of that size that need replacing. For the fabric I used a shot cotton of my favourite colour and my favourite thread, Aurifil 50/2 (No 2460 (red), 2445 (pink), 2134 (gold).

Here is my drawing

I then traced the image onto the fabric using a light box. I am glad that I did spent a bit of time on the drawing because I did not find it that simple to fill the whole heart and had to find my own way of drawing the feathers to fill out the spaces (particularly on the left side) so that I could be sure that the stitching would flow smoothly for me.

Starting the process

Loved stitching the feathers

 As you can see I also marked a grid on either side before I basted the piece.

I have been doing a fair bit of reading and learning lately...if you followed my blog you would have read that I purchased two of Cindy Needham's classes over at Craftsy during one of their Blitz sales. I am going through her class on Wholecloth quilts and was inspired to do one of her grids. This is a simple grid that gives the most amazing texture. While I had learned the cathedral window filler before I have not really used it much and was intrigued by Cindy Needham's way of doing this. She actually stitches the gridlines out first which slightly alters the overall appearance and texture. So, I gave this a go...a bit labour intensive but so worth it.

Here is the cathedral windows design with the gridlines stitched out beforehand

Love this texture

and here is the grid of the cathedral window without the gridlines stitched. The difference in texture is slight, but noticeable.

Cathedral window design

And may I mention one of the things that Cindy Needham had been stressing in her class...not to sweat over the background fillers in terms of the stitches...its the texture that will be noticed, not the stitching. That really stuck in my head and was very helpful...no stress, just very relaxing to follow those lines.

Continued with my pillow yesterday and finished it today.  Put a simple swirl in one corner and then tried another filler that I had seen on Cindy Needham's class: the feather filler. This is a filler that is credited to Leah Day (Freemotion Quilting Project) and I had seen it before but again, never tried it. Was in the mood for experimenting yesterday and just did it to see how easy it is to fill up an awkward shape. Started with just lightly drawing in a spine line and did my feathers on either side keeping them a smallish type size. Then I backtracked and came out with another spine line to fill the next space. If you go fairly slowly and deliberate, stopping to think about where you might want the next spine line and the space that you have to fill, this is actually not very difficult and fills in the space beautifully. Even if you were to make a mistake and have some space left over, you can always backtrack and fill that space in with some additional feathers. Given that this is a tight feather design I don't think you would see this. I must say, I am hooked. Thoroughly enjoyed this filler. Definitely will use this again.

Finished front

So much texture...I love it!

And here is my pillow...had to read up on inserting a zipper yesterday night ...no idea. Managed somehow but definitely need more practice.

Add caption

And another one. I am thoroughly impressed and took lots of photos. This one comes closest to the actual colour.

Can't wait for the next challenge! Have a look at the January linky of the 2015 Freemotion Quilting Challenge over at QuiltSphopgal...some beautiful pillows on display.

Until next time

Karin