Quilt Along #45 - My FMQ year

This is the last Quilt Along for the year. To start off with, a huge 'Thank you' to Leah from Leah Day's Quilt Along Wednesday for organizing and running this weekly Quilt Along. It has been amazing.

Last year actually around this time, I decided that I wanted to concentrate on FMQ for the coming year. This arose out of  a realization that I needed to get a bit more serious about FMQ if I wanted to expand my skill levels. Up to then, I would produce quilt after quilt and every time it came to the quilting I felt I was starting all over again in terms of FMQ...this invariably meant that I would return to the same designs because I felt more comfortable doing them. At one of the quilt shows that year I was again admiring some FMQ and realized it was time I do something about this. While not overly confident, I was sure that this was something that could be learned with time.

These were the two designs that I would normally do on my quilts, some basic stippling and my trusted leaf design.

I went on Leah's blog to look at some designs to pick for some practice when I saw Leah talking about the Quilt Along. I initially hesitated when I realized I probably would need to set up a blog...but then thought 'what the heck'...this also became an adventure, but that is another story.

My FMQ year

We have done some amazing work over the year...I looked back over the posts recently and realized how extensive this was. Initially we did some basic FMQ...lines, in-the-ditch stitching, stippling. Then came the little Wholecloth...I remember taking one look, thinking 'I cannot do that'. Well, it turned out stunning! After that we did several different designs, and I discovered I was born to zipple. I could actually zipple myself out of the tightest spot and fill any space pretty consistent.

I think by then I had produced what I called my 'practice quilt'. Just squares with some sashings in between with a simple border. This was invaluable as it meant that I could just pull it out from week to week and practice the designs on there...a huge time saver. Lots of practice of stitching in-the-ditch and backtracking and most of all, practice in not being perfect. Also discovered that I really do better with fairly contrasting thread rather than the blend-in variety. And who would have thought but I started to use Polyester batting and Polyester thread and ...nothing happened!

The Wonky Block quilt...what an adventure. Never had FMQ an entire quilt before.

I have learned so much this year. I think what has stood out most for me is that I am now:

- not afraid to FMQ in-the-ditch...simply had to get over that
- can backtrack over my stitching in an orderly fashion (more or less)
- not so reluctant to try new and different designs (have a look at my recent post So Inspired)
- able to just sit down and usually FMQ without any major tension or thread issues (and if there are, I am not so clueless)
- able to produce some fairly consistent stitches and seem to know what speed I need to use with different designs, and

I am totally addicted to FMQ!

Practice certainly is the key to FMQ and the Quilt Along has helped in pushing me along. Along the way I have enjoyed the company of other quilters participating in the Quilt Along. Lots of interesting questions and lots of great stitching by everyone and very kind comments all along. I have enjoyed this Quilt Along and am looking forward to the new year.  Definitely will keep up the FMQ.

Until next time

Karin

Quilt Along #22-Wonky Block Quilt

Finished my wonky block quilt. I am really happy that I decided to do this one in the last minute even though I am still limping a week behind. Learned so much from doing this and I am really pleased with the outcome.

First of all - scale: kept loosely to a scale of a little bit less than 1/2 inch; that worked for most designs, but I discovered that some designs worked better at a 1/4 inch for me, i.e sharp stippling

Also, found this exercise really quite liberating as there was no point focusing on stitch quality. Had I done this, I would have gone mad. There are many issues in there...tiny stitches, wonky stitches and just plain ugly stitches but I found that the eyes seem to only see the majority of the stitching which looks absolutely fine. I was actually quite amazed by that and hence stopped worrying about it.










A look at the individual designs:

Loopy Lines design:
  

Not a problem but a bit tricky to fit into some areas depending on which direction you came from.

Sharp Stippling:

 Bit nervous about this one as I had read in some other posts that people had issues with that. I did two areas of this, one in a loop section and one larger area displayed above. As it turned out, I did two different scales. The above one is quilted at about 1/4 inch and that suited me somewhat much better. Once I got into the rhythm of this it just flowed and the effect is quite pretty. I think I prefer the design at this scale.

Zippling:

This was a big surprise to me...loved it. I am born to zipple. Worked like an absolute dream, could zipple myself out of any corner, had no issues with direction and the whole thing just flowed. Not sure I followed Leah's example of what this should actually look like. Seemed to develop my own way of doing this and have some pretty odd shapes in there. But again, the eye only sees the majority of the design which is consistently zig-zaggy enough. I was most impressed with this. Definitely will use this again.

Circuit Board:



Absolutely dreaded this one and nearly chickened out. Funny enough my brain does not appear to be wired for this one. Only worked for me after I drew myself a loose grid across the entire area (about 1.5 inches). This way I was surrounded by horizontal and vertical lines - while I did not quilt within those boxes I could always see the lines in the corner of my eyes. Not one of my favourites, even though it looks quite nice.




 Here is the end result.

Wonky Block Quilt 51" x 42.5"

Just need to find a proper name for this quilt and make a label.

Thank you, Leah, from Leah Day's Quilt Along Wednesday for this great project. Learned heaps from it and (bonus) this was just the right idea for this fabric.

Questions I had from last Quilt Along (which I posted too late):

- how far do you quilt to the edge of the quilt?

- does anybody have any tips on how to remove blue chalk marks (the variety that is used for dressmaking? The packet says to use a damp cloth which I tried and it does not just dissolve, so I am wondering if it is going to come out at all.

- I have a Pfaff machine and have a drop-in bobbin case - would you use the Magic Bobbin washers with that?

Until next time

Karin