I have been a bit behind on the free motion quilt along (FMQA), but I played catch up today.
While I was on vacation, I did practice doodling spirals and other things in my notebook.
Turns out inspiration was right outside my hotel room door. Check out the carpeting in the hallway!
Unfortunately, I didn't notice this until we were checking out of the room. Or maybe I did, subliminally? I had doodled this night before.
Kay Lynne of Kay'z Quiltz had posted a fun tutorial for making free-motion posies. I finally had a chance to try it today. I was doing five petals at first, but then I realized it worked better with six. Fun!
I call this one, "What the H?"
My bobbin ran out halfway through making a flower. After I wound and replaced it, I took a stitch or two and heard a bad metallic clunk, and then my machine wouldn't sew anymore. The bobbin had fallen out of the case!
"What the H?" is about what I said at that moment. (There may also have been another letter in there as well, as in Frustrated.) I had to reposition the bobbin three times and re-thread the top thread again too. Then it was making a clacking noise, which is never good, so I dripped some oil in the holes and carried on. It finally straightened itself out, for the most part.
You can see where things went downhill in my quilting during this time, starting from one of the daisies on the left and proceeding into a bunch of half-baked spirals to the right. Oh well, it is what it is.
Finally, I made another row of spirals, just so I could finish on a good note.
Musically, I enjoyed Schubert and Mozart this afternoon. These young pianists do a fabulous rendition of Sonata in D for Two Pianos, which is one of my favorite Mozart pieces of all time. Enjoy!
The subject of the free motion quilt along this week was "pebbling." Which, in my case, translates to somewhat of a Rocky Horror Picture Show, viz:
My rock wall left a lot to be desired. Good thing I'm not planning a career in bricklaying.
And it had gone so well on paper...
So I tried some pumpkins. Better.
The maniacal monkeys quilted pretty much like I'd doodled them, but with less control.
My face probably looked like this too about that time.
The Led Zeppelin song "Kashmir" was on my mind as I doodled. I decided to play it (loud) while I quilted. It was incredible!
After all, what is pebbling without rock?
Check out this version. It's Alice in Chains (not Messrs. Page and Plant this time) with a symphony orchestra. I bet it was the highlight of this conductor's year. He is into it!
"Loops" was the subject of practice for the free motion quilt along this past week. I've attempted some loopy things before (ha! haven't we all?), and it did not go well, so I knew this would be a challenge for me. I think I did okay, but I know I'm going to need to spend more time on this kind of motion until I feel comfortable with it.
Oddly, there was no music happening in my head as I practiced these loops on paper. Nada. Crickets.
Of course, now that I see things here on the screen, I'm hearing a Strauss waltz. I think the muse needs to work on its timing.
I did come up with something I named "Ball & Chain." It was fun to draw and almost as fun to quilt.
My stitches got really tiny on those small circles in the chain.
Those open figure eight type doodles (third from left)? Fuggedaboudit. Not feeling the loose and loopy love this evening. I like the way they should look, though, so I'll come back to trying those again another time.
My second favorite, after Ball and Chain, was the loop within a loop. It kind of reminded me of peacock feathers. Either that or pimento stuffed olives.
Continuing with the loopy practice, I'm going to try to quilt some posies next. Kay Lynne of Kay'z Quiltz posted a tutorial and I'm fired up to give it a go!
Until next week's FMQA update, keep your needle moving!
I spent some time this evening practicing lines and angles as part of the free motion quilt along (FMQA) led by Christina at A Few Scraps.
I practiced making the various shapes on paper first, pretty much copying what she did. I liked her suggestions.
There's a rhythm to drawing these out, a "beat" to the repetitive pen strokes on paper. Sometimes a song would pop into my head from that. I also thought of names for most of the designs, which sometimes related to whatever song I heard in my head, as well as the overall look of a design.
For example, here's what I came up with on this page, from left to right:
Name: Frankenstein. Song: "Frankenstein" by Edgar Winter Group
Name: Snore
Name: Gap Tooth
[Nothing came to mind]
Name: Pueblo
[Yuck. Had trouble drawing this one.]
Name: T-Square. Song: "Green Onions" by Booker T & the MGs.
Name: Elf Ears
And on this page, left to right:
Name: Telephone Line. Song: "Telephone Line" by ELO, and "Telephone Song" by Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Name: [Nothing came to mind]. Song: "I Know What I Am" by Band of Skulls.
Name: Kite Tails (Christina's very apt description).
Name: Yard Sale Signs
Name: Stringed Peas
Name: Spiral Sixes
Name: P's, G's & Q's (I felt like I was writing those letters).
When it came to quilting these shapes, it was a whole 'nother story. I put on some music but not what you might expect: Classical music on public radio. Classical music doesn't distract me when I'm concentrating, and believe me, I was about to be concentrating.
I'm still all over the map with my machine speed, stitch length, etc. That's just going to take some time and more practice.
What I learned was that it helped to pause a bit at the point of an angle or else it'd be rounded. And doing plain zig-zaggy stitching was harder than it looked.
Also? Those kite tails were freakin' ridiculous to stitch! I gave up and went on to some funky looking stars instead. I kind of like how they turned out.
My favorite is—gee, wouldn't you know I didn't name that one, but it looks like Post-It Notes on alternating sides of a string (far right in the pic below). I also like the retro look of Telephone Line (third from right below), although it was a little tricky to get the hang of at first.
So that's the second week's report. I wish, for your sakes, my practice quilt wasn't quite so fugly, but for me it's what I needed—no pressure to make anything pretty, just to get on with it.
I practiced "wiggles" today as part of the free motion quilt along at A Few Scraps.
First I practiced drawing them on paper. I preferred to think of them as waves versus wiggles.
Then I thought of Pink Floyd and the lyrics to Comfortably Numb: You are only coming through in waves...
Wouldn't that be a great song to free motion quilt to? Alas, I only have the Scissor Sisters version on CD, and that doesn't have quite the same vibe.
Hi.
Welcome to my rear view. Sometimes I have the TV on when I'm sewing, but it's behind me. Thus the mirror.
Quilting gloves? Check. Bifocals? Check. Beer? You better believe it.
I liked quilting waves. Then I went back and did them again, so one part looks like a DNA strand.
Oopsie in the middle there. I let go of the quilt sandwich before my machine had come to a complete stop.
What has been most helpful is to hold my hands in a U-shape as I'm quilting. The only thing about that is I have to stop when I quilt to the bottom of the U formed by my thumbs, reposition, and restart. But once I got the hang of stopping and starting, it went okay. I definitely felt more in control that way.
I really like the ribbon effect when you do sort of a shadow stitch along the first line of stitching. The one above is my favorite.
I have a friend whose son is expecting their first baby, a boy, in November. I missed the baby shower last weekend, unfortunately, because we were at the benefit gig. This week, I thought I'd start pulling some fabric from the stash to see if I had enough on hand for a baby quilt. I had in mind what my friend described as the color scheme or theme of the baby's room, as well as some idea from their baby gift registry, which helped. Ultimately, I just started sewing, though, and this is what turned out.
This is my first stacked coins type quilt, and it went together really quickly with strip piecing. Now, if I'm being honest, the finished top strikes me as just "okay." But I guess I'm all right with that, and if the new mom and dad feel the same, maybe that will mean this quilt gets used a lot. Which is the whole point, right?
Although I started out winging it on the coin strips, I did eventually look up a tutorial when I got to the cream-colored kona sashing, because I wasn't sure how wide to make it. I found a great stacked coins baby quilt tutorial over on Moda Bake Shop by Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts.
I'll figure out how to quilt this later, after I get some more practice under my belt with the Free Motion Quilt Along at A Few Scraps. In that regard, I do have my practice strippy quilt top pieced. Christina recommended, "Do not think too much about your fabric choices. Use any fabric you have...If at any time you think to yourself, 'My god, this is one ugly quilt,' then you have succeeded in this exercise, which is to make a quilt top that you are not attached to."
I have succeeded at ugly, that's for sure!
But I really get what she's saying. The point is to practice and not to be afraid of messing up. I'm looking forward to it. Now I just have to get it basted together real quick.
