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Wednesday, February 28, 2018

February FMQ Finish

My OMG (One Monthly Goal) for February was to finish free motion quilting (FMQ) my "Not playing the supporting role!" quilt. I did it with one day to spare. Sometimes I think that I'm crazy for setting an OMG, but on the other hand, it was reached this month (It would have been very quiet here if I hadn't reached it - so no big deal) 😊

Free motion quilting all done!
I must be feeling better because I put in many hours on my Jag (sewing machine) this week. I was truly having a blast zooming right along. I took out my notebook of FMQ patterns and Craftsy class notes and played around. I was aiming for a more even stitch, and was more or less successful. I just tend to get over excited zooming around curves and let my stitches get pretty big. I estimate that I was probably 60 to 70% successful - so that's pretty darn good.

Adding hearts in the border of one of the blocks
Don't these rudbeckias look happy?

More of Muv's rudbeckias
It's always a pleasure to FMQ some feathers.
A few feathers for a change
I also wanted to practice more FMQ designs, especially in the longer strips and borders. Here are a few designs that were simple to quilt.

Practicing leaves inside of paisleys

Creating a string of leaves and another of flowers

Adding a line of lotus style flowers
A line of simple but elegant "l" and "e" (or loops)
I mentioned that I was going to use some of Angela Walter's Dot-to-Dot technique. I ended up using the starburst design and some variations. These were great for blocks that had busy fabric that didn't have a pattern that I could follow.

What I learned
  • Sometimes it was a bit of a challenge to figure out what design to use. Deciding to use Angela Walter's Dot-to-Dot technique made it a lot easier. It's a very versatile technique and worked out well.
  • One of the challenges that I gave myself near the end was to quilt as much as possible in all directions (instead of turning the quilt around). I didn't think that I could do this while quilting the starburst design, but I surprised myself. It went really well.
  • There are no photos of the starburst design since they barely show up on the busy fabrics.
Related Links
Linking Parties I will be linking this post to the February Finish OMG link-up. I will also be linking up to many parties, so join me and see what`s happening around the quilting world! Midweek MakersLinky TuesdayDesign Wall MondayMain Crush Mondays, Needle & Thread Thursday, Free Motion MavericksMoving it ForwardFinished or Not Friday, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?,

Great news! My post was featured on Freemotion by the River's Linky Tuesday!

12 comments:

  1. You're quilting skills are coming along nicely - well done!

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    1. Thanks Susan, I'm just having an amazing time zooming around. It really is my favourite part of the process :-)

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  2. Lovely job. Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and congrats on your finish.

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    1. Thanks Patty. I'm glad that I was able to finish this one.

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  3. Beautiful work, I really like your feathers! It has been a long time since I made any......seeing yours makes me want to do it again!

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    1. Thanks Connie. I do have a fondness for feathers. Thanks so much for featuring them on your post. You can't believe the thrill I get when I go on your website and see my project in the link. That's a major Wow moment. Thanks :-)

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  4. Hi Andree,
    Wow! Great job on your FMQ! I am so impressed with your stitch lengths. They look really good to me, and the variety of designs is amazing. I am trying to improve my confidence with FMQ and rulers this year. My plan is to make some doll quilts that I can practice, practice, practice on. ~smile~ Roseanne

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    1. Thanks Roseanne. The stitch length is coming along, but there's still work to be done (those aren't the pictures I post :-) ) I bought the Craftsy course with rulers but haven't done anything with it yet. I just don't feel like investing in the rulers....it never ends. Good luck. Doll quilts, baby quilts or even placemats are great to practice on.

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  5. Hello Andrée,

    That's a whole lot of quilting! I can't wait to see it with the binding on!

    Thank you for linking up with Free Motion Mavericks.

    Love, Muv

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    1. Thanks Muv. It was a lot of fun and it's turned out to be a perfect quilt for snuggling under.

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