Free motion quilting

I am slowly free motion quilting my "Not playing the supporting role!" quilt. So far I FMQ a few blocks based on the fabric's design.

FMQ strips

FMQ designs

This is my favourite - the fabric almost looks like a heart beat. I quilted all of the pale strips,from the top and the bottom. It was great practice for my precision, which is not great but was getting better by the end!

I used a different approach for both of these blocks. In the first image, I quilted around each arc while in the second block I quilted within the arced space. I expected to like the second one best, but I think that the effect of quilting around the arcs gives more interest.

Quilting around the arcs

Quilted inside the arc space

In the top row, I quilted "S" shapes and large pebbles. In the lower row, I quilted arches and then placed different designs within each row of arches. The orange fabric was perfect for swirls while the brown solid got chevrons. The last fabric in the bottom row got a nice big feather.

Practicing differnt FMQ designs

  This image is of the back of the quilt, in roughly the same area as the picture above.

The FMQ from the back of the quilt

It's now time to choose designs for the rest of the quilt. I've made a notebook of FMQ designs that I've used and practiced during the last couple of years. Some of the designs are drawn on the pages while others were practiced on scraps of paper that are now taped into the book. It's nothing fancy but it really helps me chose different options instead of always using the same ones.

"Hearty Penguin"

There was a blog hop this week featuring one of Made by Marney's foundation paper pieced blocks. It was available free (and still is for a while I believe - see Related Links below). I haven't added the penguin's eyes yet, but isn't he adorable? Made by Marney also has other cute Valentines and Easter foundation paper pieced blocks. Check them out. They are gorgeous!

What I learned

• For my "Not playing the supporting role!" quilt, I have to keep reminding myself that I don't want to FMQ this too densely. I suspect that it's going to be hard :-)
• My FMQ notebook is a work in progress. Every once in a while I go through my stacks of papers and find all kinds of FMQ patterns that I've worked on. These are then added to the book.
• On Friday I was doodling and was finally able to draw a design that I've been trying to figure out for months now. Somehow I got it right. I'm looking forward to using it in this quilt!

Related Links

• "Not playing the supporting role!" Quilt - February 4, 2018, January 21, 2018 and July 20, 2015
• Made by Marney - Blog Hop, February 5, 2018 and Paper Pieced Valentines, February 11, 2018

Linky Parties
I will be linking this post to a few link-ups. Come and see what's happening! Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Free Motion Mavericks, Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Design Wall Monday, Quilter's Monday, Linky Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Let's Bee Social, Needle & Thread Thursday,

Great News! My Free Motion Quilting was featured by Connie on Linky Tuesday, while Hearty Penguin was featured by Susan on Midweek Makers. Hooray!