Many projects

I have so many projects on the go that it's time to post an update on a few. (oops, sorry for clicking on Publish a little too early!)

Free Motion Quilting Challenge Quilt Along

This FMQ Challenge is officially over, but I realized that I haven't posted my last three blocks. The challenge may be over, but if you're interested, Angela Walter's videos are still available on YouTube, so check them out! (see Related Links)

This block is a combination of the techniques from weeks 2 and 3. I'm not really a fan of the plain meandering but I did want to include it in here so that I could say that I did most of Angela's FMQ designs.

Week 2 & 3 - meandering, echoing and continuous curves

Week 9 is the wishbone. There are a couple of variations, including making it between wavy lines. I had never done the wishbone until recently. It's a great little design that can fit pretty much anywhere. I find it elegant.

It took me a while to practice it using a pen until I realised that it's putting together a cursive "l" and "j". Remember that if you have problems with this one :-)

Week 9 - Wishbones and wavy lines

I made an extra block, so I put together most of the designs from the class. The centre is a dot-to-dot, which I didn't make a whole block of since I've been doing this technique for many years now. I love the dot-to-dot technique although if I really want to FMQ it well, I will often take the time to draw some of it on the fabric. It just depends how accurate I want it to look.

Sampler of most of the techniques in the FMQ Challenge

Art with Fabric Blog Hop

Last weekend I spent most of my time working on my Art with Fabric piece, "Morning has broken". I was on a real high - it's one of the loveliest pieces I've ever done. I got most of it done so that I could take an official photo for Alida's website. But after that high, I've come crashing down and have barely touched it since.

I don't want to completely spoil the surprise, so I'm just going to show you the image from my last post. The big reveal is Monday :-)

The FMQ and piecing is about 90% completed. I didn't have the correct shade of green (my goodness but there are tons of greens!!!) so I had to buy more. That's been done, so now I just have to actually do it.

The next step is to finish the quilt. I will probably add a facing to it since I left a lot of space around the edges to do this. Then I'll be able to embellish it, even after the facing has been added.

I hope you'll join me on Monday for my post. I took a lot of pictures and learned a lot. I'm looking forward to sharing this.

Comfort Quilt QAL

I now have two pieced cuddle quilts sandwiched and ready to FMQ. I just have to trim them a little because I have having to cut up my FMQ. These only have to be 22" x 22".

I

It's my OMG to finish these two by the end of the month. I think that I'll manage that, especially since the Art with Fabric blog hop will be over soon! Besides, I have some more flannel fabric that I want to play with :-)

Kingfisher Stitch Along

I am thrilled to share with you this next great stitch along. It combines some of my favourite things.... English Paper Piecing (EPP) and quilting. The quilt is made of diamonds with EPP flowers appliqued to them. Isn't this image beautiful?

It starts in June, so check out the link below.

What I learned

• For my last block, I ran out of my lovely backing fabric, so the front and back are the same. That seemed to be fine until I noticed that some of the stitches on what I thought was the top, were not variegated. You guessed it - I had flipped the block between designs. Not a big deal, but definitely something to think about or watch for.
• I'm really happy that I took the time to follow this quilt along. I learned a couple of very cool FMQ designs that I have already incorporated into my repertoire :-) My favourites are the feather and leaf meanders. 
• I'm very proud of myself. Even if I worked extremely hard on my Art with Fabric piece last week, I didn't panic about not having it completed for the photo. I'm even not panicking about getting it finished for Monday since I can always crop the picture and / or finish it after since it's all about pretty pictures and it won't be seen in person, probably for another year :-)
• I may be a little more tired than I thought....I was very surprised this morning to receive in my email, my blog post! It would seem that I clicked Publish instead of Save. Oh well, at least I get to sleep in tomorrow - in Canada it's the Victoria Day long weekend!

Related Links

• Angela Walter's Free-Motion Challenge Quilting Along
• Free Motion Challenge Quilt Along posts:
• May Updates and Plans, May 3, 2018
• Leafy Meander (Week 4)
• Free Motion Challenge Quilt Along update, April 14, 2018
• Swirl and Feather Meander (Week 7)
• Clamshells (Week 8)
• Serpentine (Week 6)
• March finishes and April beginnings, April 1, 2018
• Waves (Week 6)
• Art with Fabric Blog Hop, Spring 2018
• May updates and plans, May 3, 2018
• Comfort Quilt QAL related posts
• May Updates and Plans, May 3, 2018
• First Week of Comfort Quilt QAL, April 29, 2018
• FMQ and a quilt along, April 16, 2018
• Kingfisher Stitch Along co-hosted by Tales of Cloth and Stitched in Color  

Linking Parties

I am linking this post to the following link-up parties: Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Moving it Forward, Design Wall Monday, Linky Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers, Colour Inspiration Tuesday, Needle & Thread Thursday, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Free Motion Mavericks, Finished or Not Friday, Friday Foto Fun,