FMQ a neutral quilt on Free Motion Mavericks

Wednesday, November 06, 2019

FMQ a neutral quilt on Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 254 of Free Motion Mavericks. I'm very glad that you dropped by.

FMQ the Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt

You've seen this quilt a few times over the last year and the end is in sight. I'm just going to show you the free motion quilting (FMQ) that I've done so far. The final reveal will be before the end of the month since this is my One Monthly Goal (OMG) for November and I'm determined that it will be finished.😊

Usually I practice all kinds of FMQ designs when I quilt a lap quilt but I wanted this one to be calmer and unified. So far, there are only four FMQ designs in the quilt - and there is only one more to be added.

The darker blocks (the snowballs) are quilted with straight lines. I did get a chance to practice using my ruler. It took a while but I finally got the hang of it. I only have 11 of the 32 snowballs left to FMQ.

FMQ straight-ish lines through the snowball

The background beige four patch between the snowballs were quilted in two different designs. The rows that have 4 blocks have this lovely sun design. As you can see, I used a Frixion pen to draw the design. I then quilted it, including an echo.

A sun design with echoing

The rows with 5 background beige blocks have a loopy flower with tendrils. This design is great in a 4 patch block since the lines can be used to guide the FMQ.

This loopy flower with tendrils design is great in a 4 patch block

In the borders where there are only two beige background blocks, I used this design. I just drew a triangle with a Frixion pen and then used the seam of the two blocks as a guide.

I only have some dark blocks left to FMQ - which are 14 sets of two blocks (half snowballs) on the border of the quilt as well as 4 corner blocks. I'm still not sure what design to use there, but it will involve straight lines so that it fits in with the snowball blocks.

What I learned

I used Angela Walters' Shorty ruler for the straight lines. It took me a while to get used to using it because my foot would get caught in the ruler and skip a stitch or two. I've now figured out that the darning foot can't rest too tightly against the ruler. I can also hear when this is happening so that I can loosen my grip. It's working out well now that I have the hang of it.
The straight lines are the hardest part to quilt because depending on where I'm quilting from, I can't always see the other end of where the line needs to go. I found it much easier to quilt all of the other designs.
Two of the designs, the flower within the triangle and the loopy flowers with tendrils come from or are adapted from Angela Walters' Shape by Shape book.
I'll be discussing what I learned overall when this lovely is finished!