Welcome to Free Motion Mavericks, week 306. It's been a month since I last free motion quilted (FMQ) a star. Today I'm going to show you the last two star blocks on the Pinwheels and Stars Baby Quilt.
Swirl Hook Star
The first star today is the Swirl Hook Star based on Angela Walter's 4 Ways To Machine Quilt Star Blocks (see Related links below).
In the last star post, I mentioned that I had been practicing my Swirl Hook. Of course I hadn't practiced it since then, but as soon as I started drawing it, the Swirl Hook came right back. It's amazing how the hand remembers the motions!
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| Swirl Hook Star based on Angela Walter's design |
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| Original design |
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| Swirl Hook Star with pinwheel neighbours |
Star with Flames
This next star is based on a mix of Leah Day's flame designs.
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| Star with Flames |
I practiced the flame designs and thought that it would work well in the star. When I started FMQ it, the flames were taking more space than I anticipated, so I ended up putting a large flame in every second point of the star and then making smaller flames in the alternate 4 points. Since the middle was a sort of spiral, I was able to use it to get back and forth to each flame.
You can see the FMQ better on the back of the quilt. Click on the image to enlarge it.
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| The back of the Star with Flames design |
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| Star with Flames and some pinwheels |
What I learned
- Practicing a design by drawing it is incredibly important to FMQ it correctly. I was pleasantly surprised that my hand still remembered how to draw the Swirl Hood design.
- I didn't expect that my flames to be so large, however since I had practiced using Leah Day's tutorial (see Related links below) I had practiced making flames of different sizes, so it was easy to find my way out of a possible mess.
- It would take a lot of practice to get consistent designs but I'm very happy with my results.
- In my next Free Motion Mavericks post, I'll write a summary of the star blocks and start planning out the middle of the quilt!
Related links
- Angela Walters, 4 Ways To Machine Quilt Star Blocks: Week 4 Free-motion Challenge Quilting Along
- Machine Quilting a Quick Flame Design - Beginner Quilting Tutorial #2 with Leah Day
- Leah Day - How to Machine Quilt Flame Flower #36 and the YouTube video
- FMQ Stars related posts
- FMQ a simple star on Free Motion Mavericks, October 15, 2020
- Sparkling Star on Free Motion Mavericks, September 17, 2020
- Seeing stars with Free Motion Mavericks, September 03, 2020
- FMQ the first star on Free Motion Mavericks, August 6, 2020
- Planning to Quilt Stars on Free Motion Mavericks, July 23, 2020
Linking parties
I will be linking this post up to many fun linking parties. It you get a chance, check them out! Put Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Let's Make Baby Quilts!, Midweek Makers, To-Do Tuesday, Colour & Inspiration Tuesday, Peacock Party, Patchwork & Quilts, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Finished or Not Finished Friday, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday,
Free Motion Mavericks
Today I would like to share Avril's new jacket. Sandra of mmm quilts finally made a cover for her longarm, Avril. She quilted a series of panels on beautiful Island Batik fabrics and then sewed them together to make the cover. There are over 49 designs from the quilting world's best-known teachers. If you didn't see her post, check it out!
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| A peak at Avril's new jacket by Sandra at mmm quilts |
It's your turn now!
Your swirl hooks and flames look great on your stars, Andree! What kind of thread and batting are you using for this project, by the way? I love how your thread just melts into your fabrics without competing for attention, yet you have plenty of relief from your batting loft for your quilting designs to show up nicely.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rebecca. For the swirl hooks and flames I used a King Tut variegated thread (905) but I'm generally using just a cone of white cotton sewing thread for most of it. For the flames I used a light green Wonderfil Confetti threat - unfortunately it matched really well. That's also what I'm using for the back, in lilac (KT614). I imagine that the batting is 100% cotton, probably Warm & Natural since that's what I usually use. I'm afraid that I don't pay enough attention to my batting although I do one day want to try using a wool-cotton blend batting that I bought a while ago. I do love a lot of loft.
DeleteThis is a lovely pattern. Your stars fabrics are pretty and the back looks great too :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Janine. It's turning out to be such a fun project. I didn't want to abandon my block, even if they are totally lacking in accuracy :-) It's great for a baby who will love it and not judge my quilting! Take care.
DeletePracticing FMQ on a baby quilt is perfect--not too big and overwhelming! Your flames and hooks are both looking great!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Nancy, it really is the perfect size. The next part will be interesting because I'm going to tackle the totally empty middle, with coloured thread!!!! I'm actually going to plan this out because there will be no hiding the FMQ. Take care.
DeleteHi Andree! Ooh, I love the hook swirl in that star block - it seems the perfect choice for that block/area. That's the hardest thing for me when quilting a sampler-type quilt. And I think Angela is just the best - so inspiring. Thanks so much for linking up this week. ~smile~ Roseanne
ReplyDeleteHi Roseanne, it's always great to hear from you :-) It can be really hard to decide how to FMQ a block - and Angela is truly amazing. I love trying out all of these designs and giving them my twist (usually because there's a part of the original design that I can't seem to get, but that's fine if it turns out well!) Take care.
DeleteLes petites spirales et les flammes sont très belles ! Moi aussi je m'entraine à la main, avec un crayon, avant de quilter, ça aide beaucoup.
ReplyDeleteMerci pour les liens !
Bonjour Frédérique et merci. Chaque fois que je ne m'entraine pas avant de faire du FMQ, je le regrette! J'espère que tu vas bien.
DeleteThanks for sharing Sandra's cover for Avril. I missed that post!
ReplyDeleteHi Joy, you're welcome. It was pretty amazing, wasn't it? Take care.
DeleteAvril's cover is glorious, good pick! Also, you gave me a moment of fun... the way you opened the post sounds like you were at a meeting of "FMQ Stars Anonymous"... maybe it's just me but I enjoyed it. The flame FMZ looks great, thanks for linking to Clever Chameleon and making my morning.
ReplyDeleteHi Dione, I hope that you're doing well. I've missed you! I re-read my opening and it reminded me of confession (that's what happens when you go to catholic school!) We all need all of the laughs we can get these days. Take care.
DeleteThe swirll hooks look great!
ReplyDeleteThanks Alycia. The FMQ that is done is contrasting thread always look so much better in pictures (but not always in real life :-) )
DeleteTake care.