Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Making a Mallard Duck Mini

About a year and a half ago, I promised my son a third mini for his apartment entrance. My timing is off since he’s moving in a few weeks to another apartment. I really hope that he’ll have somewhere to hang up, or even use these as mug rugs.

Foundation Paper Piecing a Mallard Duck

I’ve used a few of "Made by Marney" foundation paper piecing patterns. I particularly like her Woodland Animals series. 

Mallard Duck mini - so far
I love this little guy. As you can see, I haven’t cropped it yet.

Since my Jag is still in the shop and will be for another few weeks, I decided to do some basic quilting with my walking foot. It went ok. I had a hard time seeing if the stitching was going in-the-ditch or next to it. It was generally good enough – it’s not my favourite thing to do and frankly I’m only slightly better at it with my Jag 😊

Un-stitching the quilting
I got ambitious late one evening when I should have known better. I decided to use my walking foot to follow the not-so gentle curves of the water. Of course I wanted to get right to it, and didn’t adjust my stitch length, which would have been fine if the stitching had been good, but as it was terrible, I had one heck of a time un-stitching it.

I remembered a tip from Jackie Gering in her Craftsy class, Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot. If you are very, very careful, you can remove your quilting stitches with your rotary cutter. You just very gently rub the edge of the rotary cutter over the stitches, between the batting and the fabric. I figured that I had nothing to lose, because if I couldn’t un-stitch it, I was going to re-do part of the piece (I’m not sure if that was possible, but I would have started over if that’s what it took!) I’m very happy to report that it worked wonderfully. You can see the results in this image. 

Once it’s pressed, I’m sure that it'll be fine. The next step is to practice on a quilt sandwich. I know that I can follow the curve of the fabric if I’m very, very patient. That’s not my forte, so I’ll have to be in a good place 😊
Bear Foundation Paper Pieced,
pattern by Made by Marney
    This little piece is my November One Monthly Goal (OMG), so I’ll finish quilting it with my walking foot.  I’ll post the results on my next Free Motion Mavericks post (it’ll be a couple of days early, but I’m hoping you won’t mind!)

    What I learned
    • I’m sure that when I started quilting the curves that a voice in my head suggested that I not do it....but it didn’t scream and I wasn’t listening....so now I know that I can use my rotary cutter to un-stitch the quilting.
    • I hope that my son will put up this third mini along with the others. Now that he won’t be living alone, it will have to be negotiated! I may have to make a couple more for his girlfriend...but I won’t suggest it since that could take me another few years (sigh).
    • For some eye candy, here are a couple of minis that I've made with patterns by Made by Marney.
    • I’m using my old sewing machine. It’s a Kenmore from the 1980’s. In theory it can do FMQ. I lowered the feed dogs but it’s very difficult to get the quilt to glide – now I know why they invented products like the Supreme Slidder. I’ve never had an issue with this on my jag, but then, it is a jag! 
    Moose Foundation Paper Pieced,
    pattern by Made by Marney

    Related links
    Linking parties
    I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Let's see what everyone is up to! Midweek Makers, Patchwork & Quilts, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Put your foot down, Off the Wall Friday, Oh Scrap!

    I've linked up this post on DrEAMi. If you want to see the finished project, my latest post will be published Tuesday, November 30 at 8pm. is here!

    Free Motion Mavericks

    Welcome to week 356 of Free Motion Mavericks. It's been a long time since I hosted my last party. It was good to have a rest, thanks to Muv, but now we will be resuming our regular fortnight schedule.

    Thanks to all of you who linked up. It's always difficult to choose one quilt to feature and I do try to feature quilts and quilters who are at different levels on their journey to mastering FMQ. However, I had to feature Sandra's Fleurs quilt. What a beauty! She does all of her FMQ on a long arm, but she's the one in charge 😊!  You can see the whole quilt in Sandra's post. I really had to show you the details...Wow!

    Fleurs by Sandra at mmmquilts
    Now it's your turn!

    You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

    Click here to enter

    12 comments:

    1. The Mallard is awesome!! if he doesn't have space... I am sure i do hahaha!!! LOVE it!

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Hi Alycia, thanks...I'll make sure he does, otherwise it will fly south! Take care.

        Delete
    2. Replies
      1. Thanks Susan, it's been nice doing some regular sewing and quilting. Take care.

        Delete
    3. Wow, what a terrific block Andrée! Can't wait to see it when it's quilted. Thank you for featuring my Fleurs quilt, and for saying that it's me driving the machine, ha, (as in not a computerized design.)

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Hi Sandra, your quilting and energy just wows me. Do you ever stop or sleep? lol Thanks for linking up again. Your quilt will be appreciated, of that I'm sure!

        Delete
    4. I love that block - all three of them! Such personality in their faces!

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Thanks, they are great - I love them. I've done these and am also looking forward to making the fox block! Have a good week.

        Delete
    5. Your mallard looks great. Thank you for the unstitching tip. I have spent hours before going side to side with pin. I will definitely try this one day :)

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Thanks Janine, I was very nervous but it worked so well (thank goodness, I really didn't want to start over)! I better get a move on and finish this before the end of the month! Take care.

        Delete
    6. You and me both on stitching in the ditch and following a pattern on fabric. Now I am curious if you finished the quilt for your son. Cute mallard and I love the bear. Will have to check out her patterns. Thanks for sharing the link.

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Thanks Denise. Hoping to work on my son's quilt as soon as my sewing machine is back! Take care.

        Delete

    Hi! I would love to hear from you and I will try to answer you. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a message. :-)