Finishing up Version 2.0 on Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 415 of Free Motion Mavericks. I hope that you are doing well and that getting back into your routine after the holiday season hasn't been too painful. I am thrilled to say that I finished the free motion quilting (FMQ) of Version 2.0. 😊

Travel Adventure

Before FMQ the borders with feathers, I had added the main images to the Travel Adventure section. I did a little bit of research and found some great things to add to that section. Do you know about Kokopelli, the Hopi fertility god, prankster and story teller? His image has been painted and carved on rocks in the American South-West for over 3000 years. You can read more about him in Related links below.

Depicting our South-West adventures, seen
from the back of the quilt

More of the Travel Adventure

Tapering Feather Heart

I had a small space that needed filling underneath the Sun section. It was perfect for a medium sized tapering feather heart.

I may have FMQ what seemed like miles of feathers in the borders, but this smaller heart required a lot more practice to get it looking good within that smaller space. I used Lee Cleland's "Feathers that Fly" book to guide me. I drew the feather heart about 4 times before I was ready to FMQ it. 

FMQ a tapering feather heart

I then wrote out my son and his girlfriend's name in the centre. For my first attempt I used a chalk pencil but I couldn't see it well enough to quilt. Finally a bright blue Frixion pen did the trick.

Stéphane & Sarah in the heart

Eastern Canada Scenes

By this afternoon, all that was left was to finish FMQ the tan stripe that contains Scenes of Canada. I had completed the West and North, but now needed to add the East.

I had about 26" of stripe to quilt and thought that I could include scenes of Ontario, Québec and the Maritime provinces but I seemed to have miscalculated! I started finding images and FMQ from the end of the Eastern section. I started by drawing a glacier and a whale. This was fun because I had started the Western section with a whale in the ocean.

A glacier and a whale

Then came a lighthouse since each Eastern province has a number of historic lighthouses. 

Lighthouse

I had to include some wildlife, and Newfoundland is famous for its puffins. 

A puffin on a rock

I found an amazing photo of houses on the cliffs on Newfoundland, so that was my next design.

Houses on the cliffs of Newfoundland

After finishing the houses, I looked at the stripe and realised that I only had about 8 inches to depict Ontario and Québec (2 of the largest provinces!). I choose the most iconic images possible 😊. As far as nature goes, Ontario is full of lakes, Canada geese, moose and my favourite white pine. 

Capturing the essence of Ontario and Québec nature

Next Steps

I've started hand-stitching the binding. It's a queen size quilt but I should be done tomorrow. It then gets washed and hopefully I'll take some great pictures before I give my son his quilt on Sunday. I'll be showing off the quilt in all of it's glory next week on Free Motion Mavericks. 

What I learned

• It was so good to see the end of all this FMQ coming!
• My FMQ was not at its best in the Canadian section and unfortunately I took a lot more space with the images than I had for the Western Section.
• This section is the only one that has some puckering in it. It's not surprising considering how dense (and uneven) the stitching is.
• I'm really happy with my Tapering feather.
• The Travel Adventures section was quickly finished once I found Kokopelli's name and images. Google is pretty darn amazing!
• The tips that I shared last week on binding (i.e. position and pressing) really helped. 

Related links

• Kokopelli Legends and Lore
• Feathers That Fly by Lee Cleland
• An Agenda Cover and Update on Free Motion Mavericks, January 05, 2023
• Feathered Borders on Free Motion Mavericks, December 29, 2022
• Version 2.0 - almost done! December 22, 2022

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Why not check them out after you link up below 😊Design Wall Monday, Put your foot down, Finished or (Not) Friday, Off The Wall Friday, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Peacock Party, Patchwork & Quilts, 

Free Motion Mavericks

Thanks so much for linking up! It's starting to look like a party here 😎

Frédérique of Quilting Patchwork Appliqué made a two sided cushion before Christmas. One side is a paper pieced Sapphire while the other side is a lovely bow. She FMQ around the bow to give it more definition. It looks great!

Bow side of the cushion by Frédérique

Sapphire side of the cushion by Frédérique

Sally of Painted Thread finished her Sea Glass quilt. I love those fabrics! It was a challenge to quilt, but her swirl and waves look great. I'm glad that you persevered! 

Sea glass quilt by Sally of Painted Thread

Sandra of mmm quilts had two finishes last week. Her Santa Power quilt is so cute. It's quilted very simply because that's exactly what it needs. You'll want to read her post to find out how it got that name 😁

Sandra's Santa Power quilt

I didn't realise that Project Quilting had started its new season last week until I read Sandra's post. The make up bag is stitched using one of Christina Cameli's textured quilting. It's very effective. You can check out her post and even buy it on Etsy if it's still there 😊

Sandra's make up bag with Christina Cameli's textured quilting

Now it's your turn!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter