Thursday, February 05, 2026

Updates and I Quilted This!

Hi and welcome 😎 The 🌞sun is shining here - what a difference it makes to see it. I've been very busy FMQ the Cowboy panel quilt - I can see the end. Yay! I've also managed to play with scraps - they are so addictive. They just want to be sewn together 😊. If you're looking for A Quilter's Cover QAL linking party, it's here)

FMQ the Cowboy panel quilt

All the blocks except one have been completely FMQ. I then FMQ the actual panel. I used various cotton and polyester thread to quilt the cowboy and parts of the background. When I was finished, I needed to FMQ the white background but didn't want it to stand out, so I used a beige bottom line thread in the bobbin and a white InvisaFil. It worked really well.

FMQ Cowboy panel

It was then time to tackle the light brown borders around the blocks. I wanted this to be interesting but not too difficult. I also needed it to not distract from the blocks.

I tried a few designs and chose "Spurs" from the book, Get Addicted to Free-Motion Quilting by Sheila Sinclair Snyder. Here is the back of my practice piece.

Practicing the "Spurs" FMQ design

I did have a few skipped stitches so I changed my needle. I helped a little, but the biggest help was slowing down, which I did when it came to actually FMQ on the quilt. Here are a few pictures. I also added loops in the smaller areas.

FMQ the "Spurs" and loops designs

A close-up of "Spurs"

The FMQ went relatively fast. In two separate sessions I was able to quilt about half of the light brown borders. The design is a lot like one of the flower FMQ designs that I use, so it was a matter of getting used to adding sun type angles around the centre, and then stitching a bit away to then echo the sun angles. I'm hoping to get a few more hours in today to finish those up.

For the dark brown inner border, I'm thinking of using my walking foot to add a couple of straight lines but with interesting corners (like a frame). I need to figure those out, but it will be simple!

Sewing up 3½" Scraps

My SIL lives in a community with lots of seniors. One of her neighbour's wife died. She was a quilter and of course had lots of books, scraps, and small UFOs. I told my SIL that I would go through everything, keep some and pass on the rest. It was a big job.

Here is a scrappy quilt that she had started. The rest of the cut blocks were included in the bag, so I'm slowly sewing them together. She had sewn up the bottom 5 rows, so I'm going to keep adding to it. I'll eventually figure out the size required for a baby or youth charity quilt.

Scrappy quilt so far

What I learned

I always start FMQ a larger piece with stitch-in-the-ditch to stabilize the quilt. From there, I quilt what ever I feel like.
Leaving the large panel for last meant that there was more chances of puckering. I worked pretty hard to keep it taut and it mostly worked. I'm hoping that washing the quilt will help, otherwise I can always add a stitching line or two afterwards.
It took me a while to find a FMQ design what I could do relatively easily and that wasn't a flower for the border. I really loved FMQ "spurs" and it seemed appropriate for a cowboy and ranch.
I should have the Cowboy panel quilt finished by next week. I'm looking forward to working on other projects without feeling guilty that this one isn't finished!
There was some confusion last week since I had two linking parties going. Sorry about that, I'll have to be careful about identifying the different linking parties,

I Quilted This!

Welcome to the I Quilted This! linking party that celebrates quilting on a domestic machine or custom quilting on a long-arm. Feel free to link up and share any recent project, even if you're not quilting it! Here are the posts that included FMQ, ruler work and walking foot quilting last week. Thanks for linking up 😊 and feel free to grab the button.

Kat at Scrapbox Quilts joined Connie at Freemotion By The River in her Colour of the Month Challenge. Kat made a lovely placemat, in anticipation of the summer (I suspect).