Allô and welcome 😊 Another week has flown by! It's now April and still pretty cold but above freezing during the day. My backyard is a mess but the birds and critters are finding all kinds of goodies under the melting snow. There is a lot of nesting activities - I love it!
FMQ the orange scrappy quilt
The free motion quilting (FMQ) is finished! I did end up doing a lot of dot-to-dot as taught by Angela Walters.
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| FMQ orange scrappy quilt |
I think that the FMQ went so well because I used a FriXion pen and ruler to mark the lines before FMQ it. The whole point of dot-to-dot is that you can look from one point to another and FMQ straight lines between them. Unfortunately my unmarked lines are often very wobbly. Another advantage of marking is that it gives me time to think about what I'll be FMQ. When I don't mark the lines, I just tend to wing it...and that's not always the best solution.
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| Marked lines before FMQ |
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| Marked lines and FMQ |
The top border of the quilt is wider than the other borders. I used a real stencil to mark the lines. For the other borders, I just FMQ large loops. You can see these on the back of the quilt in the photo below.
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| FMQ the borders |
Now I just have to trim the quilt and bind it. I'm not sure where it's going but I'm glad that it's almost done.
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| A full back view - before all the borders were FMQ |
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| Another look at the quilt, on a windy day |
April's One Monthly Goal
I didn't realise that the Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL was held in 2023! It's been finished almost 3 years ago. I would like to give it my friends this year. The quilt measures 68" x 65" and will require a lot of FMQ!
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| Rainbow Neighbourhood flimsy |
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For April, my goal is to sandwich it and start on the quilting-in-the-ditch. I think that this is doable if life cooperates 😁
What I learned
- Marking the lines of FMQ designs helps me by letting me know where I'm going. Although they are far from perfect, by following a marked line they tend to turn out straighter.
- As I mentioned, marking the lines means that I've planned what I want to quilt, so my FMQ is more deliberate.
- Also, when I'm too tired to FMQ, I can still mark the lines so that I know what to do the next day.
- I will definitely be doing this when I can. Using this type of FMQ means that the quilt is less densely quilted - a good thing for baby quilts.
- I hope that I'll be able to take some nice outdoor photos when the quilt is bound and finished. Right now everything outside is filthy - not a place for a baby quilt!
- Quilting a Scrappy Quilt and I Quilted This! February 26, 2026
- Orange Scraps and a Baby Quilt, July 02, 2025
- Final Rainbow Neighbourhood Quilt Top, June 28, 2023
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties, including April's OMG link up.
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.
Kate from Life in Pieces finished quilting-as-you-go her Kate's Choice quilt. It started as Grandmother's Choice - a quilt along about women's rights. When it became a UFO, Kate decided to choose her own blocks and called it Kate's Choice. It's so lovely. You'll want to read her post for more info. I've been looking forward to her finish since Grandmother's Choice is also one of my UFOs.
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| Kate's finished Kate's Choice quilt |
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| Details of Kate's quilt-as-you-go and her border |
Gail from Quilting Gail finished her SAHRR 2026 for the parade. It's so colourful. Have a look at some of the FMQ details. She did some ruler quilting and FMQ.
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| Gail's finished SAHRR 2026 |
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| Details of Gail's FMQ and ruler work quilting |
Janine of Rainbow Hare was able to finish her SAHRR 2026 on time for the parade, even if she wasn't able to join in much. After deciding that the quilt would be a playmat for the children, the quilt came together nicely!
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| Janine's SAHRR 2026 finish |
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| Janine's quilt - a colourful playmat |
Brenda of Songbird Designs custom quilted her SAHRR 2026 finish. She used ruler work and FMQ. You'll want to check out her post and look at this quilt in detail!
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| Brenda's custom quilted SAHRR 2026 |
It's now your turn! 😍