September's FMQ Challenge

   We are at it again....this month is a lesson from Paula Reid...over at  SewCalGal   for the FMQ challenge.   Be sure to read and  watch her short video on the stuff and fluff method for quilting on a domestic machine.  She also used  Batt Scotters to move the quilt around.....remember the sponge tip, the same idea.  Paula provided an 8" motif  for a block for us  to do....featuring feathers.  Once again I am up for the battle!

   This time it was a little easier to do....some practice, and  better understanding of how to make a feather look right.    I did a quick review  and drew off a short feather to start my practice.  Then I traced the given motif onto fabric.   I used a light box and sewline pencil to trace the motif.  I stitched in light green thread to match the lead I used.  :)
Note:  I do not use, will not use one of those disappearing or wash out blue markers.   One ruined quilt taught me years ago that I don't like them.  My preference...use at your own risk!  

 I had a couple of spots where the thread did not cooperate and left a lump on top.... I admit to owning / creating the wobbly stitches and all the goofs.   The back-tracking stitching is getting easier.  It is still not pretty, and I am not sure it will ever be.
   How easy this looks, how difficult it is for me.  I think I have come to the conclusion that following drawn lines is just not my thing.  I managed to get lost a couple of times, too.   It makes me feel hemmed in like I am being forced into a corner.  I feel the need to sing the song "I got to be me".....or at least sing it in my head and not out loud.

 So I removed my battle gear.....took a break.  I need to think this through.  I need to practice more to do this well,  yet will I use this motif or medallion technique?   Most of my quilts are so full of multi-print fabrics and not solid fabrics---- that this close or dense quilting is not going to be seen.   I remember reading that it takes about 50 to 100 hours of practice to gain enough expertise to claim accomplishment in a new task.  I only have about 6 to 8 hours of practice sewing on a drawn line.  I am not sure I want more.  :(
   More practice I decided.   This time  I just decided to follow my own path.   If you have followed me  for any time, you know I make up my own rules sometimes and go my own way usually.  I can't say if it is an age thing, or just my personality......my free spirited side,   maybe.  So, not to be undone, but to feel I have improved this month and gained more experience.....I went in another direction.

         I am comfortable doing swirls and I had printed out a page from LuAnn's sketchbook that I wanted to try.  Feathered Swirls from LuAnn at May Your Bobbin Always Be full   is  a free hand design, not drawn.   I did several pages on paper....drawing for practice.  Easy to adapt this style to spaced or dense quilting.   So I began on another piece of fabric and tried to figure this one out.    I do like this one, a lot.  I get the feathery feel without having to do a complete spine and feather.   I haven't quite got the rhythm of the design in my head----figuring out which direction to swirl and how it will fill in, but it will come.  I can see this working great to fill in a background or in a border.
  This  challenge for me is more about improving my technique, and figuring out what works for me.  I would rarely use a traced motif in the type of quilts I make, but I like knowing how to transfer the design and how to follow the lines----even if I don't do it.  And finding a design from LuAnn is just the icing on my cake for this month's challenge.
  Happy stitching.....on your challenge, or latest project.