The end of the month almost slipped past me for the Free Motion Quilting challenge! I thought this month would be a breeze because I love doing swirls. Wrong! I love quilting swirls, but I like them all over and different sizes.....and this month was based on consistency and working in a row.
I did the paper practice and it was fairly easy. So I drew off a grid of sorts onto my fabric to fill in with swirls. See for yourself.....my sizes are all over the place. A few times I hit the mark and filled in with the appropriate size, but mainly not. After doing a half dozen bands of these, I just went to town and filled in the bare spaces.
This practice piece is about 12" by 18". My fabric choice was a solid piece of polished cotton moire---and probably not a great choice for practice. I had to change needles and go much smaller to get a nicer stitch.
Lesson learned......I don't like being boxed in, or following a grid, and I much prefer mixing it all up.
Only one more month to go on the challenge. I have mixed feelings....I liked trying new techniques each month and learning a few new things. Yet I am glad to be finishing it up. I am really glad I kept with it and saw it through to the end. There is just something about making that commitment and working to that end that gives satisfaction.
Happy stitching.
I did the paper practice and it was fairly easy. So I drew off a grid of sorts onto my fabric to fill in with swirls. See for yourself.....my sizes are all over the place. A few times I hit the mark and filled in with the appropriate size, but mainly not. After doing a half dozen bands of these, I just went to town and filled in the bare spaces.
This practice piece is about 12" by 18". My fabric choice was a solid piece of polished cotton moire---and probably not a great choice for practice. I had to change needles and go much smaller to get a nicer stitch.
Lesson learned......I don't like being boxed in, or following a grid, and I much prefer mixing it all up.
Only one more month to go on the challenge. I have mixed feelings....I liked trying new techniques each month and learning a few new things. Yet I am glad to be finishing it up. I am really glad I kept with it and saw it through to the end. There is just something about making that commitment and working to that end that gives satisfaction.
Happy stitching.
Looks like fun. I have been using muslin all along with these practic pieces - yeah, those endless 'cut-offs' from quilt backings. I may not have loved or done well with some, but it was a great learning experience and made me braver.
ReplyDeleteYour spirals look great, and like you by the time I'd filled in my grids I just wanted to play with fillers for background interest. I am sorry that the December and last challenge will soon be upon us. It has been so inspiring to see what everyone else has accomplished as well as hopefully become more proficient with my own FMQ, since starting as a beginner in January. But we've all found some interesting blogs to follow and I hope the Facebook group will remain active even after the challenge ends.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed seeing your FMQ and your take on it.
ReplyDeleteI have been doing the challenge all year as well. And I agree, I like swirling all over the place instead of just in a row. But, overall I like that this challenge has introduced me to so many wonderful quilters and provided some great tips! Love your swirls!
ReplyDeleteI think you've learnt a lot about yourself and your quilting over the past twelve months!
ReplyDeleteLooks good, Debbie. This reminds me I need to get this one done!
ReplyDeleteI, too, love swirling, but haven't tried it in a confined space, yet. That really will be a challenge.
I think yours looks good, I had the same feelings about it, don't box me in.
ReplyDeleteYour swirls look great. I'm sorry I didn't finish the challenge but I did pick up a lot of tips & help as I studied each one each month. I've kept each one in my computer & plan to go back & try to improve my FM when time permits. I kind of like the idea of the confined space for the swirls. I like the look of the segmented areas.
ReplyDeleteYour piece looks great!! I have the same sort of feeling as you - don't like being boxed in, but appreciate the challenges to try different things! I'm looking forward to December's one, too.
ReplyDelete