Latest quilt completed

There is not much more I can say about this quilt and type of FMQ I used to quilt this quilt.  You can read up and see close up photos of it here.

I had a lot of fun making this quilt, I used  various types of FMQ that I learned from Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project.  Such as stippling, sharp stippling and zippling all in different scales.

After I washed it I deliberately put this quilt in the dryer on a warm setting until it was completely dry to try and puff up the fabric and cause it to shrink a bit.  I love the effect and love the textures of the different types of quilting I used.

At times while I quilted zippling on the borders I felt like throwing my hands up in the air and set this quilt on fire.  Every time I went in a specific direction, the thread would either break or it would simply skip its stitches.  So I went back to Leah's website and found an answer to this, and I quote: 

"This might sound weird, but machines can be finicky.  Remember that by free motion quilting in all directions, you're using the machine in a way that it's not truly designed for.  It may simply not like to stitch in one particular direction."

You can read about it on question thursday #16 and thinking about it, it makes total sense.  It was just weird how it always happened while going in a specific direction.  But in the end, I tried to keep my calm, pulled those few stitches out, and just carried on.  


I am happy with the result and would definitely use the design again, this time with a lot more patience...

Happy quilting

Stippling review

This week I decided to quilt this UFO using the different FMQ techniques we learnt over the past months from Leah Day.  I think I have probably said this a hundred times, but I enjoy every moment I spend FMQ and its all thanks to Leah, and cant wait to finish up this quilt to start another.  

I basically jumped in and started quilting this quilt, not really knowing what type of stippling I was going to use where.  All I knew I wanted to do, was use the different types of stippling I learned in the large flower print blocks.

Over all, I am happy so far, except for the small scale zippling I'd done on one of the horizontal strips.  It came out fine, but I did too small.  As this is a large quilt, and I want it to be puffy and soft, it will be too stiff around that strip.  Hopefully after I'm done and it had its 1st wash, it wont matter.

Large Stippling - Front

Large Stippling - Back

I have to admit, normal stippling- either on a large or on a small scale is still my favorite type of FMQ (not that I have done a lot of different designs yet :-) ).

It was quite tricky to see exactly where I was going on the flower print fabric, but luckily I got it done, and I just love how the fabric puffs up a bit around the large scale stippling.

Smaller Stippling - Back

Quilt along #15 - Sharp Stippling

I was really silly to think I would have a quilt top -pieced, basted and fully prepared to start quilting it, along with Leah's different designs she has planned for us over the coming weeks.  I am really excited to move away from stippling to different types of designs/stippling.  This week we learnt  sharp stippling.

I prepared this quilt top thinking I would stitch in the ditch all along the strips and sashing, and filling the blocks and borders as we learn different designs.  But I'm not nearly done preparing this quilt. 

Kayleigh is teething, so you can imagine how tiresome it is trying to keep her happy during the day and night.  With her being so groggy I find it hard to take some time to work on this quilt.  Normally I would get a lot done during her nap time, but even that has been cut shorter.

So I got a practice piece ready and followed Leah's video on sharp stippling.  At first I was nervous, as I am so used to normal rounded shapes of stippling.  I was afraid I would mess it up, and go completely in the wrong direction.  I was surprised at how easy it was.  I first traced the design on paper to familiarize myself with the flow and direction I should follow.  I then got behind my machine and started quilting.  It sort of came naturally and I would definitely use this design on my quilt.  The only thing I still find hard is to keep my machine at a constant speed, at times I noticed that my stitches got very big, I will have to work on that!

Thanks Leah, you're a great teacher and a wonderful person for sharing your knowledge!!

I am very eager and exited to learn new designs.
Happy quilting.