Besides the baby quilts, I have been working on two other projects:
1. Quilty Fun
The Quilty Fun quilt has been such a joy to work on. Lori's enthusiasm for sewing is contagious and it really shines through in her writing. The above picture is the left side of the quilt. My favorite block grouping is the quarter square triangle set in the middle. I would love a whole quilt with that block in those exact same colors. I'd probably make the blocks a tad bigger though!
I felt like the little jumping gnome in the blue house when I saw that it was "Neighborhood Houses" week! The house blocks are so adorable. You can see everyone else's blocks at the sew along's Flickr group.
2. Free Motion Quilting
I have also been practicing FMQ. I am loosely following along with the Free Motion Quilting a Sampler class on Craftsy. I won't ugly up your feed with my unphotogenic practice sandwiches, but I uploaded them to Flickr. In a few years, I hope that I will be able look back at those pictures and see how far my quilting has come. It is really addictive. I intended to just quilt one practice sandwich to see how went, but I ended up going until I ran out of solid fabric!
Like I've told a few of you before, my experience with FMQing is much like my experience driving in Mario Kart: I can't stay on the path and I have no idea where I am going! My stitching flows better when I am thinking about anything except quilting. I guess that is where the recommendations to drink wine come in!
The picture above is last thing I quilted. I am starting to get the hang of it and I feel a little more comfortable about trying it on an actual quilt now. My plan is to do a few more practice sandwiches and then I am going to quilt a Jelly Roll Jam quilt. The Jelly Roll Jam quilt is small and print-heavy. It was such a quick make that I won't be too upset about any mistakes!
I am also reading First Steps to Free-Motion Quilting by Christina Cameli. In addition to FMQ instructions and advice, the book features non-fussy projects to practice your quilting on. The Wiggle Bottom cushion is the first project in the book. It is fun project, because you can practice different designs on each strip. I'm looking forward to doing more projects from the book as my skills improve.
I'll be continuing the Quilty Fun and FMQ projects this coming week. I also hope to make some progress on the Zig Zag Love quilt top.
10 comments so far. What are your thoughts?
Good for you, practicing all that FMQ'ing! Your stippling looks great!
Love your quilty fun blocks - those apples are just adorable! Nice bright colour choices too! I haven't done any fmq for a while but I remember the less you think about it the better it seems to go.
Love that block strip at the top, great colour choices!
Fab idea for practicing FMQ too, I always just dive on in to important projects, which is usually rather stressful ;o)
your FMQ looks great! i really love the house block
I am enjoying that Craftsy class too, haven't resorted to wine yet but it sounds like a good idea :)
Good going! FMQ is definitely a learned skill imho, but practice does make it alot better! Quilty Fun is looking great!
Sorry you're bacheloretting it so much this month, but you're right, there are some upsides. :) Your FMQ is looking great--and you'd be surprised at how little the imperfections matter in the whole scope of a quilt, especially once it's all washed and crinkly.
Darling blocks you have accomplished for the Quilty Fun top!!! Sometimes it is a lot easier to get things done with no one around isn't it? Then I realize I miss my hubby and son dearly..crazy ain't it LOL
Hi Taryn :)
I'll start off by thanking you for the awesome giveaway stuff i received from you in December. I LOVED the fabric of the charms you gave me :) Thank you so much, and I apologize for not saying that sooner.
I'm following your blog by email so I don't miss anything (I'm still bitter about Google Reader). I love your Quilty Fun stuff! SO cute :) I just wanted to ask you how you liked the book for FMQ. I was going to buy it, but I've been putting it off. I have read TONS of information about FMQ, and watched some videos. I haven't taken a class though. I live in Ann Arbor and I'm going to join the MQG this month, so people will be able to guide me on how to do it. So, do you think the book would be good for me to buy, or do you have any other suggestions? I would like a book for beginners but take it a bit further so I can progress. Would you suggest it for someone like me? I know it's only $16, but I'm a book nerd and hate to buy books that I haven't seen in "real life". Thanks so much again! I'm so grateful I won your giveaway. I've checked the book you gave me out of the library before and it's definitely a good book. And it's awesome that I have a copy to use whenever I want to!
thanks!
karrie
I'm pretty boring on IG but my name is @karries3
and my blog has been pretty dead for awhile, but I plan on starting on some projects at the end of the month. I haven't posted in awhile but here it is: http://karrie-s.blogspot.com/
Loving your Quilty Fun blocks! They are so charming! :) I loved how you compared your quilting to MarioKart---I feel the same way sometimes!! I am looking forward to seeing the progress of your quilty quilt! :)
Would love for you to stop by tomorrow and link this up to Fabric Frenzy Friday!
-Lindsey
Fabric Frenzy Friday
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