Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Hungry Caterpillar in Progress

This quilt is perfect for attempting new free motion quilting designs.  I have been wanting to try new designs besides stippling for a long time.  Unfortunately, every time I’ve tried something new, it hasn’t turned out very good.  (Disclaimer:  By no means is this free motion quilting very good, either, it’s just not hideous!)

I think the saving grace is that the drawings have a “scribble” quality to them, so my quilting can be scribbly too.  I quilted all over this butterfly and then did pointy stippling around it.

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I also did some outlining and lines on this caterpillar.  I had the crazy idea to try pebbling for the first time and outline all the little circles in the center of this quilt.  I think it might have been a little harder to “stay in the lines” by outlining rather than try pebbling on my own, but it’s all pebbled and I love the texture it gives the frames around the center panel!

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My favorite design is this flower.  How easy it was to do and looks okay, too!

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A couple things I did this time to make free motion quilting more of a pleasure than a pain:

  • taped down the supreme slider
  • wore my Machinger’s gloves
  • remembered (after just a few minutes of quilting) to set the speed control on my machine to a much slower speed than I use to piece
  • used Aurifil 50 wt. thread which runs so smoothly through my machine
  • changed out my bobbin case and throat plate for a special model made specifically for fmq for my machine that I’ve had for years and forgot about

The basic premise of a Malcolm Gladwell book I read a few years ago was that people become “experts” in their field after putting in 10,000 hours of practice.  So, I have about 9,997 more hours to go!

I also wanted to share this funny photo from this morning.  Our squirrel-proof bird feeder needs to be replaced! 

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Have a great day! 

9 comments:

  1. The FMQ looks awesome... Love the flower. I might try taping my slider next time, because my quilt kept getting caught in it. Thanks for the tip. Oh and that squirrel picture is hilarious!

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  2. Your quilting looks wonderful!! Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. That little squirrel is so cute!!

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  3. I think it looks great - lovet the flower!

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  4. We have some squirrels that hang out with us at the park. They get a little too close for my comfort,but Ayden has fun with them. The last time we were there he was feeding one baked Tostitos lol

    I was going to say that practice and goof ups will make FMQ better,but then you added in the quote from the author and hit it right on the head!

    Pebbling is sooo great for texture and I think your pointed stippling gives it some added fun character:):)

    So the Supreme Slider doesn't stick to the Janome bed easily eh??

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  5. Your FMQ looks pretty Sweet to me,great job! Ha,that squirrel picture is too funny ;) Can't wait to see the whole Caterpillar quilt!

    What is a supreme slider?

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  6. Jamie, that's a lot of very cool quilting! Way to go!!! Love the very hungry caterpillar quit.

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  7. It looked awesome in person! :) Very talented that you did the quilting on a domestic machine.

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  8. Your FMQ looks great. Oh how silly that squirrel is. Looks like he got caught?
    Hugs
    donna

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  9. I love squirrels. That made me smile. I need to try some FMQ. I'm kinda scared to mess up some of my quilts so I guess I'll make up some quilt sandwiches to practice!

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