Friday 6 April 2018

Discovering the joy of FMQ

Today has been such a fun day at the sewing machine. John and I should have been walking  but John woke up in a bit of a panic about all the things he hadn't done so he cancelled the walk and made a start on his to do list. That left me at a loose end so what else could I do but sew.  

To start with I spent some time making a quilt sandwich of a project I'm making for the Christmas in July blog hop. Which reminds me I must put the button on my sidebar. Anyway I pressed the top and the backing fabric and then made the quilt sandwich on the floor as John was using the dining table. I think I'm getting too old for crawling round the floor and of course Scamp and Picasso thought it was a great game so it took much longer than it should.  I would show you the project but then I'd have nothing to show you on the blog hop.

Having done that I made a cup of tea and spent a little time with Scamp on my lap looking at Leah Day's book 365 Free Motion Quilting designs. Whilst slowly getting up this morning I had been thinking about the quilting on my compass quilt and decided I would have some fun with it. I've always wanted to do more FMQ but I've always chicken out at the last minute and stick with tried and tested. The quilt is for me so it doesn't matter if the quilting is wonky when it's finished so it's time to have fun.

Having used the book for inspiration and read all the tips, which were very useful I got started  on the next section. 


I really like the flowers on the nine patch. What I did find out today is that I find it really difficult to stitch in a straight line. I think I need a lot more practice at that. I had to put the quilt on the floor to take the photo and Picasso thought it was so he could play. It's a really good job all the pins and basting held otherwise I would have been cross with him.


He didn't give up the quilt willingly and I have the scratch to prove it. Having retrieved it from him I had to re roll the sides so I could get back to my quilting.


Now the centre square including the 9 patches is all complete. I'm loving how this is looking and more importantly I'm really enjoying the process. I wanted to carry on quilting but by this point I needed a rest from it as my shoulders were aching. 


Picasso was pulling at the edges while I took the photo so I quickly folded the quilt up and put it out of his reach. Now I need to decide what I'm doing in the next triangular sections. I don't think I'll get to them until next week as I have other things I need to do.

I got quite a lot of stitching done on Abigail last night and I'm hoping to have her finished over the next week. Unfortunately I'm back at work on Monday so sewing time will slow down a lot. What I do need to do is make better use of my time as I've found I can get quite a lot done even if I only have half an hour free and it gives me a great sense of achievement.

So now it's time to finish cooking dinner as I'm now feeling very hungry. 

Lyndsey

2 comments:

  1. You’re doing a great job with the quilting! That is really the only way to gain confidence is to just decide to do it. I’ve realized that as I’m quilting, I see every little bobble as it happens, and it makes me think I’m ruining it. Then, when I back away and look at the whole, I can no longer see what I saw before. No one looks at the individual stitching. The quilt is always viewed as a whole. Keep doing what you’re doing and enjoying the process. Your quilt is going to be lovely when it’s finished, and you can be proud of what you’ve done.

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  2. I find FMQ fun and scary. I am very uneven with my results and need much more practice but it is something I would like to do.
    Yours is looking great so feel proud. It will be quite the achievement.

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