September 17, 2010

Free Motion Quilt Along: Lines and Angles

Alright. This week we will be quilting one of the skinny strips and a portion of one of the wide strips. I hope you have read the post about line and angle designs. Have you sketched some designs you like in your journal? Great. Pick two or three skinny ones for the one inch wide strip, and a few for the wide strip too. Pick whatever designs you want to try. Simple or more complex, as you desire.

I started with a "z" shape.


Next I intended to do the boxy shape, but when my first line ended up angled I just went for the angled version instead. Yuck. I had a terrible time keeping the angles consistent. I may have forgotten that part about practicing a new design on the practice pad first. Umm... do as I say, not as I do.  It looks much better in this picture than it does straight on, I'm not just being dramatic.


Then I went Mayan. It worked nicely.


For the wide strip I used tape to mark off an 11 inch wide area on one end.


I was so excited to try my two new designs that I ignored all the other line possibilities.  They were fun and easy and I'd definitely like to use them on a larger scale someday. Between lines I just "stitched in the ditch" instead of stopping and starting.


I took the appropriate amount of time afterward to pet my stitching. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. It feels best after it's been washed but it's still pretty great right after you've quilted it!  It is so fun to see photos of your stitching over in the Flickr pool!

Oh, and if you're needing more more more places to practice your free motion quilting, have you checked out this quilt along offered by Heather at A La Mode Fabric?  The idea is making single blocks and then free motion quilting them individually, assembling them into a quilt at the end. This is called "Quilt as you go" and some people prefer it to trying to quilt a large quilt all at once. It's a great way to practice new techniques. If you ruin a block, no big deal. If it works out though, it's one more step to a completed quilt!

5 comments:

Weatherbee ;) said...

Wow. I LOVE the last designs. I can't WAIT to try something like that! It's such a fun design. I really like the mayan and Z's too. Thanks for the design ideas. As soon as I'm not sick and wiping kid noses ALL DAY LONG...I plan on getting some more practice in. :)

Diana said...

Hi, Christina! Thanks for the great designs. Question: since we're not quilting outwards from the center of the quilt, do you get ripples in the backing fabric? I have ripples on the backing from the 1st assignment. Is it because it's not basted securely with the batting and the top fabric?

Gladys said...

Hola, Christina!
Qué maravilla su trabajo! Es perfecto!
Yo anoche publiqué lo que nos había enseñado con anterioridad. En la base de pruebas me fue relativamente bien y no se ve tan mal. Pero en la colcha ... definitivamente mal. No puedo manejar tanta cantidad de tela (volumen y tamaño)!, ni el peso de la misma, eso hace que salga cualquier cosa, menos lo que pretendo "dibujar". La invito a verlo en mi blog (http://detodounpococonmismanos.blogspot.com/2010/09/n-376-free-motion-quilt-along-3-y-4.html) o en Flickr y le agradeceré algún consejo que pueda darme.
Muchas Gracias por su tiempo y esfuerzo al llevar adelante este trabajo!
Un abrazo!
GOOGLE TRADUCTOR: Hello, Christina!
How wonderful work! It's perfect!
Last night I posted what I had taught previously. The evidence base was relatively good and I is not so bad. But in the quilt ... definitely wrong. I can not handle that much amount of material (volume and size)!, Or the weight of it, that makes you leave anything but what I intend to "draw." I invite you to see it in my blog (http://detodounpococonmismanos.blogspot.com/2010/09/n-376-free-motion-quilt-along-3-y-4.html) or on Flickr and I would appreciate any advice who can give me.
Thank you very much for your time and effort in pursuing this job!
A hug!

Joanna said...

Hi Christina:
Yes, I do pet my quilt:)
What I'm finding is that working on the small practise quilt is much easier than the bigger quilt. I have not been using gloves, but wonder if they would help.
I love the circles on a stem. They do look nice when done.

Gene Black said...

I did a small practice pad. I can't wait to try this on my quilt. I made up a couple of my own variations as I was playing on the practice pad. It is in the flickr group.

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