2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge July Update

This month at the 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge, over at Insights by SewCal Gal, Angela Walters is our expert. She learned to quilt from her husband's grandfather!

This month we are doing Tiles. It is a neat design and should be rather easy to do. The filler design can be anything. 

 I just did a simple loopy design for the filler.

My only problems: 

I began using a cone of thread on a holder. The thread is a heavier Aurifil. I had a number of thread problems until I began using a size 16 needle. 

The foot pedal on my machine was fixed (I didn't even know it was broken!) and now I'm having trouble getting my speed right. The nerve damage in my foot makes the learning curve a bit higher but I'll get there. I'm shopping for a new machine and I think it will have a start/stop button!


I like this design and will most likely use it in the future - I think it will be easy to adjust to different sizes.

Placemats, Practice, a Win, and a Finish!

I've been trying to practice my free-motion quilting a bit more. One of the experts from the 2012 Free-Motion Quilting Challenge suggested making placemats and using each as a practice canvas. 


So I made placemats using an idea that I saw and remembered(?) from a few year ago. Sew some squares together, then cut off half of the first column of squares on the left and sew that piece on the right side. Cut off half of the top row of squares and sew that piece onto the bottom row. Then cut into placemats. I used 6 1/2" squares so my placemats finished about 18" X 12".

Sorry I forgot to take a picture as I was doing this - hopefully you can get an idea from this picture.

I made 6 placemats - all coordinated but all different.

I used a pillow turn on each (no binding) and double-topstitched the edges. This one is quilted in an overall pattern of flower petals - I call it Cone Flowers.

 The next is McTavishing.

I forced myself to do one of spirals - it is the hardest for me and I need LOTS of practice.

This has a center spiral where I could practice shadowing. The edges are stippled.

Next are a couple of flowers with feathers on the edges.

 And last (why did I turn the camera?) is feathers - all free hand.

 The backs are all like this. 

I won this quilt hanger in Jo's Country Junction Quilt Square Quilt Along. Woohoo!!!

Hanging on the hanger is my square for July, all finished!

A great day with friends and I found the Quilt Police car!

A few days ago, my friend Sandy called with the wonderful idea of going on a Quilt Shop Hop. So yesterday, Sandy, Barb, Krista, and I headed out on our own little shop hop.  Sandy decided the general location would be southern Wisconsin and we would just wing it from there.

We began the day with a nice breakfast at the Sand Burr Family Restaurant outside of Brodhead.

Then onto our first shop - At the Heart of Quilting in Beloit. This shop is mostly about longarm quilting machines but I did find some thread. We also found out that one can get instruction and rent long-arm machine time - I want to do that!

Second stop was Life's A Stitch Quilt Shoppe near Janesville. The shop is in an 1863 Victorian Farmhouse.

This is a nice shop with a very friendly owner. I found a Martelli rotary cutter to replace the one that just broke. I was very surprised to find one in a shop. It is so hot, another 100°+ day, that we spent little time outdoors.  Here is Barb headed for the van.

I just had to take a picture of their barns with all of the quilts.

Next stop was Woodland Quilts in Whitewater. We looked around. The person working was having a loud visit with a friend and was a bit too busy to greet or help us so no purchases were made.


On to Fort Atkinson to The Quilt Patch - a very nice shop and owner. Before entering, we stopped just a minute to take a couple of photos. This shop did not feel like it was in the owner's huge garage.

I bought a couple of things. One was a Christmas tree by RagSpun. A RagSpun is a dimensional textured shape that can be appliquéd or used alone. None of us had ever seen them before. We asked the owner where to have lunch. After finding out where we were headed, she suggested Beauty and The Bean and gave us detailed instruction. 


Off we went, through the country down more two-lane roads, onto a Rustic Road, and eventually we arrived, just as our directions said, at Beauty and The Bean in Fort Atkinson.

We had a nice lunch. My panini and salad were wonderful and the cheesecake bite was the perfect ending!

All refreshed, we headed for the Backyard Quilt Shop which is also in Fort Atkinson. 

This shop is in the lower level of the owner's home. We were all rushing to enter as the temperature was still going up!

I had to take just a second to get a photo of the darling little Quilt Police car in the window. That should have been my first clue that this would be my favorite shop of the day!

We found a friendly owner and a great selection of fabric that we all loved. We ended up spending quite a bit of time here and all walked away with treasures.


Back out in the high temperatures, but a cool car with cold drinks, we headed to Sun Prairie.  Prairie Junction Needlework and JJ Stitches are almost next door to each other. The people in Prairie Junction were very helpful and pleasant. 

JJ Stitches is a nice shop. Some members of our group bought lots of fabric here!

Time was running out as we headed to Mill House Quilts in Waunakee.  We arrived in time for a few minutes of browsing before they closed. Actually we all managed to shop, checkout, and be at the car by 4:58 PM!

As we started south toward home, I asked to stop at Greenway Station. I did my errand at Erehwon and then we all decided we needed to do a little shopping at Marshalls and Michaels. 

Shopping was followed by a relaxing dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise. Then we headed home.


It was an awesome day with awesome friends!

June QSQA

The June Quilt Square Quilt Along at Jo's Country Junction was the Corn and Beans Block. I like this block - in fact we have a 24" Corn and Beans 'barn quilt' on our porch.

I made my 12" block from blues and neutrals.

My block is 1/4 the size of our barn quilt and has 4 times as many pieces!

After quilting my block, I didn't like the tension on the quilting so I tore out the stitches. Then my sewing machine died. After a fuse in the transformer was replaced, I was set to go. An hour later, my machine died! Some belt has now been replaced. I have to pick up my machine tomorrow. I have started researching new machines - is the handwriting on the wall? I think I'd better be ready and informed in case I need to go shopping.

Update!

Another day in the 90's. Another sunny, windy day. Yup, it is summer. 

We were gone most of the past week. I saw the pedorthotist again and I now have insoles for my shoes. One pair is working well but the other isn't so this journey isn't quite over yet. We went to a really funny play and we went to an outdoor wedding at a beautiful location on a bluff. I spent a day at Quilt Camp at Lucky 2B Quilting. Also spent some time with my mom and we found a new favorite place - Red Mango (thanks Polly!). Now we are in the planning stages of a trip - it is time to travel again! Yes, life is beginning to return to 'normal' for us.

I've done a little quilting this week. The Free Motion Quilt Project Quilt Along project this past week was Loopy Line. When I did the practice shapes, I also played a bit with scale.

Up close, you can see the many sizes and shapes of the loops.

This design was easy and I really like the texture it gives to the quilt.

Is the middle of June really this week?

It is almost the middle of June - where does the time go? It's been a while since I've posted - my FIL passed away a week ago and his funeral was Saturday. He lost a painful battle with bone cancer. It's been a very sad and busy time here. 

I haven't done much quilting but I attempted Sew Cal Gal's  2012 Free-Motion Quilting Challenge for June with Cindy Needham. We quilted a curly line and then filled the spaces with quilting. It was fun and interesting to try.

I am enjoying the FMQ Challenge and look forward to spending more time with this technique in the coming weeks when I have a little more time.

The Free Motion Quilt Along with Leah Day took a hiatus in May. Although I didn't get to do much quilting, I did try to practice my FMQ every few days. The Quilt Along just started up again and this week we are doing Circuit Board. I began at the top with some basic shapes and attempted to put together a random arrangement at the bottom.

I have learned so much from Leah Day. I really am enjoying Free Motion Quilting!


Coming up this week: our 42nd anniversary, a visit to the pedorthotist, a play that we rescheduled, and a wedding. Life just doesn't slow down...

Quilt Square Quilt Along Block 5

I made Block 5 - Trip Around the World - for Jo's Country Junction's Quilt Square Quilt Along at the beginning of May. It's a good thing since this has been a crazy month! This block is from Lori Smith's Quilt Squares Pattern #4. I'm currently working on QOV quilts so once again, I just used fabric that was on my cutting table. I machine quilted this 12" X 12" quilt with double stippling that I learned in the 2012 FMQ Challenge with May expert Leah Day. 

You might want to head over to Jo's Country Junction and check out all what everyone else did.