Have to say, I am on a tear lately. Lots of sewing has been happening up in my sewing room! Sometimes the mood hits just right and everything lines up – inspiration, enough time, wintry weather which encourages staying inside, plus fun projects to work on.
Toward the end of December, I found myself wanting to practice some free motion quilting. I pulled out a small set of 2 1/2″ strips I bought at the thrift store a while back. There were only 20 strips so I decided to make a small quilt. This makes the FMQ practice easier to do. They were odd strips – someone had cut them by hand and each one was off at one point or another. I had to trim all of them – but you get what you pay for and I paid three bucks for these!
I have no idea what fabric this is but the set has tiny gold metallic dots on a variety of colors. For the most part I keep the red and black strips to a minimum. Otherwise I used the whole set. Simple columns of rectangles with a solid purple strip between them made for a quick quilt top. I strip pieced the strips in sets of six and then cut those into blocks, six inches wide. Rather than sew columns, I chose to sew two of the sets together, making blocks. Then I made the columns.
I took a look through my FMQ book by Christina Cameli to find a design to use. I wanted to quilt edge to edge so I would not have to worry about movement, getting stuck in corners, etc. As is my usual, once I settled on a design, I practiced it by drawing it on a large whiteboard I keep in the sewing room. Once it was comfortable, I started the quilting. This was such a pleasant process. Just going back and forth, back and forth – it was finished in no time!
Here is a closer picture of the quilting – it was sort of a clam shell shape with a swirl inside. The motif is super easy. I started at the bottom of the quilt and moved upward. About half way through the stitching becomes so much smoother; proof to me that practice really helps. The repetitive motif gets easier and easier as my brain learns the pattern.
The quilt is backed with fleece, making it really cozy. When our grand daughters are here they tend to use one small quilt I have because it is backed with flannel. They prefer the soft feeling of the flannel. Now we have two soft ones for them. I like seeing the quilting from the back. Sure – I need to continue to practice but seems like with each one I improve just a bit. I spray basted this project but there are some bubbles on the back side. Maybe I needed to use more spray or it could be because it was fleece? I am not sure. There is always something to learn.
I have already moved onto, and made a lot of progress with, the next quilt. Younger grand daughter has outgrown the toddler bed and we are putting another twin bed in the guest room. The other twin bed (where her big sister sleeps) has a quilt with a huge heart made of charm squares in the middle with white all around it. This quilt was given to me when I moved from California by a wonderful friend. I am replicating the design and making another heart quilt using pink and purple scraps.
Here is a progress shot (with weird color because I took the photo in the evening) . I have some of the rows stitched together but I am still moving things around for color placement. Surely it won’t take long to finish the quilt top. One thing I am pondering though – the quilt made by my friend has a white background which she pieced with white charm squares. I will be using white yardage. Rather than cut the five inch squares it seems to make sense to cut five inch strips. The piecing would certainly take less time. Do you know of any reason not to do it this way? Let me know your thoughts!
OK – that’s it for now. Hope you all have something fun to work on this weekend!
Linking to Free Motion Mavericks and a few others. (Check out the Link Up tab at the top of the page for lots of fun places to check out.)
Go for the strips! You might want just a few squares or halves for edges to even up the heart shape. Used strips recently for a QOV and much happier with results.
Exactly. Today I made some HST’s to create the heart shape. I just need to decide how big I want the background to be and cut the blocks and strips. Thanks a bunch Pam!
I am impressed! Spray basting is way easier than free motion quilting and look at your work! Well done. As to the bubbles I am pretty certain it is the fleece. It’s shiftier than flannel for sure. There is zero reason, in my head, why you can’t do the heart quilt with big blocks of white therefore less seams overall. Bernie
Hey Bernie – I agree. It just seems silly to cut the squares and sew them together in rows! Strips and blocks will be so much easier! Hope you are doing well. Have a lovely weekend!
Bernie, your FMQ is impressive and I feel inspired to give it a try again this year. I also agree with your granddaughters about a snuggly backing. My next couch quilt will have minky.
I am starting to think any lap quilts would be cozier with flannel, fleece or minkie backings. It is so much softer and the snuggle factor is far greater! Thank you for complimenting my FMQ. I am going to quilt the heart quilt and it will be more of a challenge because of the size but I think I can do it! (I think I can, I think I can…..)
Bernie, how nice you had so much good vibes to sew. I never take fleece to be honest or thick batting. But – you did sooo well and free motion! WoW .. you can be very proud to this quilt done!!!
And the aim is that the quilt is to cuddle under it (with it?).
Good that someone sold the fabric and did not put in the trash.
love to see many posts from you … stay tuned… :-))
Hi Eva: I often find fabric in the thrift shops. I suppose people stop sewing and clear out their stash. Yes, much better for someone to use it than for it to be thrown out!
The fleece wasn’t difficult to use. Next time, I will put more of the spray baste. I think it shifted because of the bulk. So maybe with more of the spray, it will stay in place??
Thank you for reading and always leaving such a nice comment. Take care Eva.
What a finish! I’m very impressed with your free motion! The girls are going to love that quilt, and the other in -progress quilt will also be a favorite!
Thank you Wendy. It sure takes a ton of practice! If I haven’t done it for a while it always surprises me how awkward it is at first. Another reason to finish the quilt tops I have – practice, practice, practice!
This is a great finish and a great start to the heart quilt!
Thank you Pat!!
I love your thrift store quilt. The colors are lovely!!! Appreciate you explaining your process. I have never used fleece for back and was curious as to how well it would quilt. Good to know it worked well for you. Thanks!
Hi Cindy – I think the fleece worked quite well. It is the second time I backed a quilt with it. This cut of fleece was stretchier than the first time and I think that is why it bubbled a bit on the back side. But I will surely use it again. I like the results.
Take care, Bernie
Your FMQ is really nice Bernie, looks like you used a panto! That is a very pretty quilt and all those colors play very nicely together. I spray baste too and sometimes get bubbles on my quilt backs. They disappear once I launder it. Love your heart quilt! Your Littles are lucky girls. 🙂
Hi Linda – You are right – the quilt does look better now that it has been washed.
You are too generous saying the FMQ looks like a panto but thank you! I did find it easier to go back and forth (like a panto) rather than meandering. I think I will do this with the next project as well.
Take care. 🙂
Congratulations on a lovely finish! Using a donation quilt is a great way to practice and you made nice use of the bargain rectangles! I love the heart quilt, too, you are working on and it will be lovely with the gifted one for the lucky girls.
You’re on a roll! Great job and good reference for a quilting book.
Hi Sue – There are a number of books out by Christina Camelli. I enjoy her style of FMQ. She also has some on-demand classes. She lives in Oregon and I keep hoping she will come up here sometime for a class of some sort.
Take care and finish those UFOs!!!
Such a great quilt, Bernie! I love the quilting and wish I was that good at it. I also love that it backed with fleece, which is perfect for a nice soft utility quilt. I’m sure the girls will love it. I love the start to the heart quilt, too. Cut those 5-inch strips. Less piecing, faster finish!
Five inch strips it is. I worked a bit more on the colorful parts of the heart and am almost ready to start figuring out the white background – It is going to be so cute.
Hope all is well with you Mari. 🙂
Beautiful FMQ! Go for the strip method! That second quilt is going to be beautiful!
Thank you Terry!
Maybe your friend used squares of white because that was what she had, not yardage. I am sure you are much happier with those granddaughters much closer than before you moved. 😊
Hi Judy – I think that was the situation. Either way I love the first quilt and am excited to have a coordinating quilt on the other bed for little sister. We do love having so much family nearby. We are very fortunate. I hope you are doing well!
How fun to be working on quilts for your granddaughters. Your free motion quilting looks great, and like the others here, I suspect the fullness is the stretching of the fleece. I don’t know if there is a great solution to help reduce that; it’s something I wrestle with when I use it, too. And I love that you want to use less seams for the background. I don’t see why you would need all the seams unless you were going super scrappy.
Hi, The quilt looks pretty good now that it is washed and dried. I am in the process of cutting strips to create a block with the heart blocks. Then I will enlarge the length and width to a twin bed size with more white and a final border. It is looking cute!
Have a great day Yvonne.
Hi Bernie, what a great quilt to practice your FMQ skills. Isn’t is amazing how you get so much better near the end! I think that long strips for your heart quilt will be fine and so much easier to stitch up. Thanks so much for linking up to Free Motion Mavericks. Hope to see you there again soon 🙂
Thank you Andree. I am sure I will link up again. Maybe once I get the heart quilt finished up!
Oh what fun!! it looks like an amazing quilt – and the quilting is just perfect for it!!
and two soft quilts – they will be over all the time 😉