Wednesday, July 25, 2012

July's Free Motion Quilting Challenge



 This month our teacher for the Free Motion Quilting Challenge is Angela Walters, a young modern quilter whose lesson was a design she calls "Tiles" in which you divide the quilting space into smaller units and quilt each one before moving on to the next.
I had fun practicing this style until my machine began to act a little like it is in need of some TLC.  So although I wanted to do more practicing before coming up with a "final" piece, my machine is packed up and ready to visit the sewing machine spa for a little R&R.
So here are my samples for July.  I started by using the back of a plaid fabric that I thought would help me keep my lines straight.  Not so much.
And instead of using the same pattern in every "tile" as Angela did, I mixed it up and tried different ones, including some of the motifs taught by previous teachers in this challenge.

 I did quilt in the month and a heart in hand.  Okay, for a first attempt, not too bad. For this sample I used regular 60 weight thread in the needle and bobbin.



 Then I switched to Superior Rainbows thread in the needle with The Bottom Line in the bobbin.  I like this look much better.  I used a 90/14 quilting needle and did not have any problems, although I did have to decrease the top tension.  I didn't follow Angela's tile directions, just divided the space with random lines.




 For the last two samples, I did attempt Angela's swirl motif, using the Rainbows thread again. 








The Final Four

 I think that if my machine hadn't gotten tired, I would have done a few more samples and improved on my spacing and the straightness of the tile lines (or maybe not.)
This lesson was fun to do and helped me to learn a little about dividing the quilting space into manageable sized areas.
Thanks, Angela, for sharing your expertise and ideas.

















5 comments:

  1. good job! I have to start practicing. Have you taken any classes?

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  2. Great job on the July challenge. I love your variegate thread. Your samples are wonderful. Bravo.. well done.

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  3. I love them!!!! Thanks so much for sharing :)

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  4. I really like the swirls in the variegated thread.

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