Friday, June 29, 2012

Sew Cal Gal's June FMQ Challenge

Approx. 22" x 18" (fat quarter sized) on my own hand dyed fabric
Phew, nothing like waiting to the last possible minute to finish Sew Cal Gal's June FMQ Challenge. This month's challenge was given by Cindy Needham, quilter extraordinaire, to divide up a space and just fill in the spaces with different designs. I have to say, it was a bit of a flash from growing up in the 60's and 70's - groovy! I must say I did have a lot of fun stitching it.
I drew up this on paper, as a starting point to what I wanted to stitch.






 
Back
 The color of the piece is most accurate on the first photo. All of the others are quite washed out looking. It was really fun dividing up the space randomly and coming up with fill designs. I can't wait to see what is in store for next month.

I've completed each month so far this year. If you'd like to see my progress click on the month.
January
February
March
April
May

Now it's time to hop on over to see what everyone else stitched up at Sew Cal Gal for the June FMQ Challenge.  I've seen a few of them and they are wonderful.

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Do FMQ Judges Live In Your Sewing Room???

The last couple days I've gotten some really kind comments on the FMQ on my Urban Nine Patch. Many say they would love to be able to FMQ, but just don't think they can do it. Well let me first tell you that I am NO expert, I don't even think I that good. But what I can share with you is how I got started, since it was just about a year ago that I first dropped my feed dogs. I hope this will give your the courage to try FMQ, maybe for the first time.

NUMBER ONE THING TO DO BEFORE YOU START- Check your sewing room thoroughly for any FMQ Judges that may be hiding in your closet.  What you are about to do does not need to be shown to anyone! (No judging, just doing)

9"x9" quilt sandwich - fabric, batting, fabric (use a solid color so you can see your stitches). You don't even need to baste this together. Use contrasting thread, different colors in the top and bobbin. DON'T use old, cheap thread!!! It most likely will break and give your heartburn!
 Don't start out on a big quilt or quilt sandwich. Start small, something big enough to hold on to, small enough to fit in you sewing machine throat without having to fold it. Try something 6" to 10" square or rectangle. If you don't have a solid, go to some place like Walmart or JoAnn's and pick up a small cut of cheap solid fabric. Don't use a print, it will be to hard to see where you are going and where you've been. This is just for practice.

If you have gloves, use them - you can even use garden gloves if you like. If you don't have them, don't worry. These are my favorite, Fons & Porter from JoAnn's.
Drop your feed dogs. There is likely a switch like this on your machine. This is my Babylock Esante, the switch is on the front of the freearm, it's on the back of the freearm on my Babylock Ellegante. Just look for it on your machine. If you machine is too old to have a switch, you can cover them with a Supreme Slider.

This is a Supreme Slider. I highly recommend this if you find out you like FMQ. It makes a WORLD of difference in your stitching.

Pull your bobbin thread up to the top and tuck them to the back. If you don't know how to do that click here and read a post I did a while back on how to start, stop and tie off.

If your machine has a speed control, put it on medium. If not, just be careful how hard you step on the foot petal.
Tension seems to cause most people the most tension when it comes to FMQ. I'm lucky, mine is digital and it goes back to the default setting when I turn my machine on. If you have a dial, take a picture or use a pencil to mark your normal setting. For goodness sakes folks it's just a dial - TURN IT if you have to, but you may not even have to.

Put both hands on the fabric, like I have my left hand. (I couldn't show both and take a picture.)

Push the fabric backward and just stitch a straight line (you have to move the quilt sandwich, no feed dogs). REMEMBER, you have already checked your sewing room for any sign of FMQ Judges.

Stitch a line backward by pulling the quilt sandwich forward.
 OH MY GOSH!!!! You just FMQed!!!!!


If you see the bobbin thread or loops on the top, lower your tension. If you see your top thread or loops the underside, raise your tension

This is my normal setting for my machine for FMQ.

If your having lots of problems, start by cleaning your bobbin case -- it is amazing how fast it gets linty. You may also just need to just rethread your bobbin or top thread.

Practice! Make yourself a dozen or so little practice quilt sandwiches.

YOU CAN FMQ! Just do it!

I'm linking up with the fabulous Melissa at Happy Quilting for TNT Thursday!


Color Me Quilty!

Pat

P.S. I would LOVE to know if anyone tries FMQ for the first time! I really want to give you all the courage to Try New Things!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

WIPed Out

I've been quilting my guts out, trying to finish FMQ my Urban Nine Patch baby quilt. I have three quarters of it done.



But alas, foiled by running out of thread!

Now my question for Leah this week, is not about our homework, but about FMQ straight lines and distances. Longarm quilters can quilt long sweeping lines and have them smooth and flowing, but I find even an 8" line for me is a bit wobbly (the outside curved stitch lines, in the picture, are about 8").
I find I have to stop in the middle and readjust, which leaves them wobbly. So my question is: Are there FMQ designs that are better left to longarm quilters and others that are better suited to domestic machine FMQ quilters? Is there an optimal size to the design? I've noticed that a lot of your designs are smaller fillers, but I've also seen some of your work with feathers that are quite large scale. While I realize that practice will help smooth out some of my line work, are there tricks to getting really smooth lines or am I better off going for an "organic (read wobbly)" look and staying with smaller designs? As always Leah, thank you for all of your help and support - You ROCK!

On to my homework, which I started, but didn't quite finish it.
Shot cottons and tan quilters linen

Wonky squares of the shot cotton on my design wall.

It's going to be a fun quilt to make and FMQ! Hopefully I will have a little bit of time next week to get it together.

The only other project on work on this week, was the purse that I started last week. And it's done! Woohoo a finish!
The stats this week:
In-process: (8)
Urban Nine Patch - FLMQG solids challenge crib quilt (3/4quilted)

Purple heart wall hanging ( needs borders, backing, quilting and binding)
Expanding Possibilities quilt (basted, now to be quilted)
Storybook quilt # 2 - All embroidery is done
Quokka Quilts QAYGFMQQAL quilt (All 30 blocks are quilted, need to join and bind)
Geneva Public Library quilt - join and quilt (maybe make a block or two to even it out)
Sew Cal Gal's March FMQ Challenge - Need to bind.
Sew Cal Gal's April FMQ Challenge - Need to make into a pillow.
Sew Cal Gal's May FMQ Challenge - Need to make into a pillow

New projects: (1)
Wonky squares

Finished (1)
Quilty Purse

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday and The Free Motion Quilting Project for QAL Wednesday


WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced
Free Motion Quilt Along

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Monday, June 25, 2012

Good to Go!

I want to thank everyone who told me they were having problems getting onto my site. I had a blog on my blog list that appears to be having malware problems. I removed them from my blog list, which appears to have done the trick. My site was never infected and is safe (checked Google Safe Browsing). Thanks Janine (Rainbow Hare Quilts) and Gramma Quilter (All The Pretty Pieces)!!!!!

Now on to Quilty stuff! I started quilting my Urban Nine Patch quilt. FUN!

Done quilting the center, now working on the edges.

Trying to keep the quilting kind of linear! Okay with a few circles thrown in for good measure.

Detail in the center of the block

Detail of the edges of the block

More quilting detail.
The quilting is going pretty quickly. I think it's going to look really cool after it is washed.

I'm linking up with Sew Happy Geek for Manic Monday, Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday and Plum and June for the Blog Hop (check out the awesome giveaway)

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Saturday, June 23, 2012

QED WINNER!!!



One of the best parts of blogging is the connections and new friends you can make all across the world. And the quilty blogger world is one of the friendly groups I have ever met. So it makes me so happy that I can give back, just a little something, for Quilty Embellishment Day (QED).  Thank you so much to everyone who linked up! So who is the winner this month....

Drum roll please..........

 

Janine at Rainbow Hare

Janine at Rainbow Hare Quilts! Yippee Skippee! Janine has been a wonderful friend for quite a while now. You really should go check out her blog. She does some amazing projects. I can't wait to see what she will make with these batik squares.  I will be emailing you shortly Janine.




Hope to see everyone next month, July 15th, for Quilty Embellishment Day (QED)!

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Friday, June 22, 2012

Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday!

How cool is it to report on a new WIP on Wednesday and finish it up on Friday! Woohoo, I finished my new quilty purse.
Width is 10" at the top and 12" at the bottom. It's about 11" tall with 15" handles.
This is my own pattern, which I have made before, but this time I put in a zipper. I have to say, I really struggled with that. There must be an easier method to install a zipper than I used.

the purse is lined in a fun bright orange with coordinating pockets

The purse is about 2" deep at the bottom
The purse went together pretty quickly (except for the struggle with the zipper). I think I will have to make this a few more times to work out the kinks!

I'm linking up with TGIFF today at Pretty Bobbins! Do hop over and check out what everyone has finished up this week!




Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

WIPping It Up!

Phew, it's going to be a hot one today. Already nice and humid. Luckily I can put the A/C on in my sewing room.

Our homework from Leah this week was one of my favorite to stitch. But I didn't have a quilt to stitch in on, so I decided to whip up a quilty purse. (Everyone needs a summer purse) The loopy line is the perfect design for the body of the purse.


I used a plum colored Isacord thread that blends nicely with the body of the purse. 


Back of the purse body. There is no backing material. I will be lining the purse.

I didn't have a backing on the purse body, I will use a lining to cover up the batting/interfacing. I like that the Surpreme Slider makes it easy to FMQ without a backing. It just slides along. I am amazed at how fast I stitched this design. I had my machine "wide open" and "petal to the metal" while stitching it. It was FUN!!!!

My question for Leah today is:  Although it probably isn't common to FMQ without a backing, how do you hide your thread tails. Do you just pull them to the back?

The only other thing I have to report on this week is my Urban Nine Patch, woohoo, I got it basted.
I can't wait to start quilting this baby! I plan on quilting it like Jenny did on her Urban Nine Patch.

The stats this week:
In-process: (8)
Urban Nine Patch - FLMQG solids challenge crib quilt (basted)

Purple heart wall hanging ( needs borders, backing, quilting and binding)
Expanding Possibilities quilt (basted, now to be quilted)
Storybook quilt # 2 - All embroidery is done
Quokka Quilts QAYGFMQQAL quilt (All 30 blocks are quilted, need to join and bind)
Geneva Public Library quilt - join and quilt (maybe make a block or two to even it out)
Sew Cal Gal's March FMQ Challenge - Need to bind.
Sew Cal Gal's April FMQ Challenge - Need to make into a pillow.
Sew Cal Gal's May FMQ Challenge - Need to make into a pillow

New projects: (1)
Quilty Purse

Finished (0)
 
I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday and The Free Motion Quilting Project for QAL Wednesday





WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced
Free Motion Quilt Along

Color Me Quilty!

Pat