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!

ARGH! The Case of the Missing Foot Petal!

When I inherited my mom's sewing/quilting stuff, I brought numerous TRUCK loads of stuff to my house. It has taken over the upstairs of my house and it has taking many months, but I have gone through all of it. I have duplicates of many things, but what I don't have is two foot control petals (you know the petal that runs your machine). Both Babylocks will run with the same foot control petal and my mom only used the Ellegante for embroidery (you don't use a foot petal to embroider). So I'm sure she packed the additional petal into a box and put it in the barn at my brother's house. ARGH!!!! Normally this is not a problem, but I had to send the foot petal into the repair shop with my Ellegante. Do you know how hard it is to sew with just the start/stop button??!!

Sewing with the start/stop button!

lots of little pieces

Second row completed!

 Well, I was able to get my second row of my Urban Nine Patch completed (after a bit of cursing). Would it be rude to call the repair shop and ask how/when my machine will be done??!! I want Miss Ellie back!

I did receive something fun in the mail....

...another pack of QuiltCon fat quarters to play with from the Fat Quarter Shop. I feel another challenge block coming on!

Today I'm linking up with A Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday!



Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Free Motion Friday: H2O

It's Free Motion Friday, hosted by the wonderful Cindy at Fluffy Sheep Quilting! This week was Leah Day's H20, her's looks like a water molecule! Now I will tell you that I'm pretty good at math, but chemistry and I have never been friends!

My front

My back

Well, I definitely had tension problems this week, I was using a different machine. But the biggest problem I had was space planning. I couldn't get the flow of this design and ended up wobbling and stopping often. My brain just could wrap itself around the pattern. But, it is always fun to play with FMQ!

I'm linking up again this week with Cindy at Fluffy Sheep Quilting for her marvelous Free Motion Friday. I wonder how the other FMQers fared this week? Let's hop on over and check it out!

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

WIP Wednesday #5: Fabric Therapy

What a crazy week! My big, fancy machine broke last Wednesday night! Ugh! Now, I do have a back-up machine that is pretty nice, but the harp space and embroidery is limited.

Baby Lock Esante

So to soothe my nerves, since there is a 3 week backlog to get my Ellegante back, I decided that maybe a little fabric therapy was in order. I have been eying Valori Wells Wrenly since it came out. I just had to get some, so I bought a couple of charm packs.

I have a baby quilt I need to make for a friend due in March. I was thinking about pairing it with some of my hand-dyed fabric.

I thought that the green/blue color way would look good with the dyed fabric, but I was pleasantly surprised how much I like the reds and pinks with it. Okay, I feel better now!

I still got a fair bit accomplished this week, since my friend Jean came to my rescue and let me embroider 17 Christmas stocking cuffs and several other projects on her machine.

So the stats for the week:

In-process: (6)
Hip to be Square FMQ sampler (still at 14 out of 30 blocks quilted)
Cubic Rhythm ( still 1/4 quilted)
Table runner (nope)
Purple heart wall hanging (nope)
Expanding Possibilities quilt (nope)
Free-Motion practice samples (Pine Needles - linked up at Fluffy Sheep Quilting)
17 Christmas Stockings - (10 of them started this week! All cuff embroidered, 8 linings completed. Need to assemble)

New projects in the cue to start: (3)
7 Christmas Stockings - stockings part completed on all 7, 2 cuffs embroidered. Need to make the lining and assemble.
FLMQG solids challenge crib quilt (Not started)
New Wave quilt (not started)
Friend's baby quilt - fabric picked out!

Projects completed this week: (0)

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Try New Things (TNT) Thursday: Curved Piecing Experiment!

YIKES! My Ellegante sewing machine broke last night! I only had just one small color left to stitch on the fish I was embroidering. She needs to go in for emergency surgery, her needle is stuck in the down position. I left the fish hooped in hopes I could finish it when I get my machine back. Doesn't she know how many embroidery and free motion presents she has left to complete!! Luckily, her little sister, Esante, is running. I can work on some Christmas projects with her.

To get my mind off of poor "Miss Elle", I decided to try stitching some curved pieces on "Miss Esante". This is something I've always wanted to try.

Two square of fabric, right side up

Free hand cut a gentle curve

Marked corresponding positions on the two pieces that I planned on sewing

Pinned and stitched

Viola! Curved piecing.

It wasn't prefect, but not bad for a first attempt. I will definitely use curved piecing in a quilt. This small success did help mollify my sadness over Miss Elle.

I'll be linking up with the wonderful Melissa at Happy Quilting for Try New Things (TNT) Thursday. Make sure you hop over to see all the wonderful new things people are trying!

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Quilt Transitions Through A Generation

I don't remember when I first learned to sew. Both Grandmothers sewed, my mom was a fabulous sewist, even my babysitter sewed. I remember taking my dolls' dresses apart to use them as a pattern to make new ones. My mom started quilting in the late 70's. I was busy with high school, then college. I, for the most part stopped sewing, as I moved around the country for my career. All the while, my mom made me beautiful quilts.

Transitions

My mom was very active, then was suddenly cut down with cancer. Her last wish was to teach me to use her machines and I willingly listened and learned throughout the summer of 2010. September 2010, my mom passed away and left me two beautiful Baby Lock sewing/embroidery machines and a HUGE fabric stash.
 




I moved truck loads of sewing stuff to my house and tried for months to make sense of it. I was not sure I wanted to quilt or embroider, until I found some pictures of quilts on the Flickr group Fresh Modern Quilts. It changed how I felt about quilts. Flipping through the Internet searching for modern quilts I found Melissa Cory's quilt Sugar Pop N Change and I kept going back to stare at it. At the same time, I was organizing my new stash and realized I had a tremendous amount purples and blues. I also wanted to add some embroidery that was subtle and modern. I found these cool dragonfly designs at Urban Threads. (somewhere I read that dragonflies signify transition in some cultures). So in Feb 2011, I did a 3 day retreat with some of my mothers quilting friends and created this quilt. At that time, I had never quilted a quilt so I had Sue Hodge long-arm quilt it with spirals. All of the fabric in this quilt was from my mother's stash. The pattern was my transition to modern quilts. 

Pieced back with left-overs from the front

Quilting has become a passion, it makes me feel close to mom. I feel like she's watching and I think she's pleased!

I'm linking up with Amy's Creative Side for the Bloggers' Quilt Festival. Go over and check out some of the other great quilts and quilt stories!

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

RETREAT!!!!

Three whole days! I get to sew for three whole days with some wonderful ladies that have quilted forever! I always learn so much from them and many of them knew my mom.  Does it get any better?

I'm all packed up, trying to remember what I forgot. I'm taking my Babylock Ellegante because she has a bigger throat and I want to be able to FMQ (and it's only fair, I took my Esante to the beach). Both of my "girls" need to get out and see the sights, don't you think?

This is a (semi) local retreat so I will have my evenings free. Tonight is my class at Sew Creative where I get to try out the new Pfaff Creative Sensation. FUN! And with having all this time to sew, I should be able to finally finish my latest quilty purse and several other projects. I'm hoping to have something cool to show tomorrow for FMQ Friday that Cindy over at Fluffy Sheep Quilting is organizing!

Sew for now, Color Me Quilty!

Pat

A Step On My Free-Motion Quilting Journey

I can't believe that we are already packing up to head home from our wonderful trip to the Outer Banks, NC. It has been a great week. I haven't completed any sewing projects, but I have made great progress in learning how to free-motion quilt. Back in June I talked about overcoming breaking needles when I quilted. Then early this week I talked about bad bobbins and bird's nests. But I'm now starting to get the hang of it. My Baby Lock Esante ran fine when I used good thread. The bobbin problems and bird's nests were from cheap thread I bought at a quilt show. When I put Isacord thread in, everything worked like a charm.

Backside (batting) of a new purse project.

A potholder project

My Mom's Table Runner UFO Note: My Mom had hand basted this, not good for machine quilting!

The back of the table runner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Sew, I have learned that practice helps, having the right thread counts and free-motion quilting at the beach is a blast!


 Sew for now, just Color Me Quilty!

 Pat

Bobbins, Birdsnests and Baby Locks

I think my Baby Lock Esante isn't aware that I'm considering trading her in for a Janome Horizon. If she is, she is giving me just cause. How hard should it be to wind a bobbin???

After I finally got a bobbin to wind correctly, then I got birdnests on the backside of the quilting.

Speaking of sewing in the OBX, my husband and I went to the Wright National Park yesterday. They even have sewing machines on display there!

How cool is that??!!

Well, just Color Me Quilty!

Pat