Doing some Free Motion Quilting

I’ve been doing some free motion quilting lately.  Just a little bit.  You see I wanted to do something kind of fun for my quilt for the Fab Little Quilt Swap…the one with the girl.

I’m not horrible at free motion quilting, but I’m certainly no expert.  And I need inspiration for quilting ideas as much as I do for piecing ideas.  So I scoured my favorites and searched online looking for free motion quilting ideas that I thought I could reasonably accomplish.  (always the trick right?)

I knew I would need to practice before I attacked my precious little quilt (eek!  scary!), so I made myself a little quilt sandwich and practiced some ideas I had floating around in my head.

Free Motion Quilting

It was about 1 AM when I finished with these and I made the very WISE choice NOT to start quilting my mini right at that point.

Free Motion Quilting

Practicing is huge for me.  If I feel comfortable I know that I can make it work.  And you always have to remind yourself with free motion quilting (or any quilting really) that it is about the overall effect and not about any one spot.  No one will find that little place where you zigged instead of zagged.

Ironically, in the end, I quilted my mini with a completely different style free motion than all those practice types.  But I needed to go with something that worked for me and for the spirit that I want the quilt to have.  So I wanted more movement with the quilting than I was getting with my practice ideas.

A little peak….

Free Motion Quilting

The quilt is almost done now… I just need to put the binding on it and make a label.  I’m making myself not overwork this.   I personally think I tend to do that with minis and I like the less is more approach.  I’ll show off the whole thing to you all next week when it’s my day in Jennifer’s Blog hop for minis!  You’ll have to wait until then!

21 thoughts on “Doing some Free Motion Quilting”

  1. Loving the look of that FMQ, can't wait to see the whole thing! I'm anxiously waiting for my first official lesson with my big sewing machine (that I got early last October, but we'll ignore that!) because I get to learn how to FMQ and what to do with all the FMW feet that came with it!

  2. Hey, Great job with the FMing! I, too just started to FMQ. I started practicing on mug rugs, and just finished my first lap-sized quilt.
    Thanks for the encouragement. It's good to know someone was just as intimidated as me, but gosh, I had a great time doing it!

  3. Those are both beautiful samples to see, Angela. I did really like what you did on the Dewberry print, but them the other pattern was beautiful too. Yes, it has more movement. Looking forward to the reveal!

  4. You are so right that the quilting is about the overall effect not a single spot. I should do more practicing before I quilt on the real deal but usually I am so gung ho on finishing that my impatience wins. I should follow your example!

  5. I always practice right before too. I use old sheets and cut them into 15 x 15 inch squares and then spray baste some mini quilt sandwiches. I would never try out anything first on a real quilt! Thanks for sharing!

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