FMQ habit

I've fmq'd every single day since 7/7/2012! It has become an(other) obsession.

I've continued with Leah Day's beginner-intermediate filler designs, designs I learned about in last month's machine quilting class with Jill Schumacher and played with my own variations as well.

beginner-intermediate filler samples & more

Here's what the mini trapunto whole cloth  looks like now:

mini trapunto whole cloth in progress

Not much progress but many trial samples. On the left are the designs I'll use: from top to bottom, Jill's Waffles in the middle, Martha's Marshmallows in the hearts and Seven Treasures of Buddha around the outside.

And here's the Ohio Star:

Ohio Star in progress

Though Jill had advised me to quilt a simple border pattern because any fancy quilting won't show up, I saw it as an ideal opportunity to practice spirals and hide any wobbles. Those samples to the left are more spirals which I'll quilt in the solid blue and white areas around the star. The design is Leah Day's Swirling Water. It took multiple attempts to get this intermediate level (woot!) design right.

Since these two projects are stalled waiting for thread, I am working on this one:

pink mini whole cloth in progress

I'd barely started this one in a long-ago workshop with Sue Nickels and had shown it here, before I'd removed all the straight stitches. Not too much thinking needed since I'll quilt it similarly to this practice one:

practice for the pink one

All this practice has certainly helped my stitch quality but I'm still clueless about quilting my own improvisational work.

In mid-October I am going to the Crow Barn in Ohio for a machine quilting workshop and further fmq education from Sandy Ciolino. Check out Sandy's website and read what good things Kathy Loomis and Annette Guerrero say about her.

If you want to quilt your own non-traditional projects and improve your fmq, then you really must join me there. A great environment. We'll laugh, eat well, and learn lots too!

How do you do . . . ?

Update:
For another perspective on Sandy Ciolino's machine quilting workshop, see this post by Annette Guerrero. Annette was already an accomplished quilter when she took Sandy's workshop. What could be better than endorsement from another quilter?!


My apologies if you've seen the rest of this post before. Due to technical difficulties and user error, the rest of this post was temporarily un-published.

How do you do IT? Machine quilting I mean.

quilting Orange Rhyme

So many decisions. What designs/patterns/motifs to quilt? where to apply it?
Quilting to stand out or blend in? contrast or complement the quilt top?
And thread: color, solid or variegated, weight, fiber type.
Let's not even get into batting.
Use the walking foot? or are you comfortable with free-motion?
Quilt on a home machine? or on a mid or long arm? 
Do your own quilting? or have someone else do it? 

I've pinned my hopes on getting answers from Sandra Palmer Ciolino. She's teaching a one-week machine quilting workshop at the Crow Barn in October. 

I've already taken a basic introductory class, and a two-day workshop with Sue Nickels. I've followed Leah Day, Heather Thomas and Angela Walters online. I've stitched up many samples from The Free Motion Quilting Project. 

beginner designs

But I still don't get it - I have not mastered free motion quilting. Okay, admittedly I haven't practiced consistently. Yes, I know, practice, practice, practice! Two to three hours a day for beginners; more if not particularly gifted. Yep, that's me. 

the only finished project with fmq

My last quilt was intensely stitched with a walking foot.

lines up to 3/16" apart

Sure wasn't much fun getting the bulky thing to turn around under the machine arm. Free-motion would be the ticket to avoid that. Someone said, "don't let your skills limit what you can create". So my goal is to master fmq. 


A whole cloth quilt is not for me. Instead a perspective that'll work with abstract improvisational compositions. In time I may figure this out but I'm impatient. If fmq will never be my thing, then I want to find out soon. 

Sandy is a fabulous machine quilter using her domestic sewing machine. Check out her gallery of recent work on her website. I've heard much praise for her last workshop. She has quilted for Nancy Crow - that's alone is quite an endorsement. Plus she's a sweetheart to boot. 

There's room in the workshop. I'm hoping it'd be a go. Worst case scenario, it won't and might not be offered again. So won't you join me in Ohio for the workshop? Would be good for you. But really - full disclosure here - I'm asking in my own self interest.

The queen

Sue Nickels is the queen of stippling and feathers. Her quilts are gape-mouth knockouts with lots beautifully detailed quilting. She deserves every single award. 

I just finished her two-day EBHQ workshop on machine quilting. She was a fabulous instructor - organized, clear, concise and very patient and upbeat with everyone. Though she claims to be a non-techie, she used a microphone, camera and projector. Hurrah for Sue for embracing technology and enabling her students to see and hear her demonstrations

Despite having no interest in traditional quilting, I learned much even though my free motion quilting did not show any marked improvement.  Practice, patience and preserverence was her pep talk cry. No one becomes an award winning free motion quilter overnight. See - there's hope!