Saturday 12 July 2014

Definitely no stippling here!

Good morning ladies and gentlemen.  Today I've got a class at the Bead Shop, so it's probably about time I told you all about the class I took last month.  I booked it ages ago and had been very much looking forward to it.  It was a Free Motion Quilting class, held at StitchCraft Studio by the lovely Trudi, my friend and guild buddy.  I alternatively heckled and tried to be teacher's pet!

The class was 10-4 with lunch included (they do great food - yes, this is an LQS with a cafe inside!) so we had a lot of time to practice.  I have attempted a bit of FMQ before, but it was great to get some tips, design ideas and of course be shown the best way to do things.  I was also able to see where I'd been going wrong before. Trudi spent quite a bit of time shouting "Wendy, slow down!"  I don't know what's wrong with me, but when I'm sewing, I forget I can take my foot off the pedal...


We made quilt sandwiches and basted them ready.  We went through each design, Trudi showed us how to do it and we practiced on paper first, then had a go on our sandwich.  I have no idea what is wrong with these pictures, the fabric I used was pink...


I filled one piece and made another sandwich, I could have continued with the same piece, just quilting over the top in a different colour, but I wanted to keep it for posterity.  Hopefully one day I can look back at them and laugh, but at the moment I'm quite proud.


This one is blue!  I know that this quilting is by no means professional, but I saw an improvement in the designs so I know I can continue to improve with practice.  I was surprised I could do this at all, especially the feathers!


I found it all so freeing... if you live nearby and haven't plucked up the courage to FMQ, I'd highly recommend a class with Trudi.  If you don't live nearby, I'm sure there'll be a class near you somewhere.


I've got some FMQing to do, there are a couple of items on my FAL Q3 list which I want to FMQ, not least my And Sew On quilt.  I had borrowed Kerry's open toe/darning foot for the class (and almost ruined her entire life in the process...) so was thrilled when mine arrived a few days later.  Time to practice!


Ta dah!  What do you think?  Am I any good at this FMQ? ...

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Yeah, OK, Trudi made this sample for me!  (and it was on cream fabric?!?!?)  This is what I aspire to and it's good to have aspirations.

14 comments:

Rachel said...

As you say, aspirations are good. So is practice!

pennydog said...

Nah you didn't nearly ruin my life at all, it was a great experience for me to learn more about my machine, its limitations and preferences ;) Plus it was a practice in patience and mechanics! Also I know now that that other FMQ foot I have is completely useless and I wrote a pretty major blog post off the back of my experiences which is doing well for blog traffic so actually it was a good thing!

Sarah in Stitches said...

Good job, Wendy! :D

Joy said...

I think you're going great Wendy - and so many designs too; congratulations! It's a lot of fun isn't it, but the biggest problem I have is keeping the stitch length even although ….. last practice it seemed like there was a bit of improvement ….. definitely the more practice one puts in, the better. Go Wendy Go!
xoJoy

Pam @Threading My Way said...

You go girl!!! In no time at all you'll be FMQ like Trudi. I agree, it is freeing and the best thing, you can just say you meant to make the design as it ends up.

Vera said...

You are pretty good! It is great to see the improvement on these pieces. Keep going!

Fiona said...

isnt it so much fun.... go for it.. your a natural... as you say practice practice and doing some real things is great practice...
Hugz

Sandra :) said...

The one tip I remember from long ago was to warm up before starting to FMQ the item you're working on - always have a quilt sandwich at the ready to get you in the swing of things! I haven't done FMQ in a long time - my shoulders tense up like crazy when I do it - I really should get some practice in :D It looks like you really got the technique down pat, Wendy - well done!

Jane said...

Well done you. This is something I'd love to do more of, keep practicing and have fun

Anonymous said...

Well done! I think your attempts are great :) Especially like that feather. I really struggle with FMQ at the moment so envious!

margaret said...

I am truly impressed at all you learnt in a day, if I lived closer I would certainly have come to a class

Anonymous said...

Wendy this is brilliant! It really is all about practising and practising, with some good tuition thrown into the mix too. One day...!

Anonymous said...

Looking good!

Jo Ferguson said...

You Got It!!! Your stitching and designs are beautiful.