Monday, January 16, 2012

January projects

I'm horrible at free motion quilting, so I decided to join the challenges to gain some helpful tips, and give me plenty of opportunity to practice.  For January, SewCalGal's Free Motion Quilting Challenge has instructor Frances Moore showing us a leaf motif - which she effortlessly stitches (like a floating butterfly) in every direction (while talking/creating the video)!  In my dreams!!  Ha - no, I know Rome wasn't built in a day, but BOY! do I got some practicing to do!  After drawing, and drawing, (and drawing) the leaves on paper, I've progressed to getting them onto fabric with my machine.  Wonky, lopsided, sometimes jagged - but they ARE on the fabric! LOL!  I'm not accustomed to pushing/sliding the fabric around - it feels so awkward.  I have a tendency to want to grab the fabric on both sides of the needle and "steer".  I guess eventually I'll settle into some kind of rhythm and get it.  Here I'm doing the all over leaf, two border-type styles of the leaf, and a leaf with the vein going straight through and into the next leaf.  PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE! :)

I also tried a little stippling from Leah Day's Free Motion Quilt Project.  Gotta keep at it to get my lines more "fluid" and less jerky.

With both trials I kept losing my bobbin thread??? I don't know why this kept happening.  It wasn't breaking, my needle would just stop picking it up like skipped thread.  I would stay in the same spot and take a few stitches and then it would pick it up and I could keep going.  If you have the solution for this PLEASE tell me what I'm doing wrong.  Thanks!

And last, but by no means least is my first BOM project for 2012.  This block is for the BOM for Berry Basket Quilters Guild.  I made this one, and I'm going to make another one from a stash of black and white fabrics I have.

5 comments:

  1. You might try rethreading your machine and bobbin. Sometimes that will do the trick!
    Keep practicing -- I'm trying to as well!

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  2. Good idea - and eplacing the needle! Almost always is what solves it for me - Leah Day has an article about skipped stitches.

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  3. I like what you've done with the free-motion. Someone told me it was coming and I kept telling myself that I was going to get on it soon as it started, but I haven't yet. Just from what you've done, it's a start and an encouragement for me!

    About the skipped thread, I agree about rethreading the machine; sometimes my thread jumps out of that last little thingy just before the needle.

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  4. I think your samples look great. About the skipped stitches - I also found that changing the needle solved this problem.

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  5. I like how you did your leaves in a line with the vein going through and also the border one with one leaf up and one down. Creative use of the design. With enough practice we'll all get better!!! We will. :)

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