Free Motion in Progress

Last Friday had us all busy sewing, drafting and of course chatting. We all look forward to this day each fortnight to catch up with what everyone is up to and just have a lovely day out with friends.

Narelle's time is usually cut short between work and family but Friday she was able to whip out the sewing machine and continue with some free motion quilting. We had a FMQ Day at the end of last year and Narelle made this colourful wall hanging to work on (after much practice).

So far she has done some flame quilting in the orange squares . . . . . . .

And a daisy chain that she thought up after trying some continuous leaves on a practice piece. (Click on the photos for a close-up) She also shadow quilted around the applique.

Kerry has finished piecing and joining all the blocks for the raffle quilt and has sewn the first border on. The quilt is coming along nicely and will soon be ready for quilting.

Roll on fortnight so we can sew and chat once more.

Free Motion Quilting Day

Here are the samples from two of the ladies who took part in learning about free motion quilting.

Lisa (left) and Narelle (right) both thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were pleased with their results. Both are keen to do some more practicing if they can just find the time.

Isn't it amazing how the texture of the hand dyed fabric changes with a different quilting pattern? The newly skilled quilters will soon be attempting feathers and more feathers on their traditional style quilts.

Free Motion Quilting Day

The last sewing day for 2007 saw the machines all set up for free motion work. A short discussion about quilting designs before we dropped the dogs and started.
How come "sew" many pattern designers finish the information about their design with "Quilt As Desired". We are still wondering what as desired looks like. We studied the book by that name, very useful.
Well after today the girls also have a bit more knowledge about thread thickness, remember the higher the number the thinner the thread. The Madeira Cotona 80 looked wonderful on Margaret's sample. The Daruma silk thread sewed beautifully as well. Ruth would not mind the box of these for sale at Patchwork on Pallas for Christmas. The Aurifil Mako 50 is also a wonderful thread to sew with. It is easily available from online shopping here in Australia.
These threads really suit traditional quilting styles done by machine where you like to see the texture without noticing the thread.
We discovered some machines absolutely dislike cheaper, thicker thread. It is probably variations in thickness from slubs that cause the problem. It is a shame that some variegated threads don't work too well. Kerry found that some worked well while sewing slowly but as soon as she found a faster smooth stitch the thread broke. The variegated threads are good for more contemporary work.
Feathers for traditional quilts were oohed at and some had a go. We had to learn to draw them first let alone stitch them. All the designs we tried were all drawn on paper first to develop the rhythm of sewing it.
The star pupil even had a go at a Caryl Bryer Fallert quilting design. So now she has gone home to google for her website so she can study more of her work. Other quilting experts to look up include Sharon Schamber, Diane Gaudynski, Patsy Thompson, Karen McTavish and there's probbaly a lot more. So watch out we are slowly building our reputations as quilters. Unfortunately the cameras did not come out today so here is a sample of Ruth's first free motion feather accomplished some time ago for something to view from today.



Next year we will probably decide to start early again so we can commence our raffle quilt. Ruth was just too dog tired to get the fabric and pattern ready to start this week. So watch this space.