Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Free Motion Quilting - Butterflies & Flowers

This month's tutorial was by Ann Fahl.  She gave us lots of excellent information.  Then she left the practice part up to our imaginations!  I loved it.  First off, I didn't realize when I took this challenge that I would not only improve my  free motion quilting, but also become a better artist.  As with last month's echo feathers I doodled designs on paper.
I liked these flowers just fine, except they needed something more.
So I added a round of echoing.
Still needed more pizazz!  In February 2011, Jane did a post on free motion quilting butterflies complete with a video on her blog Sew Create It.
I tossed in a few butterflies!  In all I drew about 30 pages of flowers and/or butterflies.
Tried a few heart-shaped leaves but didn't like them.
 
Didn't really like the butterflies alone either.
The butterflies and flowers together was the design I was looking for.
 
Onto my practice sandwich. I don't usually mark my quilts because I love the freedom of meandering in any direction.  Like Ann Fahl,  I'm dancing with thread as well.
The purple solid colour is Coats 100% polyester serger thread.
The yellow is Coats trilobal 100% polyester embroidery thread.  I love this thread because it has a very nice sheen to it.  However,  this thread wasn't colourful enough .
The variegated thread is 100% polyester Rainbow Colours Serger Thread imported by  H.A. Kidd and Company.
The quilt sandwich is 100% cotton green top side, white bottom side and 80% cotton 20% polyester batting called Warm and Natural.
I like the variegated purple, blue and pink thread for butterflies and flowers the most.
 
 
 I was so impressed with Ann Fahl's tutorial, that I bought her books Dancing with Thread and Colouring with Thread.
This is my Pfaff Creative 2 sewing machine with its modified Dynamic Spring Motion 6D foot, a Bernina 70 needle and straight stitch needle plate.
The feed dogs are dropped and stitch length is set to zero.
 
The cream or off white colour side is the back. 
 
 
This is the finished block on the sample quilt.
 
 
I think it has all kinds of pizazz!
 
Below is the back of the sample quilt.
 
This design would look very nice on a baby quilt.  Your comments are always welcome! Happy quilting!
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23 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 7, 2012 at 6:44 PM

    Love those butterflies! I've got to try them too, have just been experimenting with various flowers and loops and leaves on the little girl's quilt I'm finishing up this week (Hopefully!). Also threw in some Diane-echo feathers on the borders! Isn't this challenge a ton of fun?!
    Pat in OR

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  2. Marjorie's Busy CornerMarch 7, 2012 at 6:59 PM

    Great looking quilting...I have to try mine yet....so slow here

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  3. MarthaMarch 7, 2012 at 11:34 PM

    I love your quilting!! I am going to add a few butterflies to my quilting now that I have seen yours, fabulous idea!!

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  4. Diane WagnerMarch 8, 2012 at 12:24 AM

    I really like your butterflies. They go well with your flowers. Good Job!

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  5. CarolynMarch 8, 2012 at 4:40 AM

    Tammy, I love your butterflies. I can see you are enjoying this challenge. Bravo - well done!

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  6. ShevvyMarch 8, 2012 at 5:36 AM

    Those butterflies are more like embroidery than quilting with all the detail on them, well done.

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  7. PauletteMarch 8, 2012 at 8:20 AM

    Great work, Tammy! And your butterflies have bodies and antennae too! I'm glad to hear you're having fun dancing with thread.

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  8. NotTheNormMarch 8, 2012 at 8:53 AM

    I love the combination of flowers and butterflies! I wish I had seen your butterflies last week when some (very plain) ones flew onto the quilt I was working on. I like the echo around them, it just adds a bit more "oomph!" Nice job!

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  9. Sew Create It - JaneMarch 8, 2012 at 10:33 AM

    Gorgeous butterflies! I love the double wings on them! Very sweet!

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  10. DaraMarch 8, 2012 at 1:46 PM

    Great Job Tammy! I love your butterflies, nice fmq.

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  11. Joanie's Trendy QuiltsMarch 10, 2012 at 6:44 AM

    Love your meandering butterflies and flowers. You did quite a bit of pencil practice - and was quite creative doing doing so. Great job!

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  12. VickiMarch 10, 2012 at 11:23 AM

    Love the butterflies. They look great in variegated thread and different sizes. Very creative. Nice work on the adapted free-motion foot as well. That's exactly what I need to do too.

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  13. SewCalGalMarch 10, 2012 at 12:54 PM

    Oh my gosh, your quilting is beautiful. You look like you've been doing these designs for years. Absolutely lovely. Great job.

    Glad you liked Ann's tutorial too!

    SewCalGal
    www.sewcgal.blogspot.com

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  14. JoanMarch 10, 2012 at 11:07 PM

    I can see how your drawings have paid off - great photos and wonderful quilting.

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  15. Angelina KendraMarch 11, 2012 at 9:10 AM

    wowza - great job!

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  16. DanaMarch 11, 2012 at 11:24 AM

    wonderful you totally nailed the tutorial, out of curiosity why do you use a bernina 70 needle on your pfaff? I have a pfaff QE4 and am always looking for things to improve my quilting stitches, are they good needles? Dana danaandlee@hotmail.co.uk

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  17. TammyMarch 11, 2012 at 4:17 PM

    Hi Dana,
    I have an authorized Bernina dealer friend who uses the needle only once to test a machine then tosses them out. His wife saved a 100 of these nearly new needles and just gave to me. They were all size 70. Bernina needles are excellent.

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  18. Connie Kresin CampbellMarch 12, 2012 at 9:56 AM

    What beautiful butterflies! Your quilting looks so neat!
    Quilting by the River

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  19. CarolMarch 13, 2012 at 9:54 AM

    The butterflies are darling!

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  20. Diane WildMarch 22, 2012 at 7:33 PM

    What a great job. Yes, I definitely need to try different threads.

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  21. WendyMarch 25, 2012 at 10:57 PM

    Wow! You're doing great. It's easy to see that you're having loads of fun. And I love your butterflies. Now I want to try some.

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  22. TammyMarch 27, 2012 at 7:50 PM

    Sorry Linda, I hit the wrong button on my Iphone.

    Linda has left a new comment on your post "Free Motion Quilting - Butterflies & Flowers":

    Love your butterflies. Great!

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  23. RaewynApril 1, 2012 at 1:15 PM

    Fantastic work Tammy - you really put the time into this month's challenge (I left mine to the last minute) and it certainly paid off. The butterflies are a gorgeous touch.

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Your comments give me quite a thrill. Thanks so much for visiting my blog and please have a super duper day! Unfortunately, anonymous comments are no longer allowed, there was just way too much spam.

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