FMQ Tutorial, by Diane Gaudynski “Echo Feather Plume”

I'm participating in 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge hosted by Sew Cal Gal.   February's design is feathers by Diane Gaudynski.  In free motion quilting,  feathers have been my nemesis for a long time.  I so admired them on the quilts of others and failed miserably in my attempts to replicate a feather with my sewing machine.

I'm what Diane Gaudynski calls "feather challenged". 

I have always admired Diane's feathers and often told myself, "I want to quilt feathers like hers when I grow up".  Her tutorial is extremely well written and photographed.  It is excellent!  I read over the instructions several times and studied the pictures.

 Then I practiced drawing feathers.

Drawing feathers and tear drops.  I made a whole page of just tear drops in various directions and sizes.

 

 I tried to keep the feathers tear drop-shaped and the lines smooth.

 I practiced more.

 

 

 

 I added stems and extra plumes.

 

 I drew approximately 80 pages of feathers.

 

 I'm posting these drawings to show my feather shapes got better the more I practiced.

 Finally, I was ready to add the sewing machine.

Again I practiced on several scraps before doing my quilt block on my challenge quilt.

This is the front side.

The back side is unbleached 100% cotton muslin, the purple vareigated thread is 100% polyester, the pink is Coats trilobal 100% polyester embroidery thread.

 

 

 

 

Enough practice time to quilt my block.

I used my Pfaff Creative 2 sewing machine, with a dynamic spring motion quilting foot, dropped feed dogs, set the stitch length to zero, a straight stitch needle plate and 80/12 Schmetz universal needle.

 The white side is the back.

 

While quilting this block, I decided that sewing the feathers was way more fun than echoing so I added more plumes as I echoed.

 

 

 This is the finished block.  I'm delighted with it. 

 

 

 

 Close ups of top stitching

 Happy quilting all.

Embroidery fun...

Progress report with the new toy...a Pfaff Creative 2.  This is a thistle flower for a baby book, the pages were made by guests at the baby's shower and now her nanna is making a book.

 

I embroidered the birth announcement on a pink block.  Below is the practice on a quilt sandwich.

I'm practicing my  free motion leaves as well.  The embroidery was done with 100% variegated purple thread and the green leaves are 100% polyester trilobal embroidery thread.  So far I'm really enjoying doing sewing machine embroidery. 

Happy sewing all.

free motion quilting - heart shaped leaves

I'm delighted to participate in 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge.  January's teacher is Frances Moore.  First I drew the leaves on about a dozen sheets paper, trying to get them relatively the same size and running in different directions without crossing the lines.

These are the first two sheets.

This is the last sheet.  I put a question mark at the start as in hindsight, I should have started with a complete leaf instead of short piece of stem.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize this until after I completed the square in my sampler quilt.  When I was done my square I went back to the centre to add one tiny leaf on the starter stem, it is very obvious because of the extra thread.

 

This is my practice scrap, I tried purple Coats 100% polyester thread 40 wt and white bobbin quilting thread in the bottom.

On the backside there are tiny purple dots from the top side showing through the bottom.  I adjusted the needle tension then I had white dots on the top.  This problem was easily fixed by changing the bobbin thread to the same thread colour as the needle.

This month's square was quilted with my Bernina 930 Record (Helga) using a Schmetz universal 80/12 needle.

I'm mostly happy with the results.  The only thing I don't like is my beginning and end are obvious.  These leaves are fun to quilt.

The sampler quilt is 100% cotton top, the outside border is 100% cotton unbleached muslin and so is the back.  The batting is Warm and Natural 80% cotton and 20% polyester.  This batting is wonderful to quilt with.

I really looking forward to next month's free motion quilting design.  After completing the sampler block I put these leaves on the baby quilt behind the sampler quilt.

Happy quilting all!

What Child Is This - vocalist Barry Mihilewicz my cousin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py-8WmW9bm4

A little piece of magic.  Happy New Year!

Using a treadle sewing cabinet with an electric machine

Debbie has left a new comment on your post "Husqvarna 530 Lily":

When I used a treadle cabinet for an electric machine I constantly got tangled up with the iron pedal on the bottom. Congrats on your new machines!

This is how my treadle cabinet was set up.  After the treadle machine was removed, a wooden shelf was installed for this free arm machine to sit on.   The older flatbed machines have the identical hinged pin at the back of the machine that fits into a portable carrying case or sewing machine cabinet.  These machines can be installed the same way the treadle machine was and folded down for storage.  My shelf set-up does not allow for the machine to be folded inside when not in use. 

I wrapped the electric cord that plugs into the wall and the foot pedal cord around the centre of the treadle frame then feed them up and inside the back of the cabinet to plug into the machine.

 

I put a small piece (2 by 4) of wood 2 inches thick under the treadle pedal.  

This prevents the treadle pedal from moving when sewing.

Works like a charm. Happy sewing all.