Free motion quilting has become an exceptional pleasure in my life. I absolutely love it! Leah Day is destined to be (if not already) one of the greatest quilting teachers ever to be born! She is such a natural, down to earth individual who keeps budget in the forefront for quilters. She stresses that you don’t need the newest, greatest, latest long arm machine or notions to be a quilter.
By studying The Free Motion Project and much practicing on scraps first, I have had the confidence to complete a feather wreath in each of the 24 blocks on “Lovely Lou.” The stitching is not perfect, or course. Nor will it ever be, but I am seeing improvement. My plan for Lou is to better define the spine in each wreath, retrace each feather and then echo each wreath. I have started with a simple echo. Then, I plan to use several of Leah's filler designs in each block, sashing, and border.
The setting triangles are still to be quilted and the picture at the left is my drawing of a half wreath with pebbling as a filler. My question for Leah and anyone else who cares to comment: Will such a heavily quilted design be appropriate for the setting triangles? Would another lighter design fit better? Am I overdoing the feather thing? The quilt top is pictured above, obviously before any quilting has been completed. Help! How should I, a real newbie, quilt this thing? Perhaps, in the setting triangles, simple echoes around the motifs in the fabric? Larger scale pebbling around the motifs?
Looks great! What design are you going to put in the borders? If you did the triangles in that design then it would tie together. I do not speak from experience as I have only finished three FMQ quilts in my life!
ReplyDeleteJune,
DeleteI don't know what to do with the borders, sashing or the triangles. That's why I am seeking direction. I like your idea of doing the same in all three areas. My featherweight has performed like a champ! I started with a Viking, but that machine just does not like stitching sideways! Thanks for commenting and keep checking back to see what I come up with for the rest of "Lou."