Friday, April 22, 2011

FIRST DAY OF FMQ CHALLENGE

For you non-quilters, FMQ means Free Motion Quilting.  In other words, quilting by machine mostly without marking a design on the quilt first.  Of course, you will have a design in mind.  The design that I want to learn is feathers and below are my practice pieces.  The one on the left is my first one.  The right one on the darker fabric is my second practice section and on the left is my third.  I think the third one is definitely better than the first two, so I am already encouraged.  I want to quilt feathers in the border of my Mansfield Park basket quilt.

Here's part of my basket quilt.  I have about half of the block quilted and I would like to finish the quilting before we leave on our next trip.

 Next, below is my current Jo Morton's Little Women class project.  The next class is Tuesday, so I'm going to try to get this quilted by then.  Not sure how I will quilt it.

On my trip I worked on hand quilting this Cheddar Cheese & Crackers quilt.  I'm about 80% finished with it and I'm trying to work on it a little every day.

I know I'm nuts, but I have wanted to at least get started on the Gone to Texas quilt.  I will be making blocks in between other things.  The ones in this picture were pieced in the camper because I had cut some fabric ahead of time.

Here's a picture of the Gone to Texas quilt.  It seems like this is a "pioneer" quilt, so I'm trying to make it with "old" looking fabric - in other words, reproductions - so what else is new.

I have been busy this week making some play outfits for Abigail.  While I was in Florida I made her a couple of these tops and a cobblers' apron.  This time, I made some shorts to go with the tops, along with a couple extra shorts.


These shorts are made out of fabric from Guatemala.  Do any of you remember Jackie, the missionary from Guatemala?  She sent me this fabric and I thought it would make good play shorts.

 This baby afghan was found at a garage sale in Florida for $2, so I'm going to donate it to children's hospital.  It was new and made by a 92 year old woman.  The garage sale was to raise money for a missions trip and the lady holding the garage sale goes to the same church as my DS & DIL!  My DIL is hoping to go on the missions trip to India and then stay longer to spend time with her family.

Today I'm meeting some friends for lunch, so I better get going.

13 comments:

  1. Yep, those feathers are getting better! But holy cow look at all those projects...each one of them as awesome as the others. The Gone to Texas quilt gives new definition to scrappy..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Too much goodness in one post!!

    The feathers do get easier. I find that if I draw the spine first it does help.

    I love the hand quilting projects. The baskets are awesome!
    I have the Gone to TX book. You've got a great start!
    The clothing is lovely. Isn't that fun to make?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wonderful work on your quilting. The outfits are adorable that you made for your granddaughter. Thanks for sharing all of your fun projects.

    Happy Easter, Carolyn :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your feathers are getting good. Love all your projects. You have been very busy. Love them all. Hugs.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What an improvement with each attempt on your feathers! I think you are ready to put them on your quilt! On the Gone to Texas blocks, I couldn't help but notice how different each of the five blocks by the same pattern look, all because of the color/value difference. Indeed you have been busy! ---"Love"

    ReplyDelete
  6. You are really getting good on those feathers. Good job.
    You have so many projects going on! All of them great. Love the little outfits you made. They are very cHaPPute and look super comfy for playing in.
    Happy stitching

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great work! You are giving me a run for my money, LOL!

    Love from Liri

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your feathers look great! You have been a very busy gal - look at all you have created. Great work!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. You sure have lots going on. I agree - your feathers are getting better, PPP is paying of already!
    Love the Jo Morton quilt.♥

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow, you have been busy, your Pioneer quilt is going to be beautiful, Happy easter

    ReplyDelete
  11. Good gracious Ruth - what a fantastic selection of projects! I like your baskets. Ann :-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Your work is all so beautiful and you are the perfect grandmother!

    Hugs,

    Christine

    ReplyDelete
  13. so many great projects going on!
    I also am going to make the gone to texas quilt.
    I have been waiting for Betsy's fabric line to come out next month! its going to have a lot of the prints that are in the original antique quilt , now won't that be nice?
    it will make it easy to reproduce the quilt with that aged look!
    your blocks look wonderful!
    Kathie

    ReplyDelete