Monday, December 12, 2016

Free Motion Quilting Practice

Not much to report in the way of progress on anything, but I did do some free motion quilting practice over the weekend.  I'm taking an online Craftsy class  called Wild Quilting:  Creative Free-Motion Combinations with Christina Cameli.  I love her teaching style!   This class is so perfect for beginners like me.  I've only really practiced one technique with some variations so far but there are MANY others I want to try . . .

I had to say this practice did not feel comfortable for me and I didn't find out until I was almost to the very end that my stitch regulator wasn't plugged in all the way!!  GRRR!

I do have some observations on my work and what I need to practice on next time  One of the things she taught which I forgot to implement is to have obvious differences in size between the different motifs that you choose to use.  For instance, in the one above, you can see some partial flowers and a few leaves.  Those elements should have been much larger than the other "filler" type of element.  As it is, with the way I did this, everything is kind of the same size so they all just blend together and your eye doesn't really rest on anything.



I'm a little shaky and need a LOT more practice but any time I show this to a non-quilter they rant and rave over them!  Perspective is a funny thing isn't it?  I guess I'll go ahead and bind these and make them into mug rugs.  What size are mug rugs usually?  They may need some trimming.

Got our Christmas tree up today and it was a perfect holder to take pictures!  I can't show you the tree yet because it isn't decorated yet.  Maybe next time . . .

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Linking to:
Move it Forward Monday

11 comments:

  1. I zoomed right in to your quilting Janice leaving no stitch unviewed. Again, you do yourself an injustice, your quilting is lovely and you are a natural. Even from your first efforts you just go for it. I like the variegated thread, a perfect match to the fabric. I have looked at this Craftsy class before but I thought it was for more advanced quilters, I'll take another look, soon as my finances recover from my latest purchase.

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  2. great job!! the craftsy classes can teach very well. It looks like you have the hang of it to me.

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  3. I think your quilting looks great. Kudos for trying something new. Love the thread colours.

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  4. Very fun! I love free motion quilting, and feel like with each quilt I improve, so do not give up! I think your quilting is beautiful! Another good Craftsy Class is by Amy Johnson using rulers for quilting. Her YouTube channel has lots of great videos too. Just have fun!

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  5. Janice...you are AMAZING! You are such a natural talent at this! Your work is beautiful. I might have to take a peek at that class. I love the thread too, so pretty!

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  6. These are awesome practice pieces, Janice! I think it's great that you are sharing your process of learning: about the stitch regulator, about size variation, etc. I would have never thought about the latter and helps me analyze some of my own work.

    Another thing that always interests me to learn about other quilters is which motifs you find easy to create vs. ones that just seem to fight you. For instance, I cannot do pebbles. Just can't. But I love leafy shapes and they just seem to flow for me. And the kind of flowers you did in the top piece, where the petals are sort of squared off seem easier than rounded "daisy" type petals to me. Would love to hear what works for you as you learn each new motif!

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    1. GREAT ideas, Louise! I will try to remember to share those things!

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  7. I think you did awesome on your practices!! I took Christina's class when it first came out, oooh lala I loved it. I had been afraid of combining designs like she did before I took the class...now not so much anymore! One thing to remember is to stick in some pebbles in groups to seperate the bigger stuff. And using a thin thread like So Fine or Glide works really well too.

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  8. I agree, awesome practice pieces! We are often our own worst critics. Seems like you learned a lot from this process, so it's all good. Hope you Holiday prep is speeding along.

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  9. I wouldn't cut your pretty quilted pieces. Are they a table topper size? I enjoyed your observations on quilting.
    Hugs

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