Long ways to go....

I thought this week I would see magnificent progress but alas... this is so reminiscent of my childhood piano lessons...I didn't give it the time it deserved. Five or six feathers later, here is where I'm at:

Really, not much better than last week. However, there are a few bright spots! I have been playing with threads I've never worked with before and it has been fun experimenting. The feather above was made using 60/2 cotton on top and Superior's Bottom Line 60wt poly in the bobbin.

I have also discovered that echo quilting is much easier with an open free motion quilting foot:

I ditched the closed foot that came with my machine and used the modified foot that my dad took a Dremel tool to. While I can't say my echo quilting has really improved, I think it will be much easier going forward. I have better vision without all that metal in the way!

And on a final note, how about an adorable kitty picture? This is my QC team, Linkin and Rune. I must be fairly good at making quilts because so far they haven't rejected a single one!

Until next week or when I make significant progress (whichever comes first, hopefully the latter) - 

Happy quilting!

First Feather

I've started the FMQ February challenge, featuring a tutorial by Diane Gaudynski. This feather plume was certainly a challenge for me!

I used a large dinner plate to draw the spine with a blue wash-out marker. I happened to have Anita Shackleford's Infinite Feathers template and used it to draw the first feathers of the design. Quilting was with Aurifil 50/2 thread in top and bobbin.

Lots of work still ahead - I hope to work on this technique daily, so hopefully by next weekend there will be a HUGE improvement.

January is over but the work continues

The January FMQ challenge is over and I'm excited to start on working on February's feathers courtesy of Diane Gaudynski's tutorial on sewcalgal's blog. I took the challenge and completed the heart shaped leaves that Frances Moore shared with the group. Since then I have continued to doodle with them  and am continually impressed that my technique keeps getting better! How about that? Practice really does help!

January FMQ Challenge

Ta Dah! I did it! It didn't turn out half bad though I must say I worked up a bit of a sweat at first.

Working the design on paper helped a bunch and I will certainly need to practice more. It seems that the shapes come out poorly when I think too much. It's almost like a dance where it just has to be part of you in order to flow smoothly. I can't wait to use this in a quilt!

I'm enjoying this challenge and have been spending my free time at lunch looking at everyone's work. How neat that we are all doing this together!

Taking the FMQ Challenge

Discovered this fantastic challenge at Diane Gaudynski's blog: http://dianegaudynski.blogspot.com/. I'm whole-heartedly looking forward to improving my quilting skills!