Free Motion Quilting week at QUILTsocial

Last week I wrote about free motion quilting at QUILTsocial. I have been learning to drop the feed dogs and have some creative fun while completing projects. I am close to being a convert as free motion quilting really does take less time and is easier to do the more you practice!

My first post talks about getting ready for free motion quilting. In this case I'm using the PFAFF performance icon sewing machine so getting it ready is an important part of the process. But also, I had to get ready mentally and prepare myself for trying something new and knowing that I wouldn't get it perfect right away.

Getting Ready to free-motion quilt with the PFAFF performance icon

I surrounded myself with knowledgeable quilters and then I practiced. I know there are common problems and really just getting used to doing the motions of moving the quilt increased my confidence.

Practicing free-motion quilting with the PFAFF performance icon

Then it was time to put some play into my practice! I had purchased a panel with two Canadian maps on it a year or more ago with great plans to have pillows made for Canada Day. Well, I managed to get one done - and started enjoying the process of filling in the background of a project with free motion quilting.

Oh! Free motion quilting! Oh! PFAFF performance icon!

My project to put my practice to the test was yet another cushion cover - can you really have too many? I loved mixing the bold print with the solid blue fabric. Adding the hand look embroidery stitch that is built into the performance icon really helped make my vision for this project come to life.

Appliqueing a heart on a cushion cover using a decorative stitch

Then I had to go for it! I knew I had gained some free motion quilting skills and that I would never get any better if I didn't put them into practice. I'm starting to learn that I can explore using tools and techniques to help me create. I'm looking forward to doing more free motion quilting now and really hope my posts inspire some more quilters to practice and try it out too!

Free-motion quilting adds accent to heart cushion cover

With Joy,

Sarah V.

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Rock City batik projects

This week I'm guest blogging over at QUILTsocial. The fabric line is called Rock City by Banyan Batiks and is coming to quilt stores this month. I think the colours lend themselves to a modern, holiday feeling.

When I started the projects there was no snow, so the photos are a bit fallish. The little pumpkin in the photo we actually grew - our first one!

You can find the first post to make your own checkerboard star cushion cover here.

For my second project I reduced the size of the checkerboard star block and changed the construction method. I really love the hues of the fabrics in this project - the grey star point fabric almost looks green. 

The first post for this checkerboard star table runner project is here.

The fun and challenging part of creating projects with the batiks is to make something that helps feature the fabric's own designs. I used large strips of the fabrics on the reverse side of the runner to show off the fabrics.

The second post for the reverse side of the runner can be found here.

There is one more post tomorrow; I squeezed in one more project and even though it was quick, I had snow outside by the time I was done!

Be sure to keep checking the QUILTsocial blog because they feature a variety of guest bloggers and host giveaways for fabric - like this one ;)

Enjoy!

Sarah V.

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