I finished my third baby quilt. This one was much different, though, as it was my first foray into free motion quilting. I wrote about that challenge in
my last post. I had fun practicing free motion. The design is the same one I used for my nephew's quilt, which is available free from
Two Little Banshees. Since it was my first time doing free motion on a quilt, and I didn't know which free motion designs I would like or be good at, I decided to use this quilt as a kind of sampler, trying a different free motion design in each square or strip of fabric.
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| Another baby quilt, for Dan and Leah's baby boy. |
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| Front. |
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| Back. |
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| Spiral quilting. |
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| Hand embroidered signature, on back. |
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| D. R. are the baby's initials. This hand embroidered detail is on the front of the quilt. |
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| Hand embroidered detail on the front. |
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| A variety of free motion designs... |
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| Stars and circles... |
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| Circles! |
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| Little twinkling stars... |
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| A flower! |
I know I
already wrote how hard this was. So I won't dwell. I'll just say that while I was working on it, with my nose right on top of the fabric, I would just laugh, amazed at how impossible it was to make my hands do what I wanted or make the stitches look the way I wanted, appalled at the messy appearance of my quilting. BUT. When I'm further away from the work, looking at the quilt from a distance, I don't think it looks so bad. No, my stitches are not neat, tidy, or smooth. But they do add a lot of texture and interest to the quilt. And the adorable fabrics still shine through. So overall I am happy. I'm still a looooooong way off from considering myself a proficient free motion quilter. But I'll probably continue to practice on quilts I intend to give away as gifts, and hope the recipients don't mind my sloppy efforts. This quilt, while messy, will still keep a baby warm, and it was made with a lot of love, as will be my future free motion quilts. It may be sloppy love, but it's love all the same, and for me, right now, that is what defines quilt success.
We are in the throes of summer over here. Very busy. I'm also doing a lot of stitching. I will show you that soon. Bye for now!
4 comments:
It is gorgeous! I don't know if I even saw something "messy" - I thought it all looked so whimsical! I loved it, LB. You've done it again!
It looks great! I say it was a total success.
It was so fun to see that you went for designs on this one! You are doing GREAT. This is totally where I was with my first few quilts. I think your stitch length is looking good, and you are gaining control. You'll be showing other people how to do this in a year!! the little stars on a line are sweet...
Hi. I came to visit you from Leah Day's Flickr page. I know this is an old post but I wanted to tell you that I am beginning fmq and your post has helped me and given me confidence. :) Your quilt is beautiful. I love the colors and the variety of quilting patterns. It's great!
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