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Welcome to my world - mostly the fabric world that I escape to whenever I have time. Hope you enjoy it and please feel free to comment.....


Thursday, February 24, 2011

Lesson number one

Last night I had my first lesson in free motion quilting.....and I loved it!  I had not expected it to be so much fun.  i don't know how everyone else learns to do it but Amanda, the teacher had me draw something on paper and then repeat it on the machine.  I started with my name which I can't show you as it doesn't show up.  I did so much practice on my first practice piece that it is just a mess!  After that I did these sort of side to side thingys.
 Then these thingys
 Then these swirls snail thingy's - loved these
And finally the most fun - the snail thingy with flower petals around the edge.

I can see that with practice, probably a lot of practice, I will get the hang of these, but the hardest part seems to be what happens when you finish a flower and want to move on to the next area without going over what you have already done - practice practice practice.

Today I spent the morning tidying up my linen cupboards - they are so nice and tidy now and lots of space too after throwing out a heap of junk and old stuff.  After that i started sorting thru my scraps of batting and ugly fabrics and made up a heap of practice quilt sandwiches to practice with.  My goal is to do one a day, before I sew anything else each day.  That way I should gradually grow in accuracy and confidence.  I am so excited coz I am really over doing straight line quilting - that certainly has its place but it can get awfully boring!

That is it for me.  I am really tired and have a sore throat so it is guitar practice, quilting practice and then bed!  Till next time
Happy stitching!

13 comments:

  1. Congratulations! You are going to love free motion quilting and I am sure that before very much time passes at all, you will be an expert at it. Have FUN! I remember my first foray into free motion . . . I thought it was the greatest thing. It made me extremely happy so I know how excited you must be! You need to go check out freemotionquilting.blogspot.com as Leah Day is doing 365 days of free motion quilting designs and it looks like she is on Day 256 right now.

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  2. Great free motion quilting! You seem to have gotten the hang of it very quickly. It is fun isn't it?!!!

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  3. Great job!! As a free motion newbie myself, I can tell you that practice is the only way to get better! I can now plan ahead a bit, and don't often get myself trapped in a finished corner!!
    Isn't it fun?

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  4. Looks great already! I love free-motions quilting! You just gave me a few more idea's to go home and practice now!

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  5. You are going to love, love free motion quilting. Looks like you are already getting the hang of it. I love your flower,
    Hugs,
    donna

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  6. Looks great. Have you seen Leah Day's blog for ideias on quilt designs ? Very useful...cheers

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  7. Looks fun and pretty. I like your swirly snails! Sewing at high speeds in patterns sounds like a thrill! Nice!
    Kathy

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  8. Your free motion quilting looks great! You are already so adventurous - I haven't moved beyond meandering.

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  9. Well done! Those are fantastic!!!!
    You are going to LOVE doing this!!! :)

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  10. I can't believe you were able to do this with only one lesson. I took a class once, but either I failed or our instruction wasn't very good. I think I should take the class over. You are right though, practice a little every day. Good for you, look forward to your progress. My two New Year Resolutions were 1. Start a blog (I did) 2.Learn to free motion quilt. You inspire me.

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  11. WOW... you did so well with your first lesson... you will be free motion quilting none stop... I agree straight stitching can be so boring and that is a great isea to practice every day... you will have fantastic looking projects in no time at all xxx

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