A Two-fer

That's right, I've got a post that is BOTH a Finish it up Friday AND a Free Motion Friday quilt! I've finally taken pictures of my completed Star Jump Quilt.

Just hanging in the grove. 

I finished sewing the binding while at the regional science fair (the binding took an hour or two, the science fair took 20. We have 3 teams moving on to state! It was worth it). 

Star Jump Quilt, Pattern by Jess of The Elven Garden

I made the Star Jump Quilt as a pattern tester for Jess of The Elven Garden. I really liked the chain elements of the pattern, and my color choices gave the whole quilt a kind of a vintage feel. I was going for a genderless baby quilt, although it is probably a bit mature for a baby quilt. 

The background fabric is Carolyn Friedlander from Doe, and I also backed the quilt in more of her fabrics. 

Back of the quilt

I also added in a Lotta Jansdotter fabric that I absolutely fell in love with. I was so happy to have some scraps left over after quilting this guy!

My traditional label. Stamped! Also, close up of Lotta Jansdotter fabric.

Here you can kind of see the quilting. This is the first quilt I've free motion quilted. I learned with a Craftsy class, and now I just need to keep practicing. For this quilt I just radiated figure 8's from the center. 

Quilting texture

It's modern, it's traditional, it's textural. I love the effect. I just need to keep practicing so that I end up liking all the 8's. It stinks when I get a wonky one and that's all I can see. 

Center quilting.

For the center square I did long wiggles back and forth. It was good practice, and I like how it's a little different from the rest of the quilting.

All rolled up with nowhere to go.  Now I've got to find a home for it. So far, I've got two potentials, but I'm not sure who to gift it to. 

All the pictures are taken pre-wash. I just haven't had time to wash it AND take pictures! I also have to wash it because so far the cat's claimed it and he's leaving plenty of hair behind to prove it. 

I'm going to link up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday, and this quilt is on my Q1 finish along list, so at least I can cross one thing off!

As an endnote, here's a crazy link I found while searching for the original link to Jess's Star Jump Quilt Post. Apparently it's an image of my version of her quilt top and people vote if they think it is 'funny', 'cool', 'interesting', or 'stupid'. So far, stupid is winning! Who comes up with this stuff?
 

Free Motion Friday {Numero Tres}

I was hoping this would be a finish it up Friday post, but alas, I've had a busy week. I'm frantically trying to finish two grants for some school equipment, and have been working on that during the evenings, rather than sewing. I have noticed a change in my mood without a little creative time every day, and I can't wait to be back to sewing next week!

So much textureeee! Carolyn Friedlander backing in Weave in Yarrow

I've been plugging away at my figure 8s. I don't know how you tell time when you're quilting, but I measure it in episodes of This American Life. So far, I'm three episodes in. I'll admit that the quilting is taking a little longer than I thought, but I am enjoying it. Sometimes my curves are nice and smooth, other times their wonky. Sometimes my stitches are the 'perfect' length, sometimes they're too short or too long. But, as I sit back and stroke the resulting texture I realize that it's just not that noticeable. And then I mark another line and keep practicing. 

Almost 1/4 of the way done at this point. 

The one thing I will note: I don't like using painters tape. It never sticks enough, and then I sew over an edge by accident and it gets all jacked up. What do you like using to mark lines (if anything)? 

Free Motion Friday {#2}

I've been practicing! I can't complain about being bad about FMQ if I don't even practice. The Craftsy instructor even mentions that usually people only practice for 1 minute (literally), and then say they're never getting any better! I've been practicing this week, and trying new motifs.

Last week's assignments. 

I'm working at getting that hand and foot speed to coordinate. Also, to get my loops smooth. I'm feeling much more successful at this! For my first FMQ motif I'm planing on doing those figure 8s. I hope my backing fabric comes today!

Spirals!

I practiced more spirals. The round ones are getting rounder, and I'm getting better at keeping the swirls even on both types. I want to perfect spirals, because they're so fun! And I want to do spiral clusters. I'm currently not very good at those. As with the stipple I always back myself into a corner. 

Some of my early spirals. 

More spirals. They are luuuuumpy! Sometimes I'm not very good at stopping when I move my hands...

Close-up early spirals.

I can see how uncomfortable I was in the wobbles and the stitch length. I get very spurty when I'm not sure where to bring the fabric! 

Sampler! Wobbly sampler... :)

http://quiltingmod.blogspot.com/search/label/Lessons%20Learned%20Linky

I didn't make the suggested blocks for practicing different FMQ motifs. I'm just using scrap batting and less than favorite fabrics/scraps. This might be slowing down my skill-building because I have long narrow fabrics with very little places to put my hand, rather than a nice 4" edging. The scraps above were the edging of the first machine-sewn quilt I finished. I decided that not only should I practice the different patterns, but also practice blending them together. This is my angular sampler. I think the bobbin ended on the right square spiral. It is fun seeing how I can make patterns interact. Can't wait till I get better at this!

One thing I've noticed: I'm much better in certain directions. Yesterday I was practicing arches and s-curves, and I can't do them from side to side, I can only do them vertically (if that makes sense). It's easy with these scraps, but I've got a feeling I'm going to have to learn how to deal with doing different shapes in different orientations - otherwise what was the point of learning how to 'free motion' quilt?!?!?! Are different patterns easier/harder depending on the direction for you novices/experts out there?

Linked up with Afton's Lessons Learned Linky!