Hi! I’m Alex from teaginny designs. I know Vicki from our time together at the KCMQG, before she moved westward. I’ve been free motion quilting for about two years now, and Vicki was one of the people who really encouraged me to keep at it.
I’ve got a lot of improving still to do, but as Vicki said, you really do get a little better with each quilt. Besides lots of practice, there a few of tools and tips that have made FM quilting easier for me. Jaime, a seamstress and Bernina guru, hooked me up with an extension table for my sewing machine. Having a large surface that is level with your sewing foot is so helpful. The quilt can move around smoothly, which makes the whole process a lot less frustrating!
The other tip Jaime passed along to me is grabaroos quilting gloves. I’ve tried several different kinds, but these are the only ones that have worked for me. They are thin, so you can still feel the quilt in your hands. And only the finger tips are grabby, so you don’t get hung up while you’re moving the quilt around.
One final tip that helped me enormously was the concept of quilting your design in columns. I find it much easier to accomplish an overall FM design if I know where I’m going, and there’s no quilting yourself into a tight spot and getting stuck.
I actually enjoy FM quilting now, and I especially like taking my inspiration for FM designs from the piecing. It is a way to add another design element to the quilt.
Thanks for hosting me, Vicki!
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It's Vicki now; thanks so much, Alex! The quilting in your deep blue sea quilt (seen above and at that there link) is gorgeous! Please stop by Alex's blog and shop to see more of her gorgeous projects.
We're getting closer to the end of the month, I hope you're working on your free motion quilted project for our link up and prize drawing on January 31!
As always, thanks to the FFMQ sponsors!
Here are the prize drawing details:
*Be
thinking about what you want to do for your free motion quilted project
for the prize drawing at the end of the month. It needs to be finished
this
month but can already be started if needed. The project could be a small
mini-quilt or a large quilt, or something in between, it’s up to you.
*About
the prizes--there will be a link-up at the end of the month where
participants can link to a blog post or flickr photo sharing their
completed free motion quilted project. The link-up will be open for 24
hours and then winners will be chosen randomly from those who enter.
1 comments:
Thank you for talking about the FMQ. I have only machine quilted one quilt (new to quilting) but totally enjoy it. I love the deep blue sea quilt and look forward to trying something like it. Need to buy me some gloves. Any one know where to buy them in large manly sizes I have a hard time even buying garden gloves or snow gloves big hands in the way.
http//richardquilts.blogspot.com
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