These seem to be two big factors that constantly work against us when quilting: finding the time to quilt, and finding the break in the negativity that might be limiting the experience.
This weekend I received two great questions that have stayed on my mind. The first was from Mike Pearson:
I have been following along, but I have not been doing any free motion quilting :( I do have a question. I know practice is important, but I often find myself getting really good at FMQ while I am doing it, but then I start another project (mostly piecing) so that when it is time to FMQ again, I feel like I lost some of my improvement. Unfortunately, with my career (the one that pays for supplies for projects), I do not get to sew everyday. So, this can be a long time between FMQ. I do feel like I'm getting better, but it's taking a long time. Do you have any suggestions for this problem?
This is a great point because free motion quilting really is a totally different skill to learn in comparison to piecing and applique.
With piecing and applique you can work on small projects - a single block at a time is common - and the stress of messing the project up isn't huge. If you mess up a block bad enough you just throw it away and cut a bit more fabric!
I also hazard the opinion that the skills required to piece and applique are easier to learn simply because you're using the machine in the typical way: feeding the fabric forward like the machine is supposed to work, so it's generally easier and decent looking stitches can be found within a block or two of trial and error.
Practicing free motion quilting can be more challenging because you might feel the need to have a finished project: a quilt or block to work on. As we all know, this isn't a requirement - a solid piece of fabric works great for practice and is an excellent way to build skills without stress.
Even if you don't put that kind of pressure on yourself, it's good to understand that free motion is a very different skill.
We're using the machine in a truly different way, not using the feed dogs, not allowing the machine to do the work, relying completely on our hands and foot to find a balance of speed and movement that produces great stitches.
It takes time and practice to find that perfect balance of speed and movement. Once you gain this control, free motion will be just like riding a bicycle and you'll be able to pick it up anytime, anywhere, and on any machine.
But until you GET that balance logged into your mind and body, you really need to practice free motion quilting daily.
Otherwise you may find, as Mike described, a frustrating cycle of building and losing skill. As you quilt a large quilt, you will definitely see your skills improve, but if you stop for several weeks to piece or applique, those skills you built may get rusty.
And this brings me to the second question I've thought about a lot this weekend. This one is from Catherine Smith on facebook:
I read you blog and I'm so excited about going to quilt and then it happens..."why quilt, it won't turn out right? You always make a mistake." So Leah, how do I get over that negative thought?
I so get where you're coming from Catherine! You've taken the time to piece or applique a project, it's all together and looking terrific, but...
What if I mess it up? What if I stitch something and it all goes wrong? What if I fail?
What if all that time and effort piecing this quilt goes right down the drain?
What if I mess this up so badly I can't even give it to someone I love? What if I'm embarrassed?
Do you struggle with these thoughts?
Guess what? I DO TOO!
Even now, even after stitching out over 400 designs, even after blogging weekly about quilting for more than two years, even after making countless videos, even after winning at quilt shows, I STILL FEEL FEAR ABOUT FREE MOTION QUILTING!
What the heck do you think this quilt was about?!
If you let it, fear will lock you into place quite easily. You've put time, effort, money, passion, and love into a project, and fear will drive you to fold it all up and stick it on a shelf, never to be finished and enjoyed.
Or you can choose another route. You can choose to stomp out this fear, to face it head on and walk INTO it rather than let it tear you down.
After all - this is just a QUILT! It's just fabric and thread! Are you really scared of a big ball of cotton?!
The fact is: No quilt can ever be ruined if you work at it with effort and attention.
But the more I think about it, the more I think we need a blueprint for dealing with both Mike and Catherine's issues.
We need to find a way to work at free motion quilting steadily enough so that skills are built without being lost, which will in turn eliminate fear which thrives in the abstract. Chances are you won't fear a task if you do it every day, and see yourself getting better at it weekly.
So here's the blueprint for Mastering Free Motion Quilting:
Cut a stack of 10 - 15 inch squares of fabric and batting and layer and baste them so they're completely ready to go. Start with a stack of 10 squares just to get started.
Every day for the next 10 days, pick up a square and quilt it. Stick with simple things: straight lines, wiggly lines, different shapes of stippling, and then branch out to other designs when you get bored.
Don't worry about it. Don't fret. Don't stress out. Don't pass go. Don't collect $200.
Don't try to make it something it's not. This will not be a quilt unless you WANT it to be a quilt. I give you permission to throw away these squares (or send them to me) after you've quilted them.
Just sit down, quilt the square, then go do something else. If you're in the middle of a piecing project - go piece! You're just taking the time to put in a bit of practice before getting back to your main project.
It may only be 10 - 20 minutes, but this little bit of practice can do a lot. It keeps you moving in free motion, keeps the "flow" going so you'll quickly find the magic balance between the movement of your hands and foot.
You think you don't have 10 minutes, but I challenge you to find it.
A good quilting friend Susan Brubaker Knapp makes gorgeous art quilts, but frankly admits that she has to make them around her family and busy schedule. 15 minutes might not seem like much, but she uses every minutes she gets in her studio to get one step closer to finishing a project.
This process can be made easier if you happen to have two sewing machines. Use one machine for your current project, and keep the other always set up for quilting with your tools in place ready to go. This will save you time getting started so all you have to do is sit down and turn on the machine.
If you really want to get the hang of free motion and you feel your skills yo-yoing like a bad diet, this is a great blueprint for gaining a solid base with free motion quilting.
Quilt your 10 squares and see how you feel. Can you do this for 10 more days? Do you feel your skills increasing? Do you feel more comfortable every time you sit down to work?
And as you feel more comfortable, is it easier for you to tell those fearful thoughts to take a hike?
I think I know what the answers will be, but it's up to you to try this idea out and let me know what you think!
I received a few more questions about wholecloth quilting yesterday after I'd posted Question Thursday so I decided to answer them here and also update the Quilt Along #10 post. Just in case you're starting your wholecloth this weekend, this should clear up any other issues about this project:
What fabric should I use for the top and back of a wholecloth quilt?
If this is your very first wholecloth quilt, it's strongly adviseable to use high quality 100% cotton in a solid color.
Prints are obviously not suitable for a wholecloth because the printed pattern will conflict with the pattern you're creating with quilting. However, if you have a very, VERY simple print you want to use, give it a try so long as it's high quality 100% cotton.
Personally I love to use spray batik fabrics, the kind that read as almost a solid color, but with swirls of lighter and darker color within the fabric. Batiks generally have a tighter weave than most printed cotton fabric, which forms a solid base for both marking and quilting right on the lines.
If you've stitched several wholecloth quilts and are looking to experiment, you can play with silk, satin, and other non-quilting fabrics, but understand that these fabrics will not work as easily as cotton. Often the silky fabrics will easily shift and stretch, causing motifs to easily distort.
How big should the fabric be cut?
The outside square of this pattern isn't the finished size. It's more a guideline for the pattern fitting on the page and being taped together, so if you like, you can make this quilt anywhere from 16" - 18" square.
I cut all my fabric 20 inches square for both the top and the backing, which will give more than enough space to hang onto the edges while quilting, which will ensure good stitch quality throughout the quilt.
Should I prewash, starch, and iron the backing the same way as the quilt top?
Yes! You'll want to treat the quilt backing fabric and quilt top the exact same way. Prewash to eliminate any shrinkage, starch and iron to remove any stretch or give to the fabrics.
What kind of batting do you use for a wholecloth?
This is a great question that is super important to the outcome of your wholecloth quilt. You need a batting that will NOT SHRINK after being quilted and washed. Yes, you will likely have to soak your wholecloth in order to remove the markings on the surface, so there's really not a way to get around this issue.
Most cotton and cotton/poly blended battings will shrink slightly and this can distort the designs you're stitching over the surface.
For best results, I recommend polyester batting. Many professional quilters recommend wool batting, but I honestly haven't tried these enough to recommend them.
I will personally be using Quilter's Dream Polyester Batting in the Deluxe thickness for my Heart and Feather Wholecloth. This is the thickest batting from Quilter's Dream and will provide a wonderful loft to the puffy areas of this quilt without the extra step of trapunto.
What if I find a cotton batting with no shrink?
If you can find a cotton batting with absolutely no shrink, you can use it, BUT ONLY IF YOUR FABRIC IS A DARK COLOR.
This must be stressed: if you are creating a light (white, yellow, etc) wholecloth with fabric that was light enough to see through for marking, this fabric will also be light enough that EVERYTHING will show through it.
This means lint, stray threads and strings, and all those little black dots from cotton batting.
You might not notice the black bits when you look at a cotton batting, but this is an organic substance that originally came from plants and traces of those plants will always remain. Every time I use a cotton batting I find little bits of bark and leaf, so matter how high quality or expensive the batting was.
This is extremely undesirable for a lighter quilt. Once you finish it, soak it, and get ready to hang it on the wall, you will start seeing "things" inside the quilt that look almost like bugs.
So especially if you're going with a light colored wholecloth, choose a polyester batting and mark sure to lint roll all the layers before basting.
Are we not going to trapunto this quilt?
No. In order to keep this project as simple as possible, we're not going to cover trapunto this time.
Trapunto is a traditional element in wholecloth quilts, but it is not a requirement.
I thought about offering optional steps for trapunto, but really it just seemed very complicated and potentially confusing. Look how much information I forgot to include in the Wednesday post!
We will definitely return to this project again in the summer or fall and will cover the extra step to trapunto then.
I think that just about covers all these prep details! Feel free to ask any other questions that pop up!
After a full week off from the Quilt Along, we should have many questions for today's Question Thursday!
But looking through all the linked up blogs, we only have one question today from Pat at Color Me Quilty:
How much free motion quilting per day or week did you do to get so good so fast?
Was there a point when you had a break through (what was that?) and thought, wow, I can quilt anything? Did you take a lot of classes or mainly just practice at home? At what point did you start entering quilt shows? Did you enter local shows? Did you get any feedback from entering shows that helped you become a better quilter? I know that without your blog and videos, I would not have progressed nearly as fast as I have to this point - Thank You!
Wow! Thank YOU Pat for such a wonderful question and compliment. I'm so happy you've found the free motion quilting project to be such a helpful resource.
To answer your question simply: Quilting Daily, not really for any particular length of time, just getting on the machine a bit every day, is the key to mastering free motion quilting.
Personally, I learned free motion by mastering one design at a time. I learned Stippling from the first machine quilting class I took back in 2006, and pretty much stippled every quilt I made for 2 years.
This is a large reason why we've stuck with stippling for so long this year. I think it's a great design to start with and can cover so many bases for learning free motion.
I stuck with that single design until I found Karen McTavish's books in 2008 and learned McTavishing. I'd say that was a huge turning point - reading Quilting For Show, a book that is basically a blueprint for creating show winning quilts.
Up until that time, I'd bounced around with quilts of all styles: art quilts, bed quilts, etc, but that book really focused my attention solely on quilting for show.
I thought if I could make a fantastic quilt, it would show around the country and I'd win cash prizes and help support my family. It was my idealistic idea for turning quilting from a hobby into a business without having to actually sell my quilts or quilt for service, two things I didn't want to do.
So another turning point was The Duchess, my very first show quilt, and the first wholecloth quilt I ever tackled. Aren't you glad I didn't decide to use this pattern for our Quilt Along wholecloth?!
The Duchess is very elaborate and was a huge challenge to design and quilt. I worked on it daily for several months and, by the end of the process, I had definitely seen a giant leap in my quilting ability.
That is the nature of a challenge though - to force you to grow and change and adapt. When making The Duchess, I was still using cotton thread, still dropping my feed dogs, still doing lots of things that made quilting more difficult.
By the end, most of those habits had gone, replaced through trial and error with new materials that worked better. Trust me, you can't make a quilt like this when your thread breaks or nests every 5 seconds!
While I'd entered shows before, entering The Duchess was like walking into a gun fight armed with a Uzi. I knew she was a knock out, and wholecloth quilts generally do well because they don't have a lot to complete against.
In the three shows this quilt competed in, I did learn a bit from the judges, but it certainly didn't change my quilting. Mostly their comments enlightened me about competing and what judges see and don't see.
The Duchess wasn't perfect. I'd accidentally scorched the dead center of that quilt when attaching hot fix crystals (you can see this in the close up image above), but the first judge didn't even see the mistake. It was good to learn that judges won't see every mistake because they don't know where to look!
Of course, the real turning point for free motion quilting is most definitely starting this project. The challenge of stitching 365 designs forced me to quilt every single day, and to start playing with the designs more creatively in quilts.
I'm not being modest when I say that I wasn't that great at free motion quilting when I started this project. I really wasn't! But stitching new designs every day was a terrific way to learn and grow with this skill.
And growth never really stops! Since starting the Quilt Along in January, I've learned LOADS about free motion quilting by quilting on a larger scale. You're not the only one learning new skills here - I am too!
There is always something new to learn, and no matter what you want to do with this craft: show quilting, bed quilting, art quilting, you can always find challenges to push yourself to the next level.
So if you're really wanting to see a lightning fast explosion in your quilting ability, try quilting every single day for an entire month.
It really doesn't matter how long you quilt, or if you even get a project done. The key is just getting on your machine every day.
So that's it for this Question Thursday! Have fun preparing your Heart and Feather Wholecloth and I'm sure there will be many more questions next week.
Yay! It's finally time to start working on this Heart and Feather wholecloth. You can find this free pattern right here.
For the last several weeks we've focused entirely on large scale, soft bed style quilting, which is really the opposite of this style of densely filled wholecloth quilting.
If stitching out this wholecloth with dense stippling just doesn’t seem like your style, consider reviewing the tutorials for Quilt Along #8 and Quilt Along #9 and challenge yourself to finish a few UFO quilts.
If you decide to follow along and create this wholecloth quilt, you will learn loads about free motion quilting, stitching on a line, and fitting and filling space as you move through the quilt.By working on it, you will gain valuable skills that will translate into simpler quilts.
Of course, a project like this is best swallowed in small sections so this week let’s focus on preparing our fabric, marking the designs on the surface, and basting all the layers together.
No, we’re not even going to start quilting the outline of this quilt this week!
Instead let’s focus on working through the basics step by step slowly so we’re all on the same page with this project.You may already know how to mark a wholecloth design and have a favorite method for this, but there are several other methods that are worth trying as well.
So let’s learn how to prepare and mark our fabric first in this video:
Now let's get started with a short introduction to wholecloth quilting. A quilt intended for a wholecloth is very different from a quilt you’ve pieced or appliqued using multiple fabrics in a complex design.
For one thing – you don’t have multiple fabrics!You only have one fabric to work with and it’s important to treat it carefully throughout this process.
A wholecloth's design is entirely dependent on what is MARKED on the fabric. The design consists of many motifs that are first marked, then stitched right on the line, then the background is filled densely to draw more attention to the larger designs.
Because of the way it's created, a wholecloth quilt needs to finish very flat so the motifs don't become distorted by fabric or batting shrinking.
In order to eliminate the possibility of shrinkage, you must prewash your fabric.
Prewashing will do more than just preshrinking your fabric, it will also rinse out any stabilizer, chemicals, or excess dye that may be left in the fabric from the manufacturing process.
Once the fabric has been washed and dried, it will likely feel very soft and be slightly wrinkled.
If you tug on fabric after it's been washed, it will stretch quite a bit. This is not a good think for marking a wholecloth because as you mark, the fabric will stretch and distort the designs you're marking.
So the next step before marking is to starch and iron your fabric twice.
Spray starch on the right side of the fabric, then flip it over and press from the wrong side with a hot, dry iron. Once the fabric is entirely dry again, spray more starch on the wrong side, then flip and press from the right side.
By spraying starch on one side, and pressing from the opposite side, you will ensure the starch bonds with the fabric.
Many quilters don't like starching fabric because they get white flakes all over their fabric. This happens when you spray starch and immediately hit it with your iron, which causes the starch to burn. This absolutely won't happen if you give the starch a chance to soak into the fabric, THEN press with your iron because the starch will bond with the fabric and not your iron's sole plate.
Note: I use Niagra Brand Spray starch in a spray bottle, not an aerosol can. I LUV this starch!
The core reason for starching is to eliminate most of the stretch and give in the fabric before marking.
It's also super important to start with a stiff, flat piece of fabric because once you start marking, you CANNOT PRESS AGAIN.
I can't stress this enough. Once you start the marking process, if you iron your fabric again, you will likely heat set your markings onto the fabric surface, making them impossible to remove.
Think of the marking lines on a quilt as a magic trick.We put the lines on the fabric to follow, but in the end once the quilt is finished, these lines need to disappear completely in order for us to get away with our “trick.”
Of course, not all marking pens or pencils react well to starch, so it’s a good idea to test your marking device on similar scrap fabric before getting started.Make sure the marks show up well, but also wash out, or can be erased completely.
Now that your fabric is ready to go, let’s get to marking!
Marking a Quilt – Method 1: Lightbox tracing
My favorite method for transferring a wholecloth quilt design onto fabric is to use a lightbox.This is essentially a box with a light inside and a translucent cover that allows the light to shine upwards, creating a surface that you can draw on.
Using a large lightbox, tape the pattern to the surface, then smooth the fabric over the pattern and tape it in place. You'll want to secure the sides and corners so the fabric doesn't shift as you mark.
It’s not a good idea to leave the fabric unsecured from the surface of the pattern or lightbox.Fabric shifts and moves easily, which means it’s very easy to mark incorrectly unless the fabric is properly secured.
Now working from the center to the outside, mark all the lines carefully onto the fabric.
Let's have a short discussion about marking devices here:
There are literally hundreds of marking tools on the market these days, and no, I definitely haven't tried them all. The best rule of thumb is to try a few different pens and pencils before finding one or two that work best for you.
The biggest key with all marking devices is to save the instructions for removing the marks! It's impossible to remember if a particular pencil should be erased, washed out with water, ironed off, etc without the original packaging.
Personally I use a Fine Line Water Soluble Pen for marking all light fabrics, and like both the Sewline and Fons & Porter Ceramic Pencils for marking dark fabrics.
I like these particular marking pens because they produce a fine, thin mark which is very easy to follow when quilting on the line. A thicker, chunkier markers can be annoying to follow in the quilting process because the mark is so wide, unless you stay right in the middle of it, you may distort your quilting design.
Getting back to lightbox marking, this really is the easiest tool to work with because it allows you to mark the exact design with no extra fuss or steps added to the process. Just turn on the light and you're ready to go!
Of course, lightboxes tend to be both expensive and big, so here's an alternative method for marking:
Alternative Method: Glass Door - The fact is, not everyone has a lightbox, nor do most quilters have the space or desire for one.An easy alternative is to use a large glass window or door.
Tape your pattern to the door, then tape your fabric on top, making sure all the marks and lines match up.Sunlight should shine through the door, through the pattern, and make it possible for you to mark the design on your fabric.
Marking a Quilt: Method 2 - Light Fabric
A super easy way to get around this whole marking issue is to simply use a very light fabric. Yellow or white fabric will be light enough that you can easily see the pattern under the fabric and be able to mark with no extra equipment or materials.
Traditionally wholecloth quilts are white, and probably for this reason! It's far easier to mark light fabric because the pattern can be easily seen through it.
Marking a Quilt: Method 3 – Tissue Paper
For this method you’ll need to trace the pattern onto tissue paper, then this paper will be sandwiched along with your quilt to provide the marking.
Personally I found this method only worked when I hand basted the tissue paper to my quilt top. This forced the layers to stick together properly so the paper didn't shift while quilting.
The idea here is that the tissue paper will provide the pattern, and the quilt can now be layered with batting and backing and quilted, following the lines on the tissue paper. No marks are actually transferred to the fabric, so this is a good way to ensure no marks remain after quilting.
The only downside is once the quilt is quilted on all the lines, you'll need to rip off all the tissue paper. This is time consuming, but it definitely can work:
Marking a Quilt: Method 4 – Tracing Paper
For this method, you'll first secure your fabric to the table top, then cover it with a piece of tracing paper, then your pattern on top.
Using a tracing wheel, simply run the wheel over each of the lines of the pattern to transfer the marks from the pattern to the fabric.
While this method is certainly the most straightforward, it requires tracing paper, which can get expensive if you decide to tackle a very big quilt.
Please keep in mind that these are just five options for quilt marking.There are literally hundreds of different ways to mark a quilt, some easier, some more expensive, some more tedious, but each with upsides and downsides to the method.
The best thing to do whenever trying a new marking method is to try it with an open mind, test first on a SMALL sample, and see what happens.Record how much time it took, how frustrated you felt, and how the project finished.
Experiment and think outside the box with this in order to find what will work for you, your home, and your quilts.
Basting 101
Now to finish up this preparation process, the last step is to baste your quilt with backing fabric and batting.
For basting, the first step is to secure your backing fabric to a table top. Personally I use a combination of masking tape and 1 inch elastic strips.
The elastic strips are a new way to baste which allows you to secure the fabric and allow the elastic to STRETCH it tight across the table. I use a 1.5 yard long strip of elastic and this is more than enough to attach to one side of the backing, stretch below the table, then secure to opposite side of the quilt.
The nice thing about the elastic is it's reusable. Unlike masking tape which can only be used once, I've used the same set of elastic for 3 years and they're still working great!
I use elastic strips whenever possible in the basting process, but sometimes my tables or the size of the quilt require also using masking tape to secure some edges. Make sure to use more than you actually need to ensure the backing doesn't become unsecured from the table.
Next spread your batting over the backing, spreading it out with your hands to remove any wrinkles.
If you're using a lighter fabric, make sure to go over both the backing fabric, batting, and quilt top with a lint roller to remove any strings or lint. These annoying little leftovers from our sewing room can definitely show through lighter wholecloth quilts.
Next layer the quilt top over the surface, smooth it out and secure the three layers with basting pins. In the video I showed my new preferred method of using flower head pins and Pinmoors to secure the quilt together.
For wholecloth quilts, I generally place pins closer together simply to reduce the chances of the quilt shifting. It's a good idea to use more pins than you need just in case the layers start acting funky when you get on the machine.
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UPDATE - I received several questions about this post and have updated here so the post is complete:
What fabric should I use for the top and back of a wholecloth quilt?
If this is your very first wholecloth quilt, it's strongly adviseable to use high quality 100% cotton in a solid color.
Prints are obviously not suitable for a wholecloth because the printed pattern will conflict with the pattern you're creating with quilting. However, if you have a very, VERY simple print you want to use, give it a try so long as it's high quality 100% cotton.
Personally I love to use spray batik fabrics, the kind that read as almost a solid color, but with swirls of lighter and darker color within the fabric. Batiks generally have a tighter weave than most printed cotton fabric, which forms a solid base for both marking and quilting right on the lines.
If you've stitched several wholecloth quilts and are looking to experiment, you can play with silk, satin, and other non-quilting fabrics, but understand that these fabrics will not work as easily as cotton. Often the silky fabrics will easily shift and stretch, causing motifs to easily distort.
How big should the fabric be cut?
The outside square of this pattern isn't the finished size. It's more a guideline for the pattern fitting on the page and being taped together, so if you like, you can make this quilt anywhere from 16" - 18" square.
I cut all my fabric 20 inches square for both the top and the backing, which will give more than enough space to hang onto the edges while quilting, which will ensure good stitch quality throughout the quilt.
Should I prewash, starch, and iron the backing the same way as the quilt top?
Yes! You'll want to treat the quilt backing fabric and quilt top the exact same way. Prewash to eliminate any shrinkage, starch and iron to remove any stretch or give to the fabrics.
What kind of batting do you use for a wholecloth?
This is a great question that is super important to the outcome of your wholecloth quilt. You need a batting that will NOT SHRINK after being quilted and washed. Yes, you will likely have to soak your wholecloth in order to remove the markings on the surface, so there's really not a way to get around this issue.
Most cotton and cotton/poly blended battings will shrink slightly and this can distort the designs you're stitching over the surface.
For best results, I recommend polyester batting. Many professional quilters recommend wool batting, but I honestly haven't tried these enough to recommend them.
I will personally be using Quilter's Dream Polyester Batting in the Deluxe thickness for my Heart and Feather Wholecloth. This is the thickest batting from Quilter's Dream and will provide a wonderful loft to the puffy areas of this quilt without the extra step of trapunto.
What if I find a cotton batting with no shrink?
If you can find a cotton batting with absolutely no shrink, you can use it, BUT ONLY IF YOUR FABRIC IS A DARK COLOR.
This must be stressed: if you are creating a light (white, yellow, etc) wholecloth with fabric that was light enough to see through for marking, this fabric will also be light enough that EVERYTHING will show through it.
This means lint, stray threads and strings, and all those little black dots from cotton batting.
You might not notice the black bits when you look at a cotton batting, but this is an organic substance that originally came from plants and traces of those plants will always remain. Every time I use a cotton batting I find little bits of bark and leaf, so matter how high quality or expensive the batting was.
This is extremely undesirable for a lighter quilt. Once you finish it, soak it, and get ready to hang it on the wall, you will start seeing "things" inside the quilt that look almost like bugs.
So especially if you're going with a light colored wholecloth, choose a polyester batting and mark sure to lint roll all the layers before basting.
Are we not going to trapunto this quilt?
No. In order to keep this project as simple as possible, we're not going to cover trapunto this time.
Trapunto is a traditional element in wholecloth quilts, but it is not a requirement.
I thought about offering optional steps for trapunto, but really it just seemed very complicated and potentially confusing. Look how much information I forgot to include in the Wednesday post!
We will definitely return to this project again in the summer or fall and will cover the extra step to trapunto then.
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And that's it! We've taken our small wholecloth quilt from plain fabric, prepared, marked, and basted it so we're ready to start quilting next week.
Definitely take your time playing with some of these marking methods this week. Every method has upsides and downsides, and you just have to find the one that works best for you.
Now we've missed a whole week of linking up so let's link up all your posts so you can share your progress with everyone following along!
Instructions for Linking Up Your Blog:
1. Write your blog post. Publish it on your blog.
2. Copy the link of the specific blog post. This is not just the link to your blog itself (www.freemotionquilting.blogspot.com), but the link to the specific post: http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/2012/01/quilt-along-2-quilting-in-rows.html
3. Click the blue link up button above and paste your link into the box.
Keep in mind that you're posting your progress from LAST week on THIS week's post. This way you have time to watch the lesson, play with the ideas, then post your progress to the next quilt along. I hope that makes sense!
As always, any questions you have, please post them in the comments below or on your blog and I'll answer 5 tomorrow on Question Thursday.
I'd better shut up now and go quilt my next wholecloth!
I've been nominated for "Best Teacher / Instructor" and "Most Influential" and my tiny little online quilt shop, Day Style Designs, has been nominated "Best Online Quilt Shop"!
I'm so surprised and happy to be recognized and see my name in the same list as super star quilters like Bonnie Hunter, Alex Anderson, and Jinny Beyer! I've never been nominated before and it just makes my day to feel recognized for the work I've shared here on the Free Motion Quilting Project. Thank you!
Of course, nominations are only the first round! You have until March 31st to cast your vote for your favorite quilting teachers, designers, quilt shops, and more right here.
Super thank you for Sew Cal Gal for putting together the Golden Quilter Awards. This has really made my day!
As a student, I know I'm always wanting to get ahead with a project so I won't be left behind in class, and as a teacher, I know it's far easier to let everyone work at their own pace so here's the pattern for the Heart and Feather Wholecloth we will be working on together in the Free Motion Quilt Along:
You'll need to print this out onto 8.5" x 11" paper (standard US letter size) 4 times, then trim the edges and tape them together, matching letter A to letter B on all sides to create the full size pattern:
Note - I do get questions about my free patterns occasionally, so I decided to take care of this here. You have my full permission to use this pattern for quilts for sale, show, gifts, teaching, etc. I think this would make a terrific little quilt for quilt show raffles, silent auctions, or teaching free motion wholecloth classes.
The only thing I restrict is selling the actual pattern because it's FREE! And it should stay free for everyone to enjoy.
Now if you have absolutely no clue what to do with this pattern, don't worry! We're going to break this project down over the next 3 weeks. On Wednesday we'll learn how to prepare our fabric, mark it, and baste the layers together so it's ready for quilting.
So get your pattern printed and I'll see you on Wednesday ready to get started!
I hope everyone has had a good week. This is Josh subbing for Leah today, who is feeling quite a bit better. She's been working on some exciting things too, but I won't spoil the surprise. She'll tell you all about it next week for the Quilt Along!
I received an Email from Carol the other day, in response to Leah's entry on the Swedish furniture store Ikea. She pointed us to a great article with 50 ideas on how to use Ikea's products for efficient home organization:
Whether you work at home every day, need a place to finish up projects from the office, or have to work on homework from college classes, having a comfortable and organized home office can be essential to getting ahead and maximizing productivity while you're working on just about anything. Luckily, there are many ways that you can create an amazing place to work in your home on a shoestring budget. Some of the best involve creatively repurposing items from Swedish home retailer Ikea. Read on to find some amazing ways to transform affordable Ikea items into a customized and comfortable additions to your home office that will make you happy to head into your home office. (click here to read the article)
Thanks Carol for sending us the link!
And speaking of Ikea, I'm sure everyone who's paid the store a visit has eaten in one of the two or three restaurants and cafes featured inside, and that means you've most likely tried the meatballs. I'm addicted. I used to make them from scratch, but honestly the recipe was pretty consuming, and Ikea's frozen meatballs taste just as good. (Of course I still make the mashed potatoes myself--reheating frozen mashed potatoes is a foodie sin!)
However, if you want a stellar Swedish meatball recipe, you can't beat this one. I give you Alton Brown from Food TV's Good Eats:
(Go to mark 1:20 for the Swedish meatballs, or if you'd like to watch the entire episode, which is highly amusing,click here.)
And the full text of the recipe can be found here.
Enjoy the Ikea ideas and the meatballs! Leah will be back next week.
With piecing and applique you can work on small projects - a single block at a time is common - and the stress of messing the project up isn't huge. If you mess up a block bad enough you just throw it away and cut a bit more fabric!
If you let it, fear will lock you into place quite easily. You've put time, effort, money, passion, and love into a project, and fear will drive you to fold it all up and stick it on a shelf, never to be finished and enjoyed.
