The free-motion quilting water is fine! Jump on in!

 How to learn something new?  You can watch others until the proverbial cows come home but at some point, you must jump in and try it for yourself.  Then, like any skill, you need to plan on practice, practice, practice.

This was a guild mystery quilt that I had already done stitch-in-the-ditch quilting on.  Fate must have wanted to give me a nudge as my mother gave me a present of the perfectly coloured thread to use to highlight the fabric already there.

The time had come to jump in the free-motion quilting waters!

I started with a continuous loop border using the ruler quilting techniques I had learned from the Continuum project.  I then went truly free-motion with outlining all the looks and adding in some filler motifs in the larger solid-coloured portions.

I'm over halfway done quilting and it is wonky, and inconsistent and threads everywhere, and I think I love it.  It's far from perfect, but I'm so proud of myself for jumping in and trying it.  That is a piece of advice I would offer any quilter hesitant about free-motion quilting.  Take a project you don't love or one that you feel comfortable sacrificing to the practice heavens, and go for it.  I can already see the progress over the course of the quilt.  I don't think I'll ever do a simple stitch in the ditch quilt again.

I'm a Quilting Magpie!

 Confession time.  I see new quilt projects like a magpie in fictional tales sees shiny objects.  In a year when I have more than enough projects in hand to keep me busy, I now find myself with two more - one in hand now and one on the horizon.

The first is a decision to participate in Angela Walter's Free Motion Quilting Challenge (Flora & Foliage Free Motion Challenge).  While the challenge and videos are free, I decided to splurge and purchase her panel fabric, borders, backing, and thread package.  I've never quilted a panel before, so it represents a first for me.  I've also never done a free motion class before, so again, more skill improvement is the rationale for undertaking another project.

The second is an upcoming workshop in June with Krista Moser to learn to do her "Summer Swag" quilt design.  I'll save that picture for a later post.

So, now I have to think about magpies, and I'm going to embrace an alternate description of the magpie, According to Wikipedia, "In East Asian culture, the magpie is a very popular bird. It is a symbol of good luck and good fortune."  Yes, that is what quilting does for me!

If at first you don't succeed...

Perseverance is a quality I fully expect many quilters to embrace and I am no exception.  I have, however, noticed a change in my approach.  There was a time when I would slap something together and call it good enough.  Now, I find that I am challenging myself a little more to redo what I'm not happy with and only if the fabric is on the verge of disintegrating, do I call it good enough.

This has led to a couple of items that I wanted to update you on.  First is a guild mystery that you saw in the last blog post.  This time, we've assembled two blocks and added an edge to them.  The blocks and edges were upwards of four times before I was satisfied with what I created.

Now that this month's clue is done, I turn back to the machine quilting I've been procrastinating on.   I'm determined to not only finish the stitch-in-the-ditch work I'm doing on the Loon quilt, but I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts to try again this month to finish quilting this prior year mystery.

I received a bundle of thread for Christmas so I plan on embellishing the quilt with additional ruler quilting and free motion quilting.   I could certainly use the practice for both, and I'm inspired to give it a real effort.

As if that isn't enough on my plate, I have just signed up for two additional quilting adventures.  I'm going to be taking a class with Krista Moster (www.kristamoser.com) that I am really looking forward to, AND, I'm joining in on Angela Walter's upcoming Free Motion Flora and Fauna challenge!  More on that in the posts to come.

I'm ramping up my quilting and my blogging, so it should be a fun season to follow along.