Free Motion Friday - Brick Wall Free Motion Quilt Along is Complete!

I can't believe this quilt is actually done.  28 designs later and it's been an absolutely blast!  If you're following along I would love to see what you've created.

I can't wait to get started on something else with these new designs and create some more.  Don't worry, come back next week for something NEW on Free Motion Fridays!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

A Project Found

As I was digging for a project to take to Quilter's Night Out the other day, I came upon a project that was leftover fused down onto a background.  It was all circles I'd cut with a circle cutter or scissors for the smaller ones during a class in Colorado 3 years ago.

Those of you who read my blog often are aware that I try to learn something new with each project.  This project was all about using different kinds of blanket stitching on the circles.  Different widths and lengths.  I like the overall effect because you have to look closely.  If you stare at the picture below you can see than the circle on the right has a much larger stitch width than the green circle on the left.  

Here's another look at some of the different circles.

Now you can see some of the Echo Curls I did as part of my Brick Wall Free Motion Quilt Along which is culminating Friday!  I can't believe the quilt is done.

The final quilt. It's a cute little piece done with leftovers.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Quilting the Border Part 2

As I was quilting all the different patterns in the border of my Brick Wall Free Motion Quilt Along I got to the braid pattern.  It worked really really well in the border.   I was having such fun with it that I didn't want to stop...

Here's how I turned the first corner with the braid.

Then I realized instead of backtracking I could do something fun.  Like triangles!  It looks like teeth...

I had fun going around the corner with teeth too...

Or half circles!

Then I tried rectangles. Not my favorite, but it works okay.

Be sure to come back next week to see the reveal of the finished quilt!  I'm sooooo excited!  And don't worry, there are more quilt motifs in the works for Free Motion Fridays! Yes, I have a serious addiction to exclamation marks.  

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Machine Quilting Unlimited's 10th Birthday Quilt

I was looking back through some blog posts and I realized that I'd never shared this quilt.  

I made it for Machine Quilting Unlimited's tenth anniversary contest.  The contest requirements were that the quilt was 10 inches square and used 10 in some way.  I decided what better than 10 birthday balloons!

I picked out 10 of my designs from the Brick Wall Quilt Along (see link at the top of the blog for all of them) and went to town creating a rainbow of color.  It was so much fun, but so teeny tiny.  It was quite the challenge, but in a good way.

Here's a closer look:

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Quilting the Border

I decided to quilt the border of my Brick Wall quilt with bits of each of the patterns I used.  Here are the pictures.  Bubble Stacks are a part of this border segment.

Flaming Circles are shown below and Double Triangles.

Pills are shown below and Lacy Clamshells

This section has a Funky Feather, Echoed Tears and Curly Hearts.

Triple Circles are shown here.

This piece has Echoed Tears and Blobs.

On the right side here is Eyeballs.

I hope you get to quilt today!  More from the border next week.
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Cupcakes

This is the LAST design in the blocks of the Brick Wall Quilt Along!  WOW.  Don't worry, there will be a few border designs and then Free Motion Fridays will continue with new and exciting quilting!

This last design is called Cupcakes because it reminds me of those Little Debbie Cupcakes with the white frosting swirls on top.  You know, the ones you loved as a kid but detest as an adult?

I'm trying a larger font size after reading Tammy's post from last time.  It was so much easier to read on my screen.  Let me know what you think in the comments please.  

To start making cupcakes, make a circle 1-2 inches in diameter.  Then stitch a curly line through the middle as shown below.

Next stitch back along the other side to outline the curls as shown below.

Stitch along the outside circle until you get to where you want to start your next circle.

Here's the final product.  It makes me hungry for cupcakes...

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Double Tulips

Two more designs to go until we finish all the blocks and can quilt the borders!  I can hardly believe it.  This design is called double tulips.  It was inspired by some gorgeous tulips my husband bought me for Valentine's Day.

Start by making a tulip shape as shown below.  This is about 1 inch tall and 1 1/2 inches wide.

Next, go back and do an outline around the tulip about 1/8 inch away from the original line.

Either start the next tulip where you are or backtrack to where you want to start your next tulip.

Below I had to make a tiny tulip because it's all I had space for.  That's okay.

Look at the left center.  It's a tiny tulip outline and that's it.  I needed to fill the space somehow and that seemed the most logical to me.  It's hard to find it once it's lost amidst all the other tulips.

And the final design all done.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Flaming Circles

It's Friday again!  Yay!  It's been a long week.  Today I'm excited to share a new design I call Flaming Circles.

Start by making a large circle 1-2 inches in diameter.  Then stitch a small circle about 1/3 the size of the original circle inside.

Starting at the bottom of the little circle stitch a flame shape.  Once back to where you started either start a new big circle right where you are or travel along the outside edge until you get to where you want to start your next big circle.

This is the start of my design.  You can see I had a little trouble when I got to the corner.  There wasn't as much space, so I made some of the circles smaller and used two tiny circles to fill the extra space.  I could've done partial circles that went off the edge, but I decided not to.

And here's the final design.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Curly Hearts

It's after 10pm as I write this.  I'm exhausted!  But for good reason...I spoke and did a trunk show at Minnesota Quilters and it was a blast!  So I'm sorry that there are no written instructions at the moment.  I will update this tomorrow evening and get them put up for download, I am just too tired right now.  Fortunately, I do have a pattern all ready, so here it is...Curly Hearts in honor of Valentine's Day.

Start by making a heart with a loop at the top.

Next, outline the loop.

Repeat starting at the spot where you ended or travel to where you want to start the next one.

In the lower left corner you can see where I did the bottom part of a heart to fill the space.

And there's a tiny heart because it's all I had room for.

Getting closer!

Just the corner left to fill.

And the final block.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Teardrop Hearts

With Valentine's Day coming up I thought it would be fun to create some heart designs.  This first one is called Teardrop Hearts.  You can find the written directions here.

To start you make a tear drop.  Then quilt a heart around it.

Then create a second heart to one side of the first.  If you can't start from where you finish the first heart then travel to where you want to start the next.

Here are the first 8 or so hearts.  You can see that right in the middle there is a smaller heart due to space limitations.  Oh well, it won't be really evident in the final design.

And here's the final design.  Wouldn't Teardrop Hearts make a great filler on a heart-filled quilt?  Or one for your loved ones?

I'm also teaching Free Motion Quilting on Sunday, February 19th at Forever Gifts Boutique (a wonderful quilt store!) in Prescott, Wisconsin from 1-4 pm.  You can check out their website here.

I hope you get to quilt today!  I do....going on retreat!
Suzy