Free Motion Friday - Tula Pink Kaleidoscope

My mom had a lot of fun quilting my Tula Pink Kaleidoscope.  I promised I'd take more up close photographs.  Here they are!

Do you see the frogs by the dark purple triangles?

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Quilting a Unicorn

Sometimes I get myself into trouble by volunteering to do things.  Fortunately, it wasn't the case this time.  I had such fun quilting this unicorn for my friend Ann!  It's a gift for a friend of hers who is 8.  

I started with wavy lines in a variegated thread for the mane of the unicorn.

The horn itself got some elongated bubbles.

I stippled the unicorn's body and did swirls in the background.

It was such fun!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - a Sneak Peek

I've been busily working on my upcoming Island Batik Ambassador challenges.  I have some binding still to do, but here's a sneak peek at the quilting.  Happy Friday everyone!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Lloyd and Lola Quilting is Done!

Lloyd and Lola are done!  This was a LOT of background quilting.  I used 3.5 of the large size bobbins that go in my Bernina 770QE.  I didn't want to get bored while doing this quilting so I decided to use a variety of motifs to keep changing it up.  Here's how I started.

And then I kept adding...

Until it was all done!  Here's a few shots.

Now it's time to bind it....but it's not mine so Ann will have to do it...hee, hee, hee.  She's fast.  I bet it's already done.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Lloyd and Lola Part 3

Lloyd and Lola are coming to life!  This week I worked on the llama bodies.  I did some swirls in teh light brown to make them look a little fuzzy.

For the dark brown on their bodies I wanted contrast so I used large pebbles.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Formal vs. Informal

If you follow me then by now you know that I love to quilt feathers.  However, I learned a long time ago that there is a difference between formal and informal feathers.  Look at my two drawings.  The one on the left is more informal whereas the one on the right is more formal.  WHY?

Well, when you make your feathers approximately all the same size and shape they look way more formal.  That's why!  Neither is right or wrong, just different.

Let's look at a few examples.  These red feathers are fairly even and are definitely formal.

These feathers are more informal as they have lots of different shapes.

This feather is fairly formal, mostly the same size.

This feather is more informal, all sorts of things going on.

These feathers are formal, about the same size and shape, but I think the clouds inside them make them more informal.

These feathers are fairly formal too.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Lloyd and Lola Part 2

I keep working away.  Here's the final Llama blanket on Lloyd and Lola.  I had fun with the feathers. 

There are half octagons at the edges of the quilt.  This is how I chose to quilt it to give it the same texture as the full octagons.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Lloyd and Lola Part 1

This quilt is so darn cute!  I love the llamas!  It's Lloyd and Lola by Violet Craft and it was stitched by my friend Ann.  I'm quilting it for her and will be showing you a series of posts about it over the next month or two!  Happy Free Motion Friday!

For the octagons I decided on this simple, but fun pattern.

I did some feathers on the saddle blanket.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Feather Fun

I'm quilting away on Peculiar Posies.  More on that next week, but I thought I'd give you a peek at two of my newest feathers!

The first is Toothed Feathers.  It's like someone took a bite out of each feather.

The second is Cloud Feathers.  There are clouds inside!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Upcoming Quilts

I've been doing so much secret sewing lately I didn't have much to share today.  So I'm giving you a peek at the backs of some of my recent projects.  Stay tuned for I'm declaring February the Month of the Mini.  You'll see why...

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - A Sapphire Challenge Finish and a TIP

I've been working on this Whirligig quilt using Island Batiks Indigo Morris collection for the last few weeks.  It's finally done and I'm excited to share it with you!  I've been learning to use my new Chrometab with pen and I find drawing on my quilt pictures a great way to get to know it and to sketch out quilting ideas.  

In the photo below you can see me using it to draw in the blue lines with circles I appliqued down. In addition, there are some black lines that I was planing on doing as part of the framework of the quilting.  I was excited to get started.  

And then I changed my mind.  I decided to do one fill in the background instead of the framework.  Why?  I'm not sure, but that's the way I went.  I used large swirls and bubbles.

HOWEVER....(here comes the tip)....I quilted the background before I did the quilting in the blue.  Why?  Well, I put the white thread in to outline all the pieces and then I just went for it. OOPS!  DO NOT QUILT THE BACKGROUND BEFORE YOU QUILT THE MOTIFS!  OOPS!

When I went to quilt the blue in the center, it had bubbled some and wouldn't lay flat.  OOPS.  What to do?  I was planning on doing the curvy line/matchstick quilting you see below through the whole whirligig.  However, as I got to the larger parts on the sides it began to bubble in a way that I knew was going to cause a colossal (at least an inch) pucker.  Not going to work.  So I started thinking about fills that can help eat that excess bulk.  The best ones?  STIPPLING also known as meaner, or PEBBLES.  

I didn't want to pebble since I'd already done that in the background so I decided to do a large scale stipple.  It worked perfectly.  I was able to smooth out the quilt and it looks great.

Here is Whirligig all finished.  I'm really happy with it and now to get her entered!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - A Sneak Peek

I'm working on a blue and white quilt I want to enter into International Quilt Festival Houston's Sapphire Exhibit next year.  The deadline is in mid-February.  Fortunately I am going to be ready to go way ahead of time!  YAY!  Here's a peek at all the quilting goodness...

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy