Up in Flames

Today we are looking at block #3 and #4 in Leah Day’s “365 Free Motion Quilting Designs” and they are both flame related.

When I first looked at #3 (Gentle Flames)…..

…… I couldn’t figure out the best way to quilt it, but watched her short video and was off….

When I drew it out, I had trouble figuring out how to fill in the gaps that were forming…..

Before I started quilting it, I had a closer look at her picture and realized that she had back-tracked down one or two seams to get the needle in a better position and that solved most of my problems!!

I learned a few things while quilting this one…..

• Don’t sweat the small jiggles and mistakes. In the long run, you can’t see them!!!
• Unclench your jaw…..I really struggle with this one when I am using Julio (sit-down long arm)
• Speed it up. It was SO much easier to work faster
• Slow down when I am back-tracking…..especially at the edge of the block!!

Keeping on the “flame” theme, the next block was “Swirling Flames”

I struggled with this block from the first line of drawing…..

I probably made my flames too curvy and I ended up having several areas that I couldn’t figure out how to easily fill.

When I started sewing, I was able to fill in the areas okay but……

…..this is NOT a favorite design and I would have to REALLY practice a lot before I could do it!!

OKAY…..IT’S ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!!!

Several people have mentioned that they would like to follow along with my “Free Motion Flow” challenge so I will be releasing information and instructions soon.