Category: Free Motion Quilting

GRAFFITI!!

Today we are taking a short break from our quilted mandalas and check out a new idea in the FMQ world.

I first heard of Karlee at QuiltCon back in March. My friend Sheila was a fan-girl and was dying to show Karlee a quilt that she had quilted in the Graffiti style. Karlee was so kind to Sheila and SUPER encouraging…..

I immediately bought Karlee’s book and spent the next few weeks drooling over all of her FMQ ideas. Then one Sunday morning I was in need of FMQ therapy so I sat down at my machine and quilted for an hour.

Come join me……

If you are reading on email, you can use this link to go directly to the video…..https://youtu.be/D42Fs5XSkOs

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It was SO relaxing and SO MUCH FUN, and look what I made…..

Then I used the same ideas and did a larger version…..

There will DEFINITELY be more Graffiti quilting in my future.

If you are interested in her book you can get it HERE…..

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Come back next week and we will have more Free-Motion Quilting!!

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For Free-Motion Quilting ideas, be sure to check out my YouTube channel…… https://www.youtube.com/c/francesquilts/videos

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This post contains affiliate links. I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. I may earn a small commission if you purchase thru the links provided here. It does NOT change the price that you pay for any items you buy.

Mandala #4 is FINISHED!

Yes, it only took three weeks this time, but this quilted Mandala is finished!!

Enjoy the video, especially where I keep changing my mind about what I am going to do!

If you are reading on email, you can use this link to go directly to the video….. https://youtu.be/pM1usT8cQ5o

I am super happy with the change that I made in the plans for this one. I think that my NEW idea really brought this entire design together.

So….number four is done…..

Now I will get started planning number 5.

Come back next Friday and we will look at some OTHER aspect of free-motion quilting.

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Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on a single Mandala post……

From Iron to Thread….

A couple of weeks ago I posted about my trip to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London….

Visiting the V&A

I spent a lot of my time in the Wrought-Iron area. Just look at all of this…..

Last night I started looking at a few of the pieces and playing with the designs.

I started with this…..

It was probably a balcony at some time.

I spent about 30 minutes playing and came up with these…..

My favorite was this one…..

It seemed to have the correct balance….something that MOST of them did NOT have!

I also tried to come up with ways to make them continuous by adding the curlicue lines in between……

These aren’t a bad idea but they need to be more even!

Then I turned to another piece that I had actually photographed in 2007…..

…and still use in my inspiration guild talk (Viewing the World Thru Quilt Colored Glasses).

It was fun to play with that center line…..

I can see this one becoming part of a future mandala!

I did notice that the mainstay of Iron work is swirls and unfortunately, those are not my favorite or best designs.

I guess that just means that I need more practice!!

There are some other designs that I plan to play with so stay tuned……

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One of my favorite things about quilting is to motivate others and help them in their quilting journey. As part of this endeavor, I LOVE to present programs and workshops to groups and guilds around the world. All of my programs work well with Zoom meetings and I would love to speak to your group.

You can find out more at this link…..

Mandala #4 is growing!!

Once again, I am having SO…..MUCH…..FUN designing and creating these quilted Mandalas. I hope that you will consider joining me!!

Today we are adding some new designs to this Mandala, while echoing one of the designs that we used in the first round……

If you are reading on email, you can use this link to go directly to the video…. https://youtu.be/XD520nzTuUI

In this video, you may notice a few grey bobbin threads working their way to the top. Yes, I was having tension issues!! However, they don’t look as bad in real life as they do on the zoomed in video….I promise!!

This mandala is coming along well and I am super happy with it……

Come back next Friday and we will finish it off!

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Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on a single Mandala post……

Mandala #4 is underway

Today we are going to get started on Mandala #4!!

I must be getting used to designing these because this one came together like a dream!! I am using the same element several times in the design and am very happy with how it is looking.

I finally realized that these Mandala’s are nothing more than GRID QUILTING in a circle…..

It makes it so much easier for me to think one grid at a time rather than looking at the design as a whole!

Enough talk….let’s quilt……

If you are reading this on email, you can click this link to go straight to the video…. https://youtu.be/EAAhfNCzYyM

I am loving the circles with lines coming off of each end…..

… and am now thinking about how I can include those in my “regular” quilting!!

This Mandala will only take 3 weeks to quilt so be sure to come back next Friday for the next two rounds!!

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Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on a single Mandala post……