Tag: Free Motion Quilting

Quilting Waves: A Little More Time, a Lot of Texture


Some quilting designs take a little more time, but when I see the texture they create, I remember why they are worth it!!

This wave design is one of those.

The flowing lines add movement to the quilt, but the TEXTURE is what really makes me smile. Something about those repeated curves makes me want to run my hand across the surface!

It does take a bit longer to quilt. This isn’t a design that I can rush through, so I settle in and enjoy watching the waves develop.

VIEW VIDEO HERE

And as the quilted area grows, the payoff becomes clearer. Those individual lines work together to create a surface with wonderful depth and movement.

Would I use it on every quilt? Probably not. But when I want the quilting to add outstanding texture, this wave design is definitely one to remember!

Sometimes a little extra quilting time makes a BIG difference!!

Do you have a quilting design that takes longer but is always worth the effort?

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21 Teachers, Endless Quilting Inspiration

If you’ve ever wanted to feel more confident with free-motion quilting, this is an event you won’t want to miss!

The ONLINE Free-Motion Quilting Summit brings together 21 quilting teachers, each sharing their own techniques, ideas, designs, and approaches to free-motion quilting.

And just look at this amazing group of teachers!

One of the things I love about an event like this is that there is never just one way to quilt a quilt. Each teacher brings something different to the table, which means you can pick up new ideas, discover techniques you haven’t tried before, and find inspiration for your own quilting.

And I’m thrilled to be one of the 21 teachers!

This is my class….

I’ll show you how to quilt a square spiral using a ruler AND how to mark and quilt a circular spiral.

And the best part…..it’s ONLINE AND….

Register HERE

….and join me for 3 days of quilting inspiration and fun.

Wavy Border for the win

I have been working on a new YouTube series, thinking about easy designs for quilting borders…..

….starting out with Wavy Lines…..

Now you may look at my stitching and say “THAT isn’t very good at all”, and honestly, those were my thoughts as I was quilting…..

BUT, when you look at the reverse side (where the thread and fabric are the same color), ALL you see is the TEXTURE!!

We all need to remind ourselves of this when we start saying that we can’t quilt!!

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Check out my new, ONLINE, ON-DEMAND Free-Motion Quilting Course

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Final Quilting on the COWS!!

Last week I showed you the finished Highland Cow Quilt…..

“Highland Hugs”

Today, let’s look at the rest of the quilting process…..

I had so much fun quilting it and thinking about what type of quilting to do in each area.

This is one quilt that I hated to give away!!

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Check out my new, ONLINE, ON-DEMAND Free-Motion Quilting Course

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Round in Circles

This past week, I spent a morning with “Modern Quilt” artist, Cassandra Beaver. A guild in Atlanta had advertised her workshop about quilting circles, and I thought it sounded interesting.

It was interesting, but not about the topic that I thought it would be!!

I was expecting FMQ tips on quilting circles, but the class was really about how thread interacts with fabric to create different colors!! THIS topic was much more interesting!!

This was one of her samples for the class….

My preparation for the class was done quickly, and I just grabbed a few spools of variegated thread, so I couldn’t do what she was teaching, but it was still a fun exercise.

We started with fusible circles…..

…and playing with them to find a pleasing layout…..

Honestly, I could have spent hours just moving these circles around….it was so relaxing!

After fusing and basting, we started quilting….

I enjoyed using my limited thread selection to add non-symmetrical areas to the circles.

As I quilted, I was reminded of how much I enjoy quilting on my domestic machine. It has a wonderful stitch.

It sort of niggled at the back of my mind that my long-arm wasn’t giving me this nice of a stitch. When I got home, I made a few adjustments and was able to fix that problem easily.

It was GOOD that I was “forced” to use a different machine to see that there was a problem.

NOW FOR WHAT I REALLY LEARNED AT THE WORKSHOP…..

When Cassandra started talking about quilting the background, she mentioned doing pebbles. My first thought was NO…NO….NO….NO!!

BUT, she was talking about large pebbles where you stitch around them a bunch of times, separating them from one another and adding marvelous texture…..

Oh yes….THOSE kind of pebbles I can do!!

I can’t wait to try them out on a quilt soon.

So…the moral of this story is….

There is ALWAYS something new to learn…even if it isn’t exactly what you thought!!

Thanks, Cassandra (and East Cobb Quilters) for a sweet morning….

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Check out my new, ONLINE, ON-DEMAND Free-Motion Quilting Course

CLICK TO LEARN MORE