Last Friday we laid down 21 dots and quilted this fun design…..
Today we are going to make it even easier….. FIVE dots, and great design!!
I do like how this design fits into the 4-inch squares and will definitely plan to use it again…..
Now the question is… “What else can we do with this charity quilt??”
Come back next week to find out!!
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If you have an interest in ruler quilting, check out this online course…..
Ever since I quilted my “Windmill Chain”….
I have been on the lookout for other quilting designs for Irish Chain Blocks.
I saw this version on Facebook and HAD to know more…..
The quilter is Carla Wilson-Neff and her Irish Chain quilt is called “Skittles”…
Isn’t that the PERFECT name!!
When I asked about her quilting journey, she said…..
I am fairly new to quilting.
I ordered in a sewing machine in late 2020 to make masks for my husband and me (and a few friends). My seams were pretty horrible as I had never used a sewing machine before, so I decided to make a quilt to practice.
Turns out that I LOVE quilting!
We invested in a longarm in February of 2022. I have arthritis in my hands so it can be quite painful for me to quilt on a domestic machine. The longarm allows me to continue exploring the world of quilting.
I have taken some online quilting classes with Bethanne Nemish… love her teaching style and her amazing quilting!
I am learning to slow down my process when it comes to quilting. I used to just start. Now I think a bit about how I want the quilt to look when it is finished… what I am confident about stitching and what needs practice…. how do I want to break up the space on a quilt?… what will be the final use for the quilt.
The quilt tells me what it needs.
And yes… trying out cool patterns I find as I scroll social media. Some things click for me and some don’t.
Talking about quilting “Skittles”….
For this quilt, I wanted the Irish Chain pattern to pop… so I quilted close set lines in the white squares of the 9 patch block to flatten those areas.
In the neutral block, I wanted to practice a flower from the online botanical quilting class I just finished in December. It was time consuming because I broke thread to stitch the inner square in each block…. a fairly simple flower inside the square.
I stitched “C” curls for the inner white border, simple 1/4 inch lines to quilt the piano key border- to pop them up.
My longarm is a 20 inch Amara. I do ruler work and free motion quilting. I do not have a ProStitcher.
The only thing I can say here is WOW!!
One thing really stuck out to me…..
…slow down the process of quilting!! Take time to figure out what I want the quilt to look like BEFORE I start!!
Thank you, Carla for sharing your thoughts, your process and THIS AMAZING QUILT!!
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Last Thursday, I talked about Rangoli Designs from India and painting designs from Facebook reels….
My question was, could I actually FMQ a design like this……
….without having to draw EVERY. SINGLE. LINE.
Apparently the answer is yes…..
I am super happy with this design and the whole idea behind it!!!
Now to come up with a square design to add to this quilt!!
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For Free-Motion Quilting ideas, be sure to check out my YouTube channel…… https://www.youtube.com/c/francesquilts/videos
Have you noticed how much Zentangle Drawing and Free-Motion Quilting have in common??
Last week I posted about quilting a “Square Spiral” design…..
….and I was quickly informed that it is also called “Paradox” in the Zentangle world!!
Now, I follow a number of artists on Facebook….all sorts, including a few that specialize in Zentangles.
So, I wasn’t surprised when this popped up on the “Drawing Techniques” group…..
….and number four is my design!!
I know that all of these designs can be easily drawn, but now I want to turn them all into FMQ designs.
There are 66 designs here….. that might be a fun challenge!! Maybe piece a simple top from solid fabrics and add one design in each block……
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For Free-Motion Quilting ideas, be sure to check out my YouTube channel…… https://www.youtube.com/c/francesquilts/videos
Don’t you love it when something looks SO difficult but is really super easy?
Well, let me introduce the “Square Spiral”…..
Check out just how easy it is…..
And remember that you don’t have to use a ruler. Your longer lines might not be exactly straight, but that would look AWESOME!!!
And remember that you can make it look even fancier by quilting the lines 1/2-inch apart rather than 1-inch.
So, what do you think?
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