Can I quilt this??

When we were in India, I often saw women “drawing” Rangoli designs in front of their houses. (They are actually sprinkling rice powder to form the designs).

Some of the designs started with dots used as guides for where the lines were to be drawn….

I often wondered if I could do the same with Free-Motion Quilting….. lay dots down and then quilt around them.

While scrolling Facebook reels the other day, I came across a drawing demonstration that ended up with this design…..

Now I am REALLY thinking about using dots to guide my quilting.

I am going to give it a try on the Orange/Green charity quilt that I am currently working on.

STAY TUNED!!

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Quilting a Square Meander

Last Friday we looked at my quilting design for this simple charity quilt…..

Now that the main section is quilted, it is time to tackle the borders….

I am THINKING about quilting a square meander. I know that I can draw it, but can I quilt it???

So, now I know that I am CAPABLE of quilting the Square Meander…

… it is just a matter of finding time this week to finish off the project!

Stay tuned!!

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

Simple Quilt….How should I quilt it?

One day I was visiting our guild Charity Bee and grabbed this quilt top to quilt……

It looked nice and easy, but it sat in my “to-do” basket for almost a year because I simply couldn’t figure out HOW to quilt it.

In this video, we look at my process and also see a bit of the quilting.

It is a great start and the quilting should go pretty quickly.

Crisis averted!!

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

The FINAL Mandala…..finally!

My Mandala project was started in January of 2024, hot on the heels of my “Grid Quilting” project in 2023.

To me, the mandalas were simply an extension of that project. I was still quilting on a grid, but the grid went around in circles!

At first, I despaired of being able to come up with 12 mandala designs, but I quickly got into a groove and enjoyed designing them each month.

I learned a lot along the way.

Most importantly, the mandala should have a theme, or at least have designs that were repeated throughout the circle.

Secondly, the design needed to be quilt-able…..without a lot of starts and stops!!

As you will see, I struggled with that second point in mandala #12!

I love the “peacock” feel of number 12….

I have a “Quilt-As-You-Go” planned for finishing this quilt up, so stay tuned for that!!

Do I quilt this one?

Yesterday I posted about the “Finally Finished” exhibit at the International Quilt Festival.

The gist is a woman who takes antique quilt tops from unknown makers and quilts them to “Finally Finish” them.

Well, I have a quilt top that my Grandmother made…..

You can’t tell it from this photo, but the sashing fabrics are little blue frogs!! SUCH FUN!!!

I have no idea when the top was made, but my mom gave it to me back in the 1990’s. (Granny passed away in the early 1970’s).

It has been part of my “UFO” box for all of these years because I was uncomfortable finishing the quilt by machine. And, I knew that I would NEVER finish it with hand quilting.

After seeing this exhibit, and seeing how wonderful the finished quilts are, I am thinking that I might plan to finish it with free-motion quilting.

What do you think? Is this a valid way to finish an old top??