I have always been told that you MUST drop the feed dogs when you are doing Free Motion Quilting.
BUT, the other day I quilted an ENTIRE piece before I realized that I had forgotten to drop the dogs. AND, I had already noticed that my tension and stitches looked better than normal.
Then, while reading my blog-roll I came across a post by Leah Day about just this subject…..read it here.
She mirrors my thinking …..maybe you dont HAVE to drop them to achieve good FMQ……
What do you think?????
Today, I decided that I had caught up enough from our trip and that I could play some in my studio.
Just before I left for Italy, I had purchased the book “Inspired to Quilt” by Melanie Testa …..
I loved her ideas about using paints and different layers to create the quilt top and then I REALLY loved the way that she quilted her pieces!!! One of the tutorials was about using freezer paper as a mask when painting with thickened dye. Well, I didn’t have any dye to thicken, so I decided to use the Water Soluble Oil Pastels that I had learned to use in a Margaret Hunt workshop back in May (here is the post about that workshop).
The brand that she suggested were Portfolio Brand 
I began the process by picking out a floral design that I liked and then I transferred it to freezer paper and then carefully cut out the design.
I ironed it onto a piece of PFD (prepared for dyeing) fabric and then ironed a larger piece of freezer paper onto the back of the PFD. The purpose of this was to stabilize the fabric better and to also remove the worry that the colors might soak thru the fabric…..
I then picked my palette of colors and scribbled swatches of each color on the shiny side of another piece of freezer paper….
I dipped a brush in water and used it to liquefy the colors and then apply them to the fabric……
When the piece was completely colored, I took the pastels and used them directly on the fabric to add some extra highlights…..
In each case, I would draw a few lines and then use the brush to “scrub” the color into the fabric.
I removed the freezer paper resist…..
….let it dry, added a border fabric and then sandwiched it in preparation for quilting. Then the really fun part started…. I first quilted around the design and then started using various threads to add more interest to the piece.
I finished the edge by simply folding the border over to the back and stitching it in place.
Here is the one of the finished pieces……
and here is the second…..
They were SO much fun to make and I am looking forward to playing with this technique lots more!!!!
Click on the photo for a larger picture that shows the quilting better.
I am so excited to report that the blue lines all came out and that the quilt is now finished!!!!
After the first soaking in water, the lines were still showing in the outer border. This was because I didn’t just follow the lines when quilting that part, but did a “Greek Key” design using the lines as a placement guide, so many of the actual lines were not quilted on.
SO, I used an ENTIRE bottle of “Shout” and heavily sprayed the outside border and let it sit for about 2 hours. I then filled the bath up with water again, adding Oxi-Clean and clothes soap. The quilt soaked in this solution for about 18 hours.
Then yesterday, I put the quilt in the washer and rinsed it a few times and then dried it in a HOT dryer.
I am so pleased with how it turned out and also with the quilting. I will NEVER be afraid to quilt a big quilt on my sewing machine again!!!
Thanks for reading and for the well wishes that the lines would disappear.
Well, I have finally finished quilting the Wholecloth piece that I have been working on for the last few weeks. The final border took about 10 hours to quilt!!! It has been squared up, binding applied, and now I am crossing my fingers that the blue lines will come out!!!
As I have mentioned previously, the first step is to soak the quilt in cold water.
As I took this photo, I realized that the water was really blue, so I emptied the tub and started again.
At this point the blue has disappeared, but you can still see grey lines on the top, but I will continue to soak and see what happens……next step, Shout and Oxi-Clean!!
I have run out of thread in the middle of a quilt and now have to order more and wait for it to come in……and I really don’t like WAITING!!!!
I have been working a lot on the whole cloth trapunto quilt that I have shown here before and I am really happy with how it is looking. However, it is now at a standstill until I receive the new thread. There is only the last border to complete, but it is a large border with a fill design in it so it may take a while to get it done.
I am getting prepared to teach a class in Machine Trapunto and want to use this as one of my examples, so I am anxious to get back to it.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I am not sure that the blue lines are going to wash out since the piece is about 8 years old, but, with the help of friends, I am developing a strategy …..
First step will be to soak and wash it as suggested.
Second…..Spray with Shout and then add Oxy Clean to the water and soak/wash again.
Third…… Start fresh with new water and add Bleach
Fourth…..If the above have not worked, I am going to overdye the entire quilt with a blue/green mottled design.
If none of these work, I will simply say that it has been a wonderful way to practice my machine quilting stitch…..I will no longer be afraid to tackle a Queen Size quilt on my home machine!!!!!