Free Motion Quilting: A Weekend Ramble

I'm busy with all this piecing and I really want to do some quilting! I think you all would like to see some too! Times like these I wish I had a dedicated machine just for FMQ so I didn't have to switch out feet and set ups. I'm gonna share some older pics of my quilting today after a word about this piecing.


I have to say I am enjoying this piecing more than I ever have in the past and it's even more complicated piecing than I've ever done. There are several flying geese units in these blocks and they are done using the 'sew a square to the corner of a rectangle and trim' method, so I've got a stack of little triangles left over. Today I sewed a couple together and found that they'll trim up nicely into 1-1/2 inch squares. I'll have to make something out of them!



A few years ago, if you asked if I'd be stitching something so small, I would have laughed. I guess that's a sign of growth as a quilter and I hope that you are seeing some signs of similar growth when it comes to free motion quilting. It only gets better by doing it.

The pictures that follow are pretty much in chronological order.

A very early piece I did, just drawing with my needle.

A pillow I made for a friend whose husband died from cancer.


Feathered fun!

My first "Poured Out" quilt

Detail: every block was quilted differently and little things hidden in the quilting. Do you see the fishing boat?

A flamingo for a flamingo loving friend.

A purse panel

Wedding gift for a couple who had a Robin Hood themed shower.

My first quilting for hire on another's top.


Another shot.

A post card I stitched and gave away on the blog a few years ago

Look at the dimension on this quilting!

Feathers on "Poured Out 2"

Trying out a friend's longarm. Think I'll stick to moving the quilt.

My favorite quilting so far and it was on a commissioned piece.

Playing with rulers- one of my favorite techniques!

I hope you enjoyed seeing these quilts. I sure enjoyed making them. Well, all but that big customer quilt with the applique'd flowers. That was a 72x72 inch quilt with a heavy thick batting. It was a beast and I was so afraid they wouldn't like it.

I'm heading out Monday for a family reunion and I hope to get back to quilting when we return. Enjoy the weekend!

3 comments:

  1. Everything you quilt is wonderful, Amy, even on the longarm. I too tried longarming, didn't like it, and mine didn't look nearly that good! Good for you to do commission work. I have a hard enough time making myself quilt my own quilts that I can't imagine doing them for someone else! Hope you have a nice time away.

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  2. It is fun to see how your quilting has progressed. I, too, have been toying with the idea of a long arm. It would be nice to have a dedicated quilting machine, as you said, to enable switching back and forth without altering setup. I would also love to skip basting by using a frame with a long arm, and be able to quilt really big pieces (like the King quilt that I've been paper piecing currently) without having to deal with the bulk and weight of the quilt under the needle of my DSM. But alas -- long arm machines are priced like CARS!

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