Owl Quilt-Along with Amy: Week 3

Wheee! This week's (September 26) quilt-along video was fun. After stabilizing the quilt in week 2 with stitch in the ditch quilting (SID) using my AcuFeed SID foot (my machine's built-in version of a walking foot), it was finally time to play with free motion quilting.


Don't you just love his googley-eyed face?


You can catch the replay of the live video on the Amy's Quilting Adventures FB page. It's right at an hour long and I talk about the choices I make for the quilting while I make them. I also talk about a few basics of setting up for free motion in general, and then some details about setting up for free motion quilting on the Janome 9400. Then I quilt the entirety of this owl on camera.


He was pretty straightforward to quilt, mostly just outlining the different shapes but getting a bit creative with the feathers on his tummy and adding some highlights to that multicolored print at the tips of his wings. I kept the lines "sketchy" meaning they don't need to be right on top of the printed lines. This made it easier to stitch, to stay relaxed, be fun, and I think it fit the aesthetic of the panel.

I'm still using the dark violet thread so most of the stitching is pretty visible unless on the violet or black printed areas. I stitched up some freehand clamshell-like feathers for his belly and if you look closely, you can see a bit of the white pencil I used as reference lines. I started with two rows of clamshells and then went to one row per line as the feathers got bigger. I also began to curve the lines to follow the curve of his tummy.

I am sorry that we ran out of this panel so quickly. I had no way to know how many of you would want to join in and since the panel is stinkin' cute, the fabric company ran out after my second re-order. We do still have quite a bit of the below companion print if you need something for your backing.



The response to this quilt-along has been wonderful! Whether you bought fabric or are just following along to watch and learn, I am encouraged to do more of these. It's so fun to stitch and answer questions together. I am always a bit timid in telling people what to do and how to do it (there are a myriad of ways after all!) but as a teacher, there is a need to do just that to some extent. So I'm glad to get such positive feedback.

Thank you!


3 comments:

  1. Amy, I'm going to start quilting my owl. I know you are using the dark violet thread for your quilting but is that just so we can see the quilting? Should I switch colors when I do the clam shells on the tummy? I'm thinking more the pinkish purple but a bit darker than the color on the panel.
    Also on last night's video, should I change to the light blue to match the panel when you do the wings?

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    1. Yes, I'm using the violet so folks can see. I would have chosen a collor more like a lilac I think otherwise, and possibly changed colors, or even maybe done an invisible thread. What you do is entirely up to you! There are quilt a few areas I might would switch to a light turquoise.

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  2. Thanks. That helps. I don't mind changing colors but it seemed like you wanted to get everything done without a color change. I'll post my owl when I get it done.

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