Free Motion Monday Quilting Adventures: Scroll Flower #1

Time to start a new free motion Monday quilting adventure! Never mind April showers that bring May flowers, we're going straight to the flowers for the month of April!

I'm sure there are other names that this design goes by, but scroll flower is what I will call it. This is a great design that can be scaled up really large- maybe up to 6 inches wide, for an all-over, edge to edge type design. It can work in  a small scale for use as a filler and you can fit it to a block to use as a block design.

So it starts with a scroll shape. Some folks think it looks like a question mark.Then you add petals. These are pretty much a semi-circular shape, bouncing around the circular portion of the scroll.

The size of the scroll and size of the petals dictate how many petals you'll have. Conversely, the number of petals you desire and the size of your scroll can determine the size of your petals.

Then you bounce back around to create another set of petals. I like mine to just echo the first set.

And then off you go with another scroll to start the next flower. You can vary the direction of the scrolls to make the flowers more random.

You don't have to use just a scroll shape either! Modify the design to use spirals or shells/paisley for the flower center. I do two variations in this video below:

If you are new to this design, draw it out a few times before starting to quilt it. Link up to share what you've done this week with this design, even if it's just a drawing. This is the baseline week, so that we can each work on our skill with this design and see how much each of us has improved.

Some quick rules:

• Keep your post relevant to this quilt along please. Spammy posts will be deleted.
• Make sure you link up to the individual post, not your home page as nobody wants to have to search around for the post if they're a little late to the party.
• Link back to this post somewhere in your post. You've got to dance with the one who took you to the party, so make sure you link back.
• Don't be a wall-flower. (Talking to myself here too. In person I am so stinking shy!) Visit the other links and leave comments.
• Please make sure you leave me a way to contact you if you are a no-reply commenter, especially if you ask a question.
• Visit others who have linked up and be sociable!

Don't forget to bookmark this blog, follow, or sign it up in your favorite feed reader. Like the facebook page (I do post some short things on it pretty regularly), or even check out my Pinterest boards. I'll be visiting you too!

I don't have a give-away set up for this month, but I'm trying to set up something for next month. I'm working on a new button that will be good for all of these Free Motion Monday Quilting Adventures, but my computer seems to hate me right now, so that will have to wait.

Scraping Content from Quilting Blogs

Dear readers, forgive me for this odd post, but I have found no other way to address a problem.

It seems a site called Quilt Patterns Pro is posting entire blog posts from my blog without my permission.

Now, I don't mind getting my content out in front of as many interested folks as I can, but I like for those folks to be directed back to my site! That's why I listed my blog with www.quilterblogs.com, a content currator, where they show my blog along with many, many others. But they only show a portion of each post and there's a link to send you to MY blog to read the rest. And you can follow me through Bloglovin' and Feedly too.

I can find no contact info for the site. But I can find adsense ads sprinkled into some of the posts on the site that belong to other bloggers (who appear to have their content scraped as well--- scraped is a euphemism for stealing content. Though so far I find no ads added to my posts. Links to other sites (including occasional affiliate links) that I have put in my posts seem to still be in my posts and working, though I will not click on them from that site to confirm it.

Now, my brain is not entirely reliable sometimes, especially when it comes to what sites I have visited and what series of buttons I have pushed in the past to do some really neat stuff with my blog. But I can't find any way to sign my blog up with this site, even if I wanted to, so I doubt I have volunteered my content in the past.

So, dear reader, if indeed you are reading this post at Quilt Patterns Pro, come on over to my actual blog! Amy's Free Motion Quilting Adventures (www.freemotionquiltingadventures.blogspot.com) There are a lot of great resources, tips, and videos for free motion quilting and quilting in general. You can even interact in the comments with other readers and with me. That is something this other site hasn't allowed.

And if you enjoy the posts of other bloggers on QPP, you might want to find their actual blog too, as I bet you're missing some of the best features of the real blogs!

And if there's a chance a real person affiliated with QPP and not just a program or bot is looking at this post, please stop posting my content! I'd like to hear from you if I've misunderstood this situation too.

You'll notice that I did not link to QPP's site. I'm not sending them any traffic if I can help it. From time to time, I have found my content used this way (stolen) on some real sketchy websites in an obvious attempt to get traffic to a very spammy, advertising heavy site. Most of the time the language has syntax errors or is foreign or there are other formatting errors. There are always plenty of cues that will tip off a reader that if they are really interested in what I have to say, they should find my real blog.

This one is different. It looks legit. I hate that there might be readers of my posts with whom I have never heard from or been able to answer a question for them. And yes, I'd like to have that relationship and that traffic. It takes a lot of time to keep up this blog and produce the projects and the videos. (Boy do I type slow!) The interaction with readers is my prime motivator, but occasionally I make a little money from the blog and it's a tiny little reward for my efforts.

QPP----come up with your own content or at least learn to currate (if that's how you justify it) correctly!

A Free Motion Feather Tip

It's been a while since I've had a complete and total free motion quilting Ah-ha moment, but I had one today! I ordered Deborah M. Poole's book, "You Can Quilt It!" and it hit me when reading about stitching feather spines.



There's a spot where she talks about stitching the spine first, then stitching up one side and ending in a tear drop at the tip. Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!

See, I have been stitching my spines first, but I start them off with the tear drop at the tip.

Nothing really wrong with this, but it means I have to match up the plumes on both sides of my spine with the already drawn teardrop tip. Granted, these aren't the best feathers I've ever drawn, but see how it's a bit awkward there at the tip?

I am so glad I can actually stitch better than I can draw! If you're new to FMQ, don't despair at your drawings.

 Now above, I just drew the spine, not the teardrop at the top. That first side worked into the teardrop much more smoothly as the end of the plumes. Then I only had to work in the other side.

What a great tip! I am so glad to have gotten my hands on this book. Deborah is a frequent poster on MQResource.com where I have learned so much from so many longarm quilters. She even made sure to have the book done with a spiral binding so it will lay flat for referencing a design when quilting.

While I know there are some inherent differences between longarm quilting with a moving machine and a sit-down machine while we move the quilt, I've found that there is a lot to learn from great quilters, no matter how they are quilting.

Deborah is an excellent quilter and loves doing feathers and ruler work, which is what I love. So I've learned even more from her book. Have you visited my ruler work page and posts?

I hope to get some ruler work posts done in the near future, and of course get the next free motion Monday link party going!

Savoring Spring

My free motion quilting is having to take a break today! Spring has finally arrived in Virginia- for the moment anyway.

There's my sunny cottage from which my email (and a defunct mommy-blog) derives its "sonshinecottage". And today, the bench on my porch and a stack of books (mainly on time management and priority setting....sigh...) are calling me away

Made this bench from a found bed last year

from this:

Blog and quilt, quilt and blog....

and even this:

Really, really need to get this done.

Even though I have a ton of stuff to do, the kids and I are kicking back and enjoying the beauty around us and the peace that comes from setting our own schedule while we still can. I made the call yesterday....to the local school. This fall I will no longer be homeschooling my soon to be third and fourth grader and then increasing my workload in other areas.

Chillin' with some lemonade.

Big changes for us. But in the meantime, I'm gonna sit back relax and have a glass of lemonade!