I've intently watched a few of Leah Days FMQ reels and decided to give it a whirl.
The back of my first block is not worth looking at, as my tension looks really skitty but I am not terribly upset with my first attempt from the front. (lotus flower)
After my first attempt i had to run off and pick up children from school and I probably would have left it there until I have attend a class of FMQ I have enrolled myself in (which will occur in May - ages away)
Today I went to craft and each week they have a speaker give their "God Speak"..sometimes anecdotal, or doctrinal. Today a support/ care minister based at the local school whom provides breakfast for the children and drop in centre for adults. She described a group she holds for women, many from refugee status, whom arrive with nothing and are able to seek support from this community.
Recently I have been following the blog Little Island Quilting where she is collecting remnant blocks to form quilts for the less fortunate of the world. Her effort and the story from the speaker today inspired me to start a quilt from remnants for this particular group. I elicited the help from my fellow quilters at craft to make up pre quilted 10 inch blocks which I will sew together and forward on to community speaker of today.
Hence...I'm back having another go at FMQ and despite the back looking pretty dodgy, quilt number one is under way! I'm getting the hang of curves and trying different patterns and am generally enjoying the process of playing with my machine.
i can see myself becoming addicted to this process and am happy to forward on the results to someone whom might need a boost in colour and a little winter warmth.
I'll show what the quilt looks like when I recieve some blocks from my enthusiastic friends
Your fmq is looking great. If you are finding the back pretty loopy it might not actually be due to tensions issues. I had the same problem when I started and all the tension changes in the world didn't solve it. However, then I read somewhere that it can be caused by speed issues and I discovered I was simply quilting too slowly. When I sped up a little and learned to move a more evenly with the curves the loopy back disappeared.
ReplyDeleteThanks Paula, I started to play around with the speed and noticed that the quilting improved, still need to gain control of my movement to make the quilting more fluid....it all comes with practice I imagine.
ReplyDeleteI think it looks good too. And you will be amazed at how many of those little imperfections disappear when the quilt is washed :) Speed and movement are the key and it does all come with practice :)
ReplyDeleteFMQ is addictive isn't it! Wow.....your first attempt..it is looking great. I too am sewing some blocks for Little Island Quilting...'tis a wonderful initiative! You will soon be FMQ-ing with your eyes closed!!
ReplyDelete