Monthly Archives: February 2014

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I started quilting back in 2003, I think. In the beginning I could only straight line quilt using my machine's walking foot. It works. But I LOVED looking at the beautiful quilts that were quilted with intricate designs. I longed to learn how to free motion quilt. I'm not even sure how I ran across Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project. In August of 2009, Leah set out to post a new free motion quilting design each day, with a goal of 365 designs. What's more, she's got awesome how to videos and tips to go with each of the designs. So I read and watched tons of her posts and in Spring of 2012 I dove in and started free motion quilting. Armed with my Ultimate Quilting Kit I got to work on quilting a philanthropy quilt that I'd picked up from my quilt guild's philanthropy table. The quilt is bright colors and made up of 6" squares. I decided I'd try out a different FMQ pattern on every other square. Confession: That quilt is still a work in progress. However, I DID learn to free motion quilt as you saw on my quick blue quilt and on my purple quilt. Here are some of my pics from the beginning.

some of my practice quilting
some of my practice quilting
more practice, check out the Superstar and Railroad Tracks designs
more practice, check out the Superstar and Railroad Tracks designs

The Quilt

Stippling
Stippling
drop art
Drop Art
Cursive F's
Cursive F's
Hardwood Floors
Hardwood Floors

More to come when I get back to working on this project and make more progress, but suffice to say, I'm hooked.

In the meantime, if you want to free motion quilt here's Leah Day's Get Started page. She has met and surpassed her goal of 365 FMQ designs. Check them out on here. She's also leading a Quilt Along in 2014 to teach quilters of all levels to piece and FMQ.

I've linked up to the Aug 15 Quilty Flashback Friday.

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finished crown and skirtI don't have much to say, except that it's done! And delivered. And I hope that the 4-year old who received the gift will excuse the imperfections that are the bottom hem. Yeah, don't look to closely.

Okay, I have a little more to say. The tutorial I found was great (though when you cut out your B+2 circumference hole, you'll need to use c = 2πr to calculate the radius measure). And attaching fold over elastic (FOE) was nice and easy (though it took me a bit of effort to get used to stretching the elastic as I sewed). The challenge was the rolled hem. Perhaps I should have gone with the serging option for the bottom hem, but I have the fancy rolled hem foot for my machine since I used it (once) on The Girl's first birthday dress. The difference though, was that The Girl's dress was made out of a 100% cotton woven that behaved much better than this slick, slippery, satiny fabric for the skirt. I'll need more practice. I hope the 4-year old dances around sufficiently fast that nobody notices.

I thought the felt crown and circle skirt were a nice pairing for a birthday gift and they were both quick projects.

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crownI ran across these cute little crowns on Pinterest and just knew I had to make one for an friend's 4th birthday. It's a lovely, quick project that even a beginner sewist could easily make. It doesn't need much in the way of materials, and you can likely find most of what you need in your sewing room.

ready to startI found this piece of floral fabric in my stash. It was a giveaway fat eighth that I got last summer, the perfect size to make two crowns. A quick trip to Joann Fabrics and I had the felt and decorative flowers that I needed for the base. I raided my neighbor's old button collection and found the big pink buttons. I also picked up the white ribbon. Hindsight I wish I had gone with something that wouldn't show the fabric through it, but it works. I can see how it would be fun to make a bunch of different crowns like Erin did.

back detail
back detail

The Boy has asked that I make him a "King Crown." He'd like it to be "plain brown." I think he must mean gold... I have a piece of fabric in mind to dig out of my stash. I hope we're on the same page.