And now, back to our regular programming and a few more details about the FMQ Quilt-a-long. As I mentioned in an earlier post, you're going to have choices - this is a 'choose your own adventure' quiltalong. You can follow along with me and do exactly as I do - I'm not an expert, it's a learning project for me too - or you can take the idea and do your own variation on the theme.
We're going to start with filler designs, and then... well, we'll just have to see where we go. I have a rough plan and an end point in mind. Along the way, I am going to post other people's FMQing for inspiration (and encourage you to do the same if you are blogging about your FMQAL journey).
One of my favourites to watch is Karen McTavish. I saw a few videos of her quilting and thought "Oh. My. Goodness" and was thoroughly intimidated, then I noticed - well, the stitches are not perfect, the spacing is not perfect, it's sort of all over the place... This is an award winning quilter. The idea of backtracking over bits and not having only one line of stitching (but going over the same line numerous times) really freed me up to be a lot more experimental, which is a good thing. Take a look at this, if you haven't seen Karen at work before. Gotta love a quilter with dreadlocks and tattoos!
The other source of inspiration is of course Leah Day. We'll be following some of her videos, and I hope, reading a bit about her inspiration. She has several designs inspired by food - coffee beans and lollipops for example. So I hope at some point we'll be creating our own totally original designs. Sound challenging? Take a look around. I'm looking at the pattern on my coffee cup at the moment, thinking, "I could quilt that". :) At some point, you can choose to let your imagination take over. Or not. It's your adventure!
This is what I would like my last block to end up like.
It incorporates pebbling, tree roots (branching designs), waves and all sorts - all building blocks I need to master to get where I want to go.
So here is the (very) rough plan. I'm working on 4 blocks per row and I'll post two at a time. It's addictive so one is not enough and 4 is too many. :) Linky parties along the way for you all to share.
So here's the ROUGH plan. I'm sure there will be some detours! If you haven't yet, hop over to the main page and sign up!
Row 1 - Rounded designs
Row 2 - Pointy edges
Row 3 - Landscapes and seascapes
Row 4 - McTavishing
Row 5 - Feathers
Row 6 - Choose your own adventure
I love McTavishing and I love watching Karen do it, she doesn't seem to give a stuff about hitting perfection in each stitch just the over all look once it's finished.
ReplyDeleteAlso seriously thinking about dreading my hair again now!
do you think it would work if I just get a few pieces of white muslin and some black thread and try with those, rather than actual blocks? It would be much easier for me to see, and I could try the techniques and ideas much easier than if I have to make the blocks too! Tell me if you think this will work!! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm really excited about this project. I couldn't find anything on how often new parts will be posted. Will we receive new parts to do monthly, weekly, or every day? I'm trying to schedule in all my quilt goals before new years. LOL
ReplyDeleteI wish I could Free motion quilt, I cannot on my 1950 Brother Boutique so I have to tie all my quilts.
ReplyDeleteI am following your blog and plan to take this to my Voyager 17 and learn to run it. Thanks to all the FMQ projects going.
ReplyDelete