Here we are already at the final week of working my way through Angela Walter’s new book Free-Motion Meandering. You can check out previous weeks here: Week 1: Basic meanders, Week 2: Swirls, Week 3, Paisley and leafy meanders.
Feather Swirl
I’ve been a little nervous about this week’s designs, because…feathers! Now granted, they are not traditional feathers, but still. This design (click here for Angela’s sample, scroll to the bottom of the page) combines swirls and feathers. And since I’m not good at swirls and I’ve never done feathers–well, you get the picture.
Once again, the step-by-step drawings of how to draw the design are invaluable. I have the book as an ebook, and at one point, I literally put a piece of paper on top of my iPad mini and traced it a few times. Really, one of the best things about this book is the step-by-step drawings, especially if you are a visual learner. I practiced this design a lot on paper first (rather unsuccessfully), then I checked out the trouble-shooting section and found I was making a lot of common mistakes. The biggest one was not making the feather big enough, and really filling the spiral.
I also have problems just making the “feather” shape. When I do it just traveling up a single spine, I do a better job of making the half-heart shape. But once I try to tackle it on a spiral, well, let’s just say that I find it difficult.
I don’t mean to give you excuses, but I went on a lovely vacation to Napa Valley with my hubby to celebrate our anniversary during the time I was supposed to be practicing this design, and then I was at QuiltCon for three days! So, once again, I did not get in as much practice as I would have liked. But, knowing that I had write this post, I determined to find little pockets of time to sit down at the machine and practice. I also tried to sketch it on paper whenever I thought about it–really trying to get that muscle memory going.
It still needs a lot of work, but I pushed through and tackled a design that was a complete disaster the first time I tried it.
Improv Quilting
Now this is a design that I admire in other people’s quilting. I had never tried it myself, and was excited to give it a try. All it entails is quilting out several different motifs mixed together to fill a space. The hardest part for me is just remembering the motifs that I know! As silly as it might sound, I found that creating a cheat sheet of all the designs that I know was helpful, so that I could just glance over and be inspired to try a different motif. Angela gives lots of variations on how to improv quilt, as well as tips on how to keep the quilting a consistent size.
Both of these motifs were WAY outside of my comfort zone, but both ended up being really enjoyable. What I really want you to take away from this series on machine quilting, is that if I can come up with something that is halfway decent, then anyone can. It may take a lot of practice, but what better way to use up that fabric that you don’t really like anymore? Speaking of which, both Angela and Christa Watson encourage you to practice quilting on actual quilt tops. I am very guilty of not doing this. I have stacks and stacks of practice pieces that I’m not sure what I’m going to do with. But I recently found some baby quilt tops in my sewing space that just need quilting, and I am determined to use them to practice some of these meandering designs.
Have you popped over to Vicki and Jen’s blogs to see how they did with these designs?
The Giveaway!
And now for the giveaway! You have three chances to win a copy of this book! C&T Publishing has given Vicki, Jen, and I each a copy to giveaway. So make sure to visit each blog to enter. If you live in the US, it will be a physical copy of the book and if you are outside the US, then it will be an e-book.
To enter my giveaway, simply leave a comment below telling me what your favorite free motion design is. For an extra entry, sign up for my monthly newsletter here! Hop on over to Instagram for more bonus entries. Giveaway ends March 4, 2018.
Good luck!
Pin it for later:
I love feathers but for me I stick to stippling… I love to see other free motion quilting and how easy it looks.
I love pebbles!
I can’t wait to try these new motifs. For now my go to is stippling or loops with the odd heart thrown in. Thanks for all your advice, you’ve done an awesome job mastering these new techniques!
My go to pattern is stippling or loops with the odd heart thrown in. Thanks for this series of tutorials, you’ve done a great job mastering these new techniques!
Still trying to make my FMQ look as nice as my hand quilting. Amazingly I can do the feather swirl, but I can’t do just a simple, nice, even feather in a straight border!
I love the clam shell on paper. Haven’t actually tried it on the machine but hope to that and these feathers this week! Thanks for the chance to win the book!
I love your feather swirl, do not see a tutorial on it! Would love to try it, looks like a perfect all over design
I could surely use a few days practicing my FMQing. I am pretty good at the simple loopty-loo design, but I want to be better at so many others! You are an inspiration!
I have just signed up for your newsletter and look forward to learning more! duchick at gmail dot com
The feathers look great! I’ve been listening to your podcast and really enjoy it. Your kids cooking night is a great idea. I wish I had heard that 20 years ago. My kids are grown now.
I had the most success with a lead design because the quilt blocks served as great guides. For that reason I understand why quilting on a quilt top is easier than a blank practice piece.
I love the feathers FMQ – have to conquer stippling first!
I am a newsletter subscriber!
LOVE your designs+inspiring ideas for FMQing! My Favorite is a 3″ heart on trailing vines, especially to fill border sashings! Thank You for a neat giveaway!
I’ve recently seen free motion orange peels and really liked the look. I may attempt them on my next quilt.
I love the feather meander and the improv meander best! Still practicing, but getting there! It’s so exciting to see it come together!
I love daisies and loops or stars and loops. I hope to improve my FMQ skills with Angela’s book!
My favorite all over FMQ design is the feathered flower, but I like to do custom work, too.
Kristin, I love these samples. Very pretty.
I like keeping my quilting loose and open, or…. whatever. Not tight.
These images are beautiful
I already get your news letter, and I follow you all over town
Thank you for this give away, Boy I sure could use a book like this
I love any kind of feather! They are so pretty!
I already receive your newsletter. Hope that counts!
I would love to be able to do feathers and Angela’s Paisley Feather! They are sooo gorgeous! ?
I like stippling best. It is so neat to see how well it covers with no real rhyme or reason. It goes with all designs, modern or traditional.
My favorite FMQ design is clams, probably because I have practiced it the most.
I usually just do meander or straight line quilting. To scared to try other designs.
I started off using meandering and stippling but I do a fair amount of lazy daisy looping and lots of straight line quilting! Would love to branch out into more challenging feathers!
I like swirls, I am just working on practice and improving. I keep trying different things, practice, practice, practice.
I love leaves and hooks with echoing
I love Other people’s feathers, but my best motif seems to be swirly variations. I’m trying to branch out and try new things , so this blog series is great for me. Thanks!
I’m just getting started learning FMQ but I like pebbles.
My favorite free motion design is the leaf with a swirl line connecting them together.. I’ve also enjoyed the orange peel (as long as there are points to aim for or seams to guide my way) 🙂
My ‘go to’ are feathers w long spines that extend from each other.
I love to use hearts on quilts but would really like to expand my fmq skills. Looks like the perfect book.
I like hearts and swirls, but I’m still new at it!
I like meandering and loops. I have a lot to learn.