Machine Quilting Blog Hop Week 6

2017-06-04 07.52.50 — Practice Piece this week

This week is the chapter called Cornered in the book “The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting” by Angela Walters and Christa Watson. HollyAnne, Kristin and Jen are joining me in this journey. The four of us are blogging our way through the book and each week that goes by we are practicing more and gaining confidence with each exercise. I am a long armer and the other ladies are using their domestic sewing machines. The patterns for the quilts in the book are amazing but we are focusing on the free motion quilting for the blog hop. Links to the previous weeks are on the side bar tab for the Machine Quilting Blog hop. Join the party at Instagram using hashtag #machinequiltingbloghop

2017-06-02 15.35.41 — Tried hooked swirls in the star , not quite but still looked great QOV

2017-06-04 08.34.48

This week is the chapter entitled Cornered. There are many strips in the blocks and I chose to do another wonky log cabin using many of the designs. It is so cool to have all the texture in each strip . Makes the block very interesting.

2017-06-04 08.30.59

This week I spent hours trying to master this hooked swirls. I don’t have it completely but I feel like I am making progress. I am realizing that I need to stop and change direction more often. When I don’t it takes on a leaf shape. Like in the star in the previous picture of the Quilt of Valor I was working on. I did hooked swirls in the center of the wonky log block if you look closely.

2017-06-04 08.34.44 — Hooked swirls in the center

2017-06-04 07.53.01 — Hooked swirls practice

The next stitch that was in the chapter that I practiced was Pearls and swirls. After I spoke to Christa on my Podcast it made so much more sense and here are my results. Listen to the pod cast by clicking here!

2017-06-04 08.34.33

This Chapter had several takeaways. First of all it is very important to use free motion quilting to emphasize your blocks with texture contrasts. Secondly, Angela talks about motif quilting like in the black section of this block. Dividing a block into sections and doing the same arches or stitching will make a motif. I did this whole block using another takeaway –not breaking thread for each area. I planned out my quilting so I could do this with not cutting the thread. Watch the video to see how I did it!

Lastly, I learned that echoing is a good way to add texture and importance to the stitching you just did. Plus it allows you to travel in different directions as you go. Practicing it the only way you get this down. I thought I practiced enough and then I realized I still didn’t have hooked swirls down. I have lots of drawing practice to do in my future!

2017-06-03 15.34.11