Angela Walters has written a wonderful new book about free motion meanders!!! Can you hear me cheering?!?! You can buy a copy here! Hang out till the end of the blog hop after 4 weeks and we will have some surprises! A GIVEAWAY!  Be sure to check out Kristin’s blog and Jen’s blog. , too. I am so thrilled to be talking about free motion quilting with you! I long arm and I do custom quilting for other people but what most customers want is a meander. Meanders let the piecing be the star, its more economical, and it practical for everyday use on a quilt . Plus, you can’t beat the texture of a meander!

This week featured fmq is the swirl shape . I use swirls all the time. I love  the many shapes of swirls, some with many trips around a center others more open but they are versatile and make a great all over pattern Check out the back of the quilt below, swirls and curls are very zen for me!

Hooked swirls are a little bit harder. Here is one of my first attempt at hooked swirl. There is more direction changes, thinking about making the hook and then filling the space without backing yourself into a corner. The photo above isn’t quite like Angela’s but i was making progress. Angela makes this look so easy!

And then out of the blue, one day I started a quilt and the hooked swirl flowed out! I was so happy because they looked more like the swirls that Angela Walter makes. I love them and I want to make them again very soon!

The takeaway– these shapes take tons of practice. You will need to invest time to practice all fmq to learn and be successful.  Every quilter will find that stitch that takes more time to master. Mine was the hooked swirl. But once you get it  you won’t forget !

Quilt on!

Vicki