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Not Really an Addict.... Yet
I have a confession to make.... I gave up free-motion quilting a number of years ago because I just never liked what I did (and, to be honest, I hadn't done much). I had no idea WHAT to do, and not much idea how to do it. And the couple of quilts that I did really looked like I had no idea what to do or how to do it! When I got back to the states and discovered that Bloomington has a couple of "knock your socks off" long-arm quilters, I honed my "quilt by check" skills and found that I was always happy with the results. I also have to admit that, by the time I get to borders, I'm soooo ready to move on to the next project, that the thought of quilting something is just not something that thrills me...
Last fall, Lisa and Alice convinced me that we should offer a Free Motion Quilting: Basics and Beyond Class. It's been incredibly popular, and their students leave the class empowered to quilt! I haven't actually taken the class yet, but I think I just may steal a seat in their upcoming class if there's still room. So what has inspired this change of heart?
One of my FaceBook friends and blogger buddies has organized the 2012 Free Motion Quilt Challenge via her SewCalGal blog, and we decided that it would be a perfect opportunity for us to offer a quilt-along with that challenge... so at Shiisa Quilts, we have the Free-Motion Quilting Addicts Support Group - and we'll be quilting along with the challenge... and yes, I personally have taken the challenge!!
If you live under a rock and haven't heard about the challenge yet, you really should check it out. I think it's going to be fun -- and educational!! Each month a different FMQ expert will post a tutorial and then we're supposed to post a photo of our work on that...
This month our expert is Frances Moore. When I watched her video tutorial, I thought, "I can do that!!" Now... please understand that I'm not, and never have been, a doodler... I can't draw... I can't paint... and I just don't doodle... so just the idea of trying the leaf design with pen and paper was intimidating... but it really looked so easy!! And... it was! And I actually liked what I drew...
So last night I had a few minutes at the shop and I sat down with a small quilt sandwich (too small... bad idea!) and I started to stitch... but I didn't take the time to get my gloves, and really it wasn't much fun and looked awful. I knew better than to start with such poor preparation... so I just stopped. I didn't photograph that sample! No need for historical documentation of ugliness, you know??
This afternoon, I made a FQ-sized sandwich... got my gloves... got some thread that actually coordinated with my fabric... and began...
Not bad for my first practice session, I think!! And good enough that I feel inspired to spend a little time with it on a regular basis, for sure!
So, thanks SewCalGal... and Frances... and Lisa!! I don't think my favorite long-arm quilters need to worry too much about not having my quilts in their queues, but this really does make me believe that I can be successful at this! YAY!!
I promise that I'll keep you posted...
RSSThanks for sharing and encouraging others to try FMQ too. It is amazing how easy FMQ is to learn, with just a bit of practice.
I hope your FMQ Addicts group has fun, while dealing with their addiction. I know I'm definitely addicted to FMQ!
SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com