I joined the Free Motion Quilting Challenge hosted by SewCalGal. I've always wanted to learn free motion quilting and to be able to execute it well. I'm here to tell you - I'm a long way from any type of proficiency! After seeing the photos on the FMQC Facebook page, I was almost too embarrassed to post my own photos here on this blog. Everyone seems to be already so good. But then I had a talk with myself. I'll never get better without practice and comparing my skills to someone else's isn't really the right thing to do. Even at just turned 50, I still have a need for this type of conversation with myself! Ugh!
Each month a tutorial is shared on SewCalGals blog and we practice and post our photos. This months tutorial was brought to us by Frances Moore. The photos below show my efforts:
Some of it looks better than other pieces of it.
I hope to keep up with this Challenge all year long. My skill set has no where to go but up!
Last Monday I had the pleasure of meeting Terri from Dixie Samplar. What a sweetie she is! She was visiting her precious grandmother and sent me an email asking if I'd like to meet her on her way home. We had a great time in Trenton exploring the shops. Here is a pic of Terri and I at Sally's shop, Suwannee Valley Cross Stitch. Sally was very gracious and we spent a fair amount of time chatting with her and a few of her regulars. We had a nice lunch at the Rose Cafe. I could have sat there for hours talking to Terri, she is so warm, friendly and easy to talk to. And of course we had to visit the quilt shop too. If you don't know Terri, please visit her blog. One of my MOST favorite posts of hers is this one about her stitching studio reveal.
Me on the left, Terri on the right
Don't you love that brick wall?
I put all my goodies away before getting a picture because my sewing/stitching room was so seriously messy and I needed to get in there. I do have a picture of something I purchased to put on my shelves. Three vintage spools. Two have lace (vintage?) that Sally bought on a trip to Germany. I wound some hand dyed rick rack (purchased from Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler) on the other.
Thank you for visiting my little corner of the blogging world. Happy Stitches!
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41 comments:
LOVE your wooden spools...and what fun to meet up with Terry! It's about a year now that we met in Jacksonville......and I remember our lunch there fondly. I have been blessed to meet 8 bloggers and hope to meet many more eventually!
I don't think you second attempt was so bad! Actually it looks pretty good. I have seen (and done) much worse.
Hi Jackie :o) meeting you was a huge pleasure and one I would love to do again some day soon...I'll come your way next time :o)
I love your quilting snaps...wow, it doesn't look like the work of a novice...looks pretty pro to me! Can't wait to see what you do after getting in more practice...
Your spools were a great find and I just love how you added the ric rac...excellent addition ot the grouping.
If you are ever up my way, be sure to give me a buzz and you can see the studio first-hand...we can sit and stitch a spell :o)
Happy Stitchin'
Terri
Since I don't do anything with quilting, I admire your work! Your visit with Terri sounds like fun ~ love those spools!
This free motion challenge is so fun...and I can see great improvement each time, don't you just love it!!
It is so fun meeting fellow bloggers...
your FMQ looks great - I'd hate to pull out my first attempts - I almost throw in the towel, but I persevered and practiced, and now it's coming along nicely. I love your old spools!
I think your quilting looks wonderful...especially if it's only your 2nd attempt. Give yourself a big pat on the back from me!! We are always so hard on ourselves aren't we? And, guess what? I don't think we ever get to the age where we don't have "those" talks with ourselves. :))
Your quilting looks great! I have tried to FMQ a few times and am never happy with the results. I also have a long way to go before I'll do it on anything too important.
I can't imagine doing anything like that free motion quilting, Jackie, so it looks great to me!! And how wonderful that you got to me the sweet Terri--I'll bet you two had a grand time together :)
Love those spools--such a neat way to hold your lace and trims...May have to look for some for myself!
Love those spools! I think your ree motion blocks look great! I don't think I could do it...you're brave! lol How great you got to meet Terri. Looks and sounds like you two had lots of fun!
Those spools are great! I will need to start looking for some. Your free style quilting looks really good. Something I can't do.
Your second attempt looks pretty good to me. I've done a little machine quilting and it does get easier and better looking after each practice session.
Glad you enjoyed your day with your blogging friend.
You're being way too critical of yourself, Jackie. Your quilting looks really good for first-time and second-time go 'rounds. I'm glad I didn't take pictures, nor have a blog, when I first learned FMQing! Though that was back in the late '90s, I still have room for improvement and new designs to try. Keep up the great work.
beautiful pictures !!!
bisous de France
Your free motion quilting looks good to me! I think there are very few people who don't need to have a chat with themselves from time to time when trying something new so don't be too hard on yourself! Love the spools and sounds like you'd a great time with Terri.
I think your FM quilting looks great! Very impressive! You must be so excited about it -- just imagine being able to machine quilt your own quilts! Love the pics of your visit with Terrie and the spools. Glad it was fun!
Your free motion quilting looks great to me. I've never tried that. Looks so difficult!
What a great shop and it's so much fun to visit with a like-minded buddy!
Cool spools too!
I think your quilting looks beautiful! Don't be too hard on yourself. We always have to start at the beginning no matter what it is that we do, and no one is an expert from the beginning. Your spools are lovely!
I LOVE Trenton!! It's a good 2 hours away from me, but my quilting buddies and I have visited there a few times. Even when they had the outdoor Quilt show. How great that you were both able to meet up. Keep up the machine quilting. It's looking good.
Oooo, the spools are lovely! I think your free-motion quilting is AMAZING! It also looks like you vastly improved from the first to second attempt (I'm assuming you were going for lots of the hearts). I am super-impressed; I can't even imagine doing that, since the sewing machine thread tangles the moment I look at it. I think I'm kind of like Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes with his bike!!
I think that your quilting is wonderful! You're really doing a great job. I should post pictures of my attempt from years ago! As much as I wanted to quilt my own quilts, I knew when something gets the better of me - and machine quilting was it. I think that you should be proud of the way yours looks - and with a little more practice, you'll be happy with your results. We're always our own worst critic!
Your quilting looks wonderful - well done!
Your FMQ looks great!!!!
Jackie, I loved seeing your quilting progress! Great job! I practiced countless hours on meandering before doing it on my first table runner..i was scared to death I would ruin it, but all of that practice paid off! Love your spools..
I think your quilting looks great. It is so good to practice like that, on a small piece. The spools are so pretty, I am drooling.
you are well on your way - your quilting practices look fantastic. it just takes a little patience and you'll be there. i might follow along the blog as well as i am always striving to do a better job. love those spools, they are so cool and with the lace - so pretty.
Love old spools--your trims looks so pretty on them. I admire your patience with machine quilting. I think your second attempt looks pretty darn good.
I joined The Free Motion Challenge for the same reason. One thing that has helped me is to look past the individual stitches and look at the whole piece. That has made me a little more positive about what I accomplished. I think it looks great! Keep sharing.
I think your quilting looks lovely Jackie.
Meeting stitching friends is always so much fun!
I love all the 'secret' hearts in your practice pieces. Very cute.
The spools are fab, what a great find!
Don't be so hard on yourself, you're just steppin' out of your comfort zone, like me. I know it's a little scary but we must take the steps if we want to get anywhere. Keep up the good work!
I think your quilting looks great, Jackie! I learned to quilt in 1996 or so, when the Internet was there (I think) but not so much a part of everybody's life. I jumped in and machine appliqued a quilt and free motion quilted it before I knew what I was doing. I thought I was Picasso. I did a log cabin quilt with the blocks arranged in the shape of a heart and the only thing that the fabrics had in common was that they were pink. NOW I see that there is one bright pink that shouldn't be there, that the seams are so far from meeting that I could drive a bus through the gaps, but at the time--I was thrilled. Now that I can compare myself and my work to others, I think it is much harder to feel confident. I still look at that applique quilt & think I did an okay job, for somebody who didn't know what they were doing, but sometimes I think we're all too hard on ourselves, especially when we compare ourselves to others. I guess all that is to say--you did a great job and don't knock yourself!
I'm so glad that you got to meet Terri--it sounds like you two had a lot of fun! I LOVE those spools!
Love that free motion quilting! Sounds like a great time with a new friend :-)
What an awesome job you did on your machine quilting attempts! It's all about practice, but you look like you are going to master this in no time!
Really like those pretty spools!
Years ago I spent many hours and days and days in Cross Stitch and More. Wiley even stitched some models for Sally. the shop and cafe look pretty interesting - maybe we should plan a visit over there. Good luck on the free motion - it looks interesting. bet you'll have a great time at the retreat this weekend ! enjoy Mel
Great progress on your free motion quilting with the hearts! I love the results and admire your skill. That's another thing on my list to learn in the near future...
oh thank you for the commentaire in French !!!
bisous mon amie
The quilting looks fab to me! How wonderful to meet a fellow blogger :)
Great job! I know it is hard to machine quilt and hate to hear snobby comments from other quilts about something being machine quilted. When I see that someone did it themselves and not on a large quilting machine, I am in awe. I have taken a course where we tried it and noone wanted to even finish except me. I however was only doing squiggles and what do I see? You are making hearts...wow!
How fun to be able to meet another blogger. That is always so much fun. The shop looks wonderful to brouwse in and dangerous for a stash diet...lol. Then your lunch spot looks fabulous too. These spools are really in here too and became very expensive. I think internet does that. I cannot get flower frogs now and wish I had bought a couple when I did get the one I bought. They were affordable then.
Hugs from Holland ~
Heidi
I'm impressed by your second attempt! Once again a hidden Jackie talent!
And how sweet of Terri to ask to meet her. These 'meetings' are the best, I think!
Love the spools with the ribbons. I can't believe that several years ago I threw some very old ribbon away, not seeing the value of it then. With a spool ...
Wow, free motion quilting. And you were doing really great. I know how hard it can be to even try to sew an oddly shaped ornament together. So this must be even harder. Well done!
You seem to have spent a very good time with Terri.
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