Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Progress on Simply Squares


I know that most people would have made this quilt in a day, and shown you the finished product in one post - "Look what I made today."  But that's not how I operate - working on a few minutes a day.  In order to save you some impatience, you will be happy to know that not only has the quilt been sandwiched already, but I have even started quilting it.

The change in my horoscope sign must be good for me, because the free motion quilting is working just fine. I even forgot to cover the feed dogs and change the stitch length.  Just changed the foot and started sewing. No thread throwup.  Nice!

I love all the different quilting trends out there, and I love combining them.  I am using basic squares from the modern quilt movement.  Just let the fabric do the work.  Matching corners on squares is easy.  Then I am using quilting methods from the liberated quilters.  No need to mark the design, just have a plan and wing it! 


The safety pins I am using for basting only get in the way on blocks that will really show the quilting, which is normal for me, and I am not expecting perfection, so it is all good. If  you have any complaints about my quilting, please see my setup above.  The machine does not have a needle down position, has a small throat, and is held up by masking tape, which I think is a step down from electrical tape.   I am making ovals, to create a four petal flower pattern. With the busy fabric, and dim lighting, and safety pins, it is hard to make sure I line the petals well , and I didn't, so now I'm not lining them up for the rest of the quilt.

Hopefully when I am finished putting in all the petals, it won't look like tails, or pictures that belong in the bathroom or online in places that aren't family friendly.  I have this worry every time I free motion quilt anything, especially ovals.  I don't mention it, because I don't want you to think about things, if you aren't already thinking about them.  I'm sure Freud would have some things to say about it.  Do you worry about things like that?  I've never seen it mentioned in other blogs, so maybe I am the only one. I'm sure Freud would have something to say about that too.  What do you do to prevent your ovals from turning into things that have ratings with X's in them?

Once you answer my questions, please zap yourself with that thought erasing light, because I don't want you to think those kinds of things when you see any of my quilts.

4 comments:

Paula, the quilter said...

Two ways to do these 'flowers'.
* do a circle and then have your flower petals come off the circle
or
* do an elongated figure 8 starting from the center; when you get back to the center do another that is perpendicular to the first one.

Allie said...

GOOD for you! Girl, you crack me up - I never thought about my free-motion not being family friendly - but most of mine is very very small and close together, I can't seem to get the motion of doing larger designs. I am NOT GOOD at free-motion. I think yours looks just fine - and don't worry about it, the fabric is busy and it will all blend, especially after washing!

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

Paula's suggestion is great, that and practice, practice, practice. You make me laugh; your quilting looks fine to me.

Michele Bilyeu said...

You tell'em, Shasta! No criticism from me, I'm the wing it sew crooked and love every minute of it quilter!