The December Free Motion Quilt Challenge at SewCalGal is a tutorial from the wonderful designer and teacher, Patsy Thompson. Patsy is one of my favorite quilt artists, so I was delighted when I found out that she was the guest for this month!
Patsy shared excellent tips for border designing and quilting. So I got out my high tech practice notebook and went to work.
I sewed some hand-dyed fabric together, pin basted a quilt sandwich, and, using 100 weight Wonderfil Invisfil, stabilized my sandwich.
And this is where this month’s challenge became a double challenge. My beloved Bernina (we’ve been together about 25 years) just couldn’t manage a simple straight stitch. I knew she had troubles…she’d been to the doctor once already (he turned out to be a quack…but that’s another story). I’d been wanting another sewing machine, but had been putting it off.
Is it strange to say that I feel guilty sewing with a new Janome, while my Bernina sits on the floor in despair? (I do hope to find a trustworthy doctor who can perform mechanical miracles.)
Miss Janome and I have been cramming time getting to know one another. Christmas is coming so we finally had to say to each other, “Let’s do this!”
So, with lowered feed dogs, and 50 weight Aurifil, we did alot of free motion quilting…Patsy style (or at least our best imitation for where we are in life).
Here’s a couple of close-ups:
I wouldn’t make such large pebbles on this size quilt in the future…don’t like the look of that, but I thoroughly enjoyed making feathers with a flexi-curve ruler. I’ve had that ruler for years, yet never realized it’s potential. Thank you Patsy!
Here’s the back (difficult to see unless you click on the photo for a closer look):
And here’s the front:
I have yet to sew with Miss Janome and have the feed dogs up. I’ll be doing that when I put on the binding.
LC's Cottage 