Made It: FMQ (Free Motion Quilting)

A couple of weeks ago I made some HUGE progress on my picnic blanket. I went from like 6 to 16 blocks quilted. :) Did I mention that I returned my new sewing machine and got a better one? I am so glad that I did. It really wasn't so great, and I couldn't be happier with what I have now. I think that just might be why the sewing is going so much faster. Anyway, when it comes to FMQ you often hear that "it's like drawing on paper, except you move the paper instead of the pen." I realized that if that's the case, the possibilities for designs really are endless! I decided on some of my blocks to incorporate more of the designs in the fabric, and some of them I simply traced over. I really like how they are turning out! And let me tell you, it really is so much fun! :)

I took a bunch of pictures of fronts of backs a few weeks ago after I had done a bunch of them, and want to share them with you. :) Enjoy. :)

UPDATE: I actually wrote the above a while ago, and have just been waiting to upload the pictures. Last week I went from like 16 squares quilted to 27, so I have SO many pictures now. I decided to just upload them to flickr and not worry about posting them all here. You can see them by following this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbbydesign/sets/72157626915299122/

I tried to pair the pictures of the front with the picture of the back for each square, since the design is harder to see on some blocks.

I still want to share a few favorites and fun ones with you here:

Using some of the design elements in the quilting:

 

(the picture of the front is really hard to see on this one so I didn't post it here.) This one has some potential, I need to better plan where I'm going with it, but I like the squares.

Testing out some text! :)

Here are a few that I simply traced the design:

 

I like how these ones look on the back especially.

 

Then I just have some different simple designs, and a few other weird ones. It's so much fun! I really love all the creative freedom that comes with FMQ! :)

If you try out any of these designs, or come up with some of your own, I'd love to see them! You can share them in the from blank pages... flickr group.


p.s. All of you flickr users, what's the difference between collections and sets? I'm still figuring it all out, but am definitely loving it! It's so much easier to upload my pictures there and then post them in my blog posts! It's a million times faster! (I think it helps that I can do it so easily from iPhoto too). :)