Participants who take the pledge to improve their quilting and complete the monthly challenge (regardless of the quality of the work) are entered into a monthly prize drawing. To be entered to win a prize I have to complete the challenge, blog about it, and then submit a link to the above host site. I'm always up for the chance to win free sewing supplies! I particularly like that the emphasis for this challenge is not on winning prizes but improving skills. I'm in!
February's challenge was a free motion feather/plume. Here are some before and after shots of my first and second attempts.
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| 1st attempt-just going for it. It was MUCH harder than I had anticipated to control everything! |
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| Second attempt, after drawing practice |
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| Back of Block. Still having some thread tension issues. |
The first one was done with no marking, and no advanced practice. It's terrible! The second feather was also stitched on unmarked fabric but after I had spent an hour or so drawing the design on paper. I went through A LOT of paper. Then I had a "duh" moment and started using a drawing app and stylus with my ipad.
I want my feathers to be fat (more like the first picture) and although my second attempt was more controlled than my first, I still have much practice to do before I am confident enough to stitch this onto a quilt. Fortunately, I still have the rest of the month to practice!
Isn't it amazing what a little drawing will do to help to improve our FMQing? You did a great job! Thank you for stopping by my blog and commenting on mine. Enjoyed reading your blog about your family life. Love seeing those boys in action!
ReplyDeleteIt sure helps! Thank you!
DeleteI love seeing your progression, looks wonderful to me....
ReplyDeleteThank you. There sure are some amazing feathers in this challenge. Someday...
DeleteHmm... practice. Now there's an idea I should try.
ReplyDeleteI know, right? Don't know what I was thinking on that first block!!!
DeleteHi, Your feathers are coming along nicely. Your mini stippling is beautiful. Bravo ...well done!
ReplyDeleteThe stippling is usually all I do when I FMQ. Trying to follow any sort of design or line is a challenge for me!
DeleteThat's a lot of work! Kudos to you! I thank you for the suggestion of using a drawing app on the iPad. I will have to give that a try!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I use Penultimate and a stylus.
DeleteWork on a smaller scale for a while--it is much harder to get smooth lines if your design is large with long lines. (This may sound counter-intuitive, but it has worked for me.)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip!
DeleteJust keep on practicing! Your last feather looks great!
ReplyDeleteThanks.:)
DeleteWow, I'm impressed! I'm not a quilter but I really love the look of quilting and yours is very pretty. Don't be too hard on yourself :)
ReplyDeleteThanks!
ReplyDelete