Free Motion Mavericks - Week 101 - How to Quilt Berries

Here is the latest progress report on the Secret Project.  Unfortunately on this pinkish red shot cotton the quilting doesn't show up too well on a photo.  I rather enjoy combining these leaves with berries, so I chose this pattern for this week's video.

The sample turned out fairly well... 

... and filming was trouble-free.  A slight loss of focus towards the end, but that was the camera, not me.

Here goes for week 101... a little later than usual...

The project in Week 100 that caught my eye was Vireya's animals quilt - don't you just love that splash of pink!  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more photos.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia and Ireland have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up with Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Nina-Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art... Whatever for Off The Wall Friday.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 100 - How to Quilt Jacobean Leaves

One of my favourite designs, Jacobean style leaves, which are making a frequent appearance on the Secret Project.

Here is this week's sample, which shows three good leaves and a fourth which encompasses the whoops factor...

... and here is this week's video, which shows how straightforward this design is, so long as you don't stray too close to the edge.

Here goes for week 100...

A big welcome this week for Olena, the first quilter to link up from Ireland!

And it just so happens that the project in Week 99 that caught my eye was Olena's seashore quilt, with appliqué sea creatures and free motion quilted pebbles and shells.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more photos.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia and Ireland have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up to Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Nina-Marie's blog Creations... Quits, Art...  Whatever for Off The Wall Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday .

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 99 - How to Quilt Shamrock Leaves

Easily adaptable, this pattern can be shamrock or clover leaves.  Shamrock leaves are featuring in the Secret Project, and I have really enjoyed stitching this design.

This is the latest sample for the pattern collection.  The stitching isn't particularly neat...

... but I managed to shoot the video in one take, complete with rather grumpy commentary.  I must try to be more gracious when I make the next video.

Here goes for week 99...

The project in Week 98 that caught my eye was Afton's fractal quilt, which she had quilted by Trisha Cavanaugh in a combination of free motion and ruler work.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more photos.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau and Russia have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up to Sarah's blog for Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Nina-Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art.... Whatever for Off The Wall Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 98 - How to Quilt Serrated Leaves

Easier than they look - these serrated leaves are one of my favourite designs to quilt.  This photograph is of a detail of the Free Motion Sampler Quilt.

And here is this week's finished sampler, which took only a little over ten minutes to stitch.  Ideally I would have liked to have shown a larger leaf with five fronds rather than three, but as soon as I sat down to start sewing I realised that there wasn't enough room.

As for the video - last week the bobbin thread ran out twice, and this week, just to keep everyone entertained, I casually broke the top thread.

Meanwhile, the Secret Project continues... three panels finished and another eight to go.  No rush yet, thank goodness.

Here goes for week 98...

The project in Week 97 that caught my eye was Lynette's glorious vintage Bo Peep quilt, the top of which was made in the 1930s by a member of her husband's family, and which has now been quilted by Lynette for a great aunt's 90th birthday.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more photos.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau and Russia have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up to Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Nina-Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art... Whatever for Off The Wall Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 97- How to Quilt Honeysuckle

Only a tiny glimpse of the Secret Project, which is turning out to be a great opportunity to try out new patterns, or revive ones I have used before - in this case honeysuckle, which I haven't used for nearly three years.  Last time I quilted it on a cream background, today I quilted it on blue...

...and for the collection of test pieces, I quilted it in brown on calico.

Here is the latest offering on video, which shows me running out of bobbin thread twice, for the true to life touch.  In truth, I needed to empty a couple of bobbins so that I could fill them up ready for work on the Secret Project.

Here goes for week 97...

The project in Week 96 that caught my eye was Margarita's beautiful quilt, her first bed-sized quilt!  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more photos.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau and Russia have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up to Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Nina-Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art...  Whatever for Off The Wall Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday
and Afton's blog Quilting Mod for Lessons Learned

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 96 - How to Quilt Rudbeckias

Egg yolk yellow makes the perfect background colour for one of my favourite free motion designs.  This photo shows a small section of the free motion sampler quilt that I recently completed.

This week I have made a quick sample piece so that I can share this design.  So I now have page 2 for a pattern book, and a new video.

Making the video was a little less eventful than it was last week.  Rather than using two layers of thermal curtain lining, I used curtain lining for the backing and laid a piece of calico on top.  Less bulk to stitch through, so the thread didn't break once!

Here goes for week 96...

The projects in Week 95 that caught my eye were Janine Marie's two gorgeous quilts made for the Hands2Help Challenge - here is one of them catching the sunlight beneath a dramatic sky.   If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more photos.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau and Russia have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up to Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Nina-Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art... Whatever for Off The Wall Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 95 - How to Quilt Oak Leaves

Dilemma solved!  I was wondering how to work on a secret project, showing as little as possible on the blog, yet still finish little items (to keep myself interested) and make the blog interesting at the same time.

So here is this week's discreet preview of the mega project, oak leaves quilted on a striped shot cotton...

...and here is this week's finish, a little mat which might just end up as page 1 of a sample book...

...and here is the video, so that anyone who wants to try quilting oak leaves can see how easy they are - provided your thread doesn't break, as mine did.  Twice.  I plead special circumstances.  The camera was in the way.

I must confess that I am really looking forward to seeing if anyone quilts oak leaves and then links up with Free Motion Mavericks in the near future.

Here goes for week 95...

The project in Week 94 that caught my eye was Bernie's interpretation of some of

Lori Kennedy's designs.  The little yachts are just too sweet for words!  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now, and also see some gorgeous photos taken on a day out.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau and Russia have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up to Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Nina-Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art... Whatever for Off The Wall Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.