19 March 2012

FMQ Monthly Challenge - March

At last a new month!  I so look forward to a new month to see what challenge we are in for.  This month the fabulous art quilter, Ann Fahl, was our "challenger".  My first reaction after watching her great tutorial was disappointment in not actually seeing her in action in front of her sewing machine, but after going through it again and digesting all she had to say and the wealth of information given, I realised that no video could have covered the amount of info and knowledge she so kindly shared with us.  I have ordered one of her books, "Dancing with Thread" and can't wait for it to arrive. Click here to see other books by this wonderful teacher.  Thank you Ann Fahl for this great tutorial.

As usual here is just one page of many of my "doodling".



I found it difficult to do the spirals as per Ann's as they looked a little "messy" to me so I rather travelled back to go onto another shape.
















Here is my practise piece using a 75/11 quilting needle and Loomtex batting (in South Africa we don't have the same types of batting as in the USA) and Seralon thread top and in bobbin.







Here is my final effort on one of the oblong sections of my wall hanging which SoCalGal suggested we put together for this Challenge.  I used a gold colour Colorful Embroidery Thread on the top and Seralon in the bobbin.  I chose to do some meandering, adding a few little leaves along the way and then going into a flower and a few spirals.  I think it looks quite pretty and would like to use this on a larger pieced quilt.

Close-up


I really enjoyed this month's tutorial as it encouraged us to be more innovative with our quilting designs and to think "outside the box".