17 July 2012

FMQ - July

The July challenge was given by Angela Walters whom I have followed for quite a while and always admired for her beautiful work.  Apart from teaching and hosting retreats, Angela is a professional quilter who quilts for many large companies including the Robert Kaufman Fabric Company.  She has also written two books.

 The quilting design for this month is called "Tiles" which could be used in a border or in negative space as long as it is not too small an area.  Angela used a "swirl" design in her sample and I can assure you this is not the easiest of designs to do!  It took many hours of practice after which I still wasn't very happy but towards the end of my final piece, I thought it was passable!  Also to quilt the straight lines of the tiles was a challenge in itself.  I had to resort to a ruler and wash-out marker to make them line up. 

Here is my final piece which I present for the July challenge.

Tiles filled with swirls


As usual I started with pencil and paper marking direction of quilting with arrows....

  

then did a few practice pieces - here is one....



Thank you Angela for providing this tutorial.  It was really more difficult than it looks and provided a great challenge.  Thank you also to SewCalGal for the opportunity.

Argh those swirls really got to me!  Anyway, after completing my challenge piece and while my mind was still in "swirl" gear, I decided to give them a go on a hand pieced ufo, and yes I know, I know..... many say that you just do not machine quilt something that has been hand pieced, but this Spool quilt had been put aside for the past two years and periodically taken out and had a bit of hand quilting done on it.  Unfortunately I had used a chintz on the back and this made it very difficult to quilt by hand, so to just get it done I decided to put it under my machine and go for it.  At least it is finished as I really don't like having unfinished quilts put away in cupboards!

 And here it is....
Spool Quilt with swirls

 Thank you for taking a looky and will see you again in August.  I wonder what lies ahead for us next month?


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16 comments:

  1. Ray and Jeanne17 July 2012 at 14:03

    Your July FMQ is wonderful! I have a lot of trouble with the swirls or spirals - yours look fantastic! ~Jeanne

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    1. Carolyn17 July 2012 at 14:41

      Thank you Jeanne, they took quite a bit of practice though!

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  2. Angela Walters17 July 2012 at 16:23

    I think your swirls look great! I think you are being way too critical of yourself!! I love it!

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    1. Carolyn17 July 2012 at 16:45

      Thank you Angela, I am looking forward to the time when I can stand back from my work and say, "Man that is good". Your tutorial was very well explained and the diagrams were excellent. Thank you so much.

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  3. Rosemary Dickinson17 July 2012 at 16:38

    I knew it would look perfect! Love your swirls! Lovely work. I think it's wonderful that you got your spool quilt finished and it looks great!

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    1. Carolyn17 July 2012 at 16:46

      Thank you Rosemary, I now need more quilt tops on which to practice!

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  4. Claudia17 July 2012 at 23:01

    your swirls/spirals really look great! I still need more practice :-o

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    1. Carolyn18 July 2012 at 20:44

      Thank you Claudia. You must give them a try; once you get into the motion, they're actually quite easy.

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  5. Quilting Babcia18 July 2012 at 03:41

    Good for you - you got your quilt finished, and that's what counts! I too, finished a 12-year-old partially hand-quilted lap quilt earlier this year by FMQ'ing some of my practice sessions on the squares and finally the borders. That was the only way it was ever going to be finished, and I figured after 12 years why not? Your swirls, by the way, are really really nice!

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    1. Carolyn18 July 2012 at 20:45

      Thank you Quilting Babcia. Yes, it is such a nice feeling when you complete a ufo!

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  6. Barb and Sharon18 July 2012 at 06:03

    Your samples look really good. I hope I'll be able to do as well.keep up the great work.
    Barb@Witsend

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    1. Carolyn18 July 2012 at 20:46

      Thank you Barb and Sharon, I'm sure yours will look great too!

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  7. Tammy21 July 2012 at 05:13

    Hi Carolyn, Your spiral design and tiles look fantastic. Bravo..very well done.

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  8. Marilyn21 July 2012 at 11:34

    That is awesome. Well done.

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    1. Carolyn25 July 2012 at 12:40

      Thank you Marilyn. Although they were more difficult to do than one thinks, I really enjoyed doing them.

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