The guilty secret in many quilters' homes is the large number of quilt tops that have been produced and then put away instead of being layered with batting and backing and quilted. (I don't have to say how many I have stashed away.)
Quilting by machine is not a simple matter, and the learning curve is steep. Nonetheless, it is still faster than hand quilting, and finishing quilts is an important goal. To this end, several hundred quilters are participating in a year-long challenge organized by blogger SewCalGal. Monthly tutorials by well-known machine quilting experts are designed to advance our skills and encourage practice. Participants agree to post photographs or blog entries showing the completed challenge piece.
This month the teacher is modern-quilting advocate Angela Walters. Despite my vow to stop buying quilting books, this arrived in the mail yesterday:
In any case, I was sufficiently intrigued by this quilter's work that I caved and ordered the book. Some of my quilts are going to need her 'modern' approach as opposed to traditional quilting patterns.
Here is my July practice piece--visual 'tiles' filled with different textures. Some designs were more successful than others.
I need to practice meandering (a 'filler' technique that I do not especially like, but a utility stitching design that I am likely to need in my repertoire.
I am encouraged that my work is improving and that I am able to be more relaxed when I sit down to work.
I like your variety of stitches. Looks good.
ReplyDeleteI love how you have tried a number of different designs as filler, great job!
ReplyDeleteLeave the meandering to me! It is all I can do.
ReplyDeleteThe meandering looks like a similar tool employed in pencil and pen art. I'm just now taking sewing lessons, but it's neat to see the overlap in these disciplines. So glad you stopped by the gallery today too! :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed meeting you so much! Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteWell done, I'm working on mine today.
ReplyDeleteWell, YOUR July piece looks a lot better than mine! I think it's unhealthy to vow to stop buying quilting books, or to stop buying fabric, or to stop eating chocolate or smiling at babies. As for meandering and stippling, I just read in Ann Fahl's Dancing with Thread book that she thinks meandering and stippling are overdone, overrated, and boring, and that everyone should quilt something else already. See, that's why I keep buying quilting books -- because the more diverging opinions I collect, the more I can try different suggestions and feel comfortable sticking with the ones that work well for me and forgetting about the ones that don't.
ReplyDeleteAlso? I'm having Rose Envy. I hope your pretty flowers make it through the drought.
Perhaps I failed to mention that I have, um, a long, long shelf with a double row of quilt books, and another shelf with quilting magazines...and since I started quilting with the 1975 Bicentennial... I'm sure you get the idea.
DeleteSo much has changed in quilting that I really need to do triage on the books. There are some I will never use again, for sure. The other factor, sadly, is that some books are being rushed into print and padded in order to make it look as if there is more content than is actually on offer. (I'm a little disappointed in the Angela Walters book I purchased for just that reason.)