It’s not easy to do a little free-motion quilting each day. I thought I’d practice on crib quilts, but when I put a crib quilt under my Featherweight, I don’t want to take it out till it is finished. And that ties up the machine–usually four days. Now the 12.5 inch block is another matter. It can be finished in less than an hour even when doing a closely quilted design. So I’m working on blocks for Soy Amado.
First I looked for orphan blocks twelve inches or less from block lotto winnings and other swaps–the smaller blocks got additions to bring them up to 12.5. All total I have eleven. Three finished.
This is Leah Day’s “Cube Storm” filler design. Well it started out to be. I ended up doing something between an angled echo/meander and her design. (I add links to Leah’s designs so you can see what I was trying for.)
Leah calls this design “Josh’s Ladders,” and it seemed perfect for this fire truck block. I probably spend as much time browsing for design ideas as practicing. That is half the fun.
You know how they say to hide beginner quilting, use prints? Well it hides it all right. It even hides it when I am trying to echo or travel stitch. Maybe not a good idea for learning. But here is “Snake spines.”
If you strain your eyes you can see the diagonal line of circles. And on the back you can see the rays.
Mine got a little more wiggly than Leah’s instructions. Actually I”d forgotten the name of the design and started to think centipede and other crawly bug images as I quilted.
So far the stitch looks about the same on the back as on the front. And that’s good.
Linking up with Leah Day’s FMQ Project.
And for those of you who like linky parties, here is aother fun one–Val assigns themes and we link up old posts that relate to the theme. This week the themes are Batiks and quilt backs.
Now it is time to go practice.
knitNkwilt 
Good for you! That second one reminds me of your last art work design, somehow. =) I’m impressed with your determination and how well you’re doing.
I admire your FMQ very much. I’ve never been able to get my quilting to the acceptable point, but this would be a good way to practice.
Lillian
They are all wonderful and YAY for more Soy Anado blocks!!!
Love the ladders FMQ!!!
Esther
Great work and mug rugs are perfect for small projects. I don’t like busy prints for learning FMQing as it is too hard to see…..at least for me 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Freemotion by the River Linky Party Tuesday
love these! the top one looks fun, i like your variation. WIth the fabrics its almost got an aztec feel to it. I also try to FMQ daily – and don’t quite make it! but i do sew every day, and generally get an FMQ of some kind several times a week and it does make a difference! Good luck 🙂
I love your quilting!! Very innovative and IMO reflective of the blocks! I think the “Josh’s Ladders” quilting works exceptionally well!
What a good idea – I’m going to find my orphan blocks and use them as practice sandwiches, then assemble them QAYG. No more excuses for not practicing FMQ. Thanks for sharing, Claire!
It is such a great way to finish a quilt. Those manageable blocks are so much fun to quilt that way. Thanks for sharing.