December 31, 2010

Free Motion Quilt Along: Drawing and Words

Prior to the holiday whirlwind the quilt had just one square remaining. And it was looking little puffy. I didn't really intend to quilt the middle last. In fact, like most quilters, I generally quilt the middle first if I can, to avoid getting fullness that can turn to puckers when quilted. But somehow I had decided that the center square would be the perfect place to feature drawing and words. And then I decided that drawing and words should come at the end of the quilt along, without thinking of the implications of that decision. Ooops! This is just a little mistake though. Not a tragedy.


So to fill in this final square, you get to decide what to stitch. I'm doing drawing and writing. But if that doesn't interest you, maybe there's a pattern from earlier in the quilt along you'd like to try. Or a pattern from somewhere else. If you're stuck on what to stitch then you definitely need to visit Leah's Free Motion Quilting Project. I have trees on the brain so that's what I picked. I used my fabric pencil to make a rough sketch of the trunk and branch placement.


To avoid puckers I pinned the heck out of the square and left them in unless absolutely necessary to remove them. I started by stitching up one side of the trunk and then around each branch as I came to it. I added leaves as I went on the branch. When I got to the other side of the tree I filled in the trunk 


Then I picked some words to stitch. I started with "trust" in block letters. You can't really see it but I first marked a line with my fabric pencil to give a straight base to follow as I stitched the letters. I rolled the quilt up along the right side so I could unroll it to the left as I stitched.


Then I filled in the remaining open areas with a few other words I liked. 





And that's it! It's all quilted! I love how the word TRUST is legible even from far back. 


And I really came close to using up all my white thread. 



I was hoping to count this among my 2010 finishes. The binding is on at least!


Time to go party. Happy new year folks!

15 comments:

BubzRugz said...

Happy New Year.... it has been fun following the development of this quilt.... fmq is a definite for lots of practice this year for me ....
Hugz

Manda said...

What a great quilt! That tree is fantastic! Looks very realistic. I haven't been quilting along but I've been watching and I hope to have a go in 2011. Happy New Year!

9patchnurse said...

Hey that quilt looks awesome! I love getting ideas from Leah's website and I really like what you did with this quilting. The tree is perfect.

Dolly said...

What a wonderful tree !

I've gotten so far behind on my actual quiltalong quilt, but you know why ! You gave me the confidence to move on to the actual projects that I needed to get done this year !

You taught me so much........this quiltalong was the best learning experience I had this year, and will make 2010 stand out in a very positive way in my memory !

Thank you again, Christina.
Have the kind of new year that you gave to all of us........wonderful !

Pat said...

When I first saw your final block, I wondered if it would 'quilt out'. But I absolutely love how it turned out. What a great tree!

Anonymous said...

Awesome Quilting. I love the words.

bunbear said...

Happy New Year! Glad to see you have all the quilting done on this project. You did a great job and have inspired me to try new things.

Elsa said...

Happy New Year Christina! love the tree, you do such beautiful sewing! and the words, of course.
Say, I also wanted to congratulate you on being the new president of the PMQG!

Janet said...

I like the tree quilting. Happy New Year.

matate10 said...

Great job on your quilt along. I just discovered your blog a couple of weeks ago and haven't read it all yet but so far I love what you do. It's amazing how the puffy parts can quilt out, isn't it?

Janet said...

Your tree is awesome. I have fallen behind with my FMQ, but I plan to work on it now. Thanks for all your wonderful ideas and tips.

Kay Lynne said...

I've gotten a little behind with the holidays, but planning on finishing. Thank you so much for all the work and time that you spent helping us out. I really like the tree idea!

Diana said...

What a great finale to the quilt along! Your tree and words are inspiring! I've been catching up on FMQ. Thank you again for sharing all those super ideas and techniques with us. Happy New Year!

holly k said...

love your tree! really splendid! :)

Atelier Ullizee said...

The tree is beautiful, I want to learn that too!

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