September 28, 2017

Reference and Inspiration: the Wild Quilting Oopsie


Recently I went to teach a free-motion quilting class here in Portland at Modern Domestic. I got everything ready, stacked on my table. I grabbed my teaching bag. I left early so I would have plenty of time to set up...but when I got to class I realized all my quilted samples were.... back home on the table. That's the first time I've done that, so embarrassing! We still had a great class but I promised my students I would post photos on the blog of the samples I meant to bring, to be reference and inspiration.

So here we go, reference and inspiration for everyone!! These samples are from my class Wild Quilting which I also teach on Craftsy.

First up: Divide and Conquer. You divide up the space and then quilt in between the divisions. So many ways to do this!






Next: Showboats. See how putting dense quilting around less densely quilted motifs makes them pop? 




And now, Grouped Designs. Notice how I keep the edges of the different groups from being squared, in favor of more flowing edges



And now, how about Layered Designs? Each layer builds up or down from the previous one. 



Now think about Blends, different "recipes" for designs repeated over and over.



And what's so fun about these techniques is you can switch between them at any time, as you can see on these fusion samples!



Wild Quilting is fun and if you're wondering if you can do quilting like this the answer is YES you can! If you want to see me quilting these designs check out my class on Craftsy. I hope this has given you ideas for quilting you'd like to try. Happy stitching!

September 25, 2017

Topographic FMQ on Fresh Quilting

This quilting design just gets quilters excited. Every time I post it on Instagram I get comments and tutorial requests! Guess what? The rad folks at Fresh Quilting helped me shoot a great video of it! I'm so glad to share this with you.



It's got all that lovely texture from the repeating designs, but as you'll see in the video, it's a simple spiral, just made a little bumpy! I hope you have fun with this one.

Have you looked for Fresh Quilting on your cable network? Check out their listings and even watch Season 1 episodes (I'm in a couple of those too!!) over on their website.

September 23, 2017

Inset Circles for Wedge Rounds

I am so terribly in love with wedge rulers, guys. We've been spending a LOT of time together over the last year and we're going public with our relationship. 


I covered a bunch about wedges in my original wedge webinar that I did for the MQG, but one thing I didn't cover is how to finish the center of the wedge round with a pieced, rather than an appliquéd circle. See all those orange circles on the book cover? This technique is how I pieced them. I can't wait to show you more about this book, but for now if you click over to C & T Publishing's website you can see a preview of a few of the quilts! 

This is the inset piecing technique you may have seen by another name, Dale Fleming's "six minute circle". I took out one of her steps, and I made the directions specific to wedges in this tutorial but let it be known we are all better quilters now thanks to Dale's innovation!

You will need: 
  • Your finished wedge round
  • A square piece of fabric for the center of the round, about 1" to 2" wider than the open circle in your wedge round
  • A square piece of freezer paper, it should be about 4" or 5" wider than the open circle in your wedge round
  • Temporary (washable) fabric glue
  • pencil, scissors
  • a zipper foot for your sewing machine

1. Trace a circle onto the dull side of the freezer paper, in the center. The diameter of the circle should be 1/2" to 3/4" larger than the diameter of the open hole in the center of the wedge round. Trace around something round such as a bowl, cup or plate.
2. Using sharp scissors, carefully cut the circle out from the center, leaving the edges of the freezer paper intact.


3. Lay the wedge round to be finished right side down on your ironing surface, being sure it is lying flat and not distorted. Position the freezer paper shiny side down, aligned over the hole.
4. With the iron on a warm setting, press the freezer paper to the back of the pieced round. The warmth will cause the freezer paper to adhere until you pull it off.
5. Increase the iron heat to high and press the seam allowance of the inner circle to the back along the edge of the freezer paper template.


6. Apply a scant amount of temporary glue to the exposed side of the pressed-back seam allowance.


7. While the glue is wet, lay the center circle fabric face down over the hole and smooth it with your hand from the center outward, pressing the fabric over the glued seam allowance. Be sure the seam allowance is glued around the entire circle.



8. Allow the glue to dry, pressing to speed this process up if necessary.
9. Remove the freezer-paper template by peeling from a corner. Set it aside to be reused as it will usually stick for several uses.
10. Install a zipper foot on your sewing machine. Check that the machine is set to a straight stitch setting.
11. With the center circle fabric on the bottom, begin stitching right on the crease created by ironing back the seam allowance. Stitch around the entire circle, moving the wedge round out of the way as you go. Be careful to keep the center circle fabric from folding under itself as you go. 



12. Check that your circle looks right from the front. Trim away the excess seam allowance from the square of center circle fabric. Press the seam allowances toward or away from the center as desired.