Monday, April 25, 2016

Design Wall Monday - 4/25/16


DESIGN WALL MONDAY -
Check out all of us who link up with Judy L. -
At Patchwork Times on Mondays.
We have some awesome stuff on our walls!
Well, THEY do - ME - not so much sometimes - ;))
===



On my wall today -
Same as last week - ;))


I didn't get the backing made for this one yet -

But I did get some FMQ practice done - not much - but some - ;))

To warm up - I dug out an older practice piece from a previous dismal attempt to learn how to FMQ - and tried to follow a "stipple" stencil in the upper green/blue stripe - to see if it would help me with the rhythm of the wiggles - it didn't - YET - need more practice on that one for sure - then I tried a bit of "ribbon candy" below that in the darker green stripe and again in the maroon stripe -


And continued across the stripes with some spirals in the green/blue - and more "ribbon candy" below that -


I tried to follow another stencil with some "hearts and loops" - did some wavy lines - some more "ribbon candy" - and some more spirals going the "other" way - ;))


I turned the piece when I got to the last bit of "ribbon candy" so that I was sewing it vertically - and it seemed to be a little easier for me to get the curves a little smoother. I still need a LOT more practice - and I want to be able to sew FMQ designs in ALL different directions - but for now - some patterns are easier for me to do from left to right and others are easier to do from top to bottom - ;))


As a side note - BOB has to laugh at some so-called "LEFT-HANDED" FMQ designs. FMQ designs are not "handed". Just because a "RIGHT-handed" FMQ design is re-drawn to go from RIGHT to LEFT - that doesn't mean the new design is "LEFT-handed". It only means that you now have a "mirror image" - that goes from RIGHT to LEFT. If you think of FMQ like cursive handwriting - but with a sewing machine - needle - and thread - you can see that the direction of the writing doesn't depend on which HAND you're using - it depends on which LANGUAGE you're writing. I write in ENGLISH - and although I may use my LEFT hand to do it - I write from LEFT to RIGHT just like you do - just sayin' - ;))

===

After I warmed up - I went back to my FMQ "Essentials" practice piece and put some curved spirals in the left border sash (yellow) of the second row -


Some square (sort of) spirals in the next (orange) sash -


Some more curved spirals in the red sash -


And some "piano keys" with some echo lines in the right border sash (yellow) - ;))


About that time the thread kept catching and I had to unsew it a couple of times - even re-threading the machine didn't seem to help - it kept "catching" as if it was getting "hung up" on "something" that was invisible to me - and then I ran out of bobbin thread - DUH!! - ;))

NOTE TO SELF - Pay attention!! When the thread starts "catching" or ANYTHING AT ALL sounds or feels strange - STOP!! - Check and/or change the bobbin!! - That takes far less time than unsewing a bunch of teeny-tiny stitches - repeatedly - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -



4 comments:

Gene Black said...

Looking at old practice pieces really lets you see how much you have improved.

I have to laugh about the "thread catching on nothing" part. I have had that happen - so far my brain hasn't clicked that it means "check the bobbin" - but maybe now I will remember. (but those bobbins run out so fast when free motion quilting!)

Katie M. said...

Looking good! Question: When your FMQing do you watch your needle? Sometimes you get a smoother flow if you look a little ahead of where you're actually stitching. You will tend to 'move' toward where you're looking - just don't look too far ahead - you might sew a finger!!!!

A Left-Handed Quilter said...

You know - I think it starts to "hang up" when it gets to that last little bit on the bobbin - the part where I manually wind the thread around the bobbin to "start" it - and NOW it's a BIG RED FLAG - ;))

A Left-Handed Quilter said...

Thanks, Katie - NO, I don't watch the needle - it only goes up and down - haha - I watch a little bit ahead - like driving a car - you don't look at the hood of the car - you look down the road a little. I just need to work on the "rhythm" of the design. And I HAVE sewn over a finger when changing the needle and accidentally hitting the foot pedal - not fun - ;))

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...