Catching up/year end 2014

The day job keeps me so busy. Traveling is fun, the job is too (most days!). But blogging has taken a back seat to Instagram (follow me: kheliwud). BUT as this is my way of journaling my exploits, here is a catch-up since the last post:

I quilted for hire (3 for this lady, a sweet friend of mine!)

This is also for a dear friend, May Chappell, and this quilt went to Quilt Market (more photos and read about it here) in Houston!:

I made a Brickyard by Bearhug Quiltworks 

(great pattern, goes really fast, designed by yet another awesome friend!)

 I made a leglamp pillow for my son (matches one of his tattoos), from this source

Lunch bags from this awesome tutorial

Made 6 sew together bags (4 shown here)

Did some low-water immersion dyeing

Hosted a private FMQ class (and had so much fun with these ladies!)

Did some Christmas presents form this tutorial (May Chappell ROCKS!)

Joined this mini quilt swap:

 

And quilted the TMQG QuiltCon 2015 quilt:

I am off until Jan 2, so more sewing is happening! 

I hope you have been enjoying a wonderful Holiday Season and I hope all the best for you, and for Peace on Earth in 2015!

Don't forget to check out my Free Motion Tips tab. Feel free to email any FMQ questions as well, I love to help!

I'm still here...

Just bogged down by the day job! Traveling for work bites into my quilting time, but I have gotten a bit done this weekend:

A piece that is going into a shop next month, more to come!

In other news, I have a busy teaching schedule in the coming months.

April 6 - Fearless Free-Motion at Papananas in King
April 27 - Fearless Free-Motion at Sewingly Yours in Lewisville
May 4 - Fearless Free-Motion at Carolina Quilt Market in Mocksville

I am quite excited to share Free-motion quilting with more new friends! I have other classes scheduled for May and June and will share those soon. 

the ides of March

I had an AMAZING group of students in my Fearless Free-Motion class yesterday. What a fun way to spend National/International/Universal Quilting Day. Spreading the love of quilting!

In other news; I have been practicing my feather FMQ:

And I bought some fabric:

And the day job is really intense. I am traveling this week so I will miss my TMQG meeting. Bummer.

Wrapping up the 2012 FMQ Challenge

The Sewcalgal 2012 FMQ Challenge has been an amazing learning experience, produced by a remarkable blogger, sewcalgal!

She coordinated wonderful experts and awesome prizes all throughout the year. This experience has been like having a private lesson with FMQ experts each month! Sewcalgal introduced me to new FMQ heroes: Frances Moore, Donn Linn, Teri Lucas, Cindy Needham, Paula Reid, and Sarah Vedeler. She also provided new lessons from already favorites Diane Gaudinski, Ann Fahl, Leah Day, Angela Walters, Wendy Sheppard and Patsy Thompson.  There were also bonus tutorials offered by Susan Brubaker Knapp, Diane Loomis, Linda Moran as well as Teri Lucas. Each month there were also prizes awarded, I won in September, a DVD from Paula Reid, AWESOME!

 My 12 samples

Pledging to complete the challenge/lesson each month was a great motivator to improve my skills. I was challenged to step away from "my" style and try other methods and I am so grateful! My FMQ has gotten better, and I have gained confidence, as well as learning more ways to mark quilts, new stitch designs and receiving hints and tips for better quilting. 
I was also introduced to the other quilters participating in this challenge and have met great blog friends (who are amazing quilters! I am speaking to you, Quiltskipper!)

 Artsy perspective shot

To finish up the year, (and to be eligible for a Grand Prize!) we were challenged to show all our samples created, and it was suggested that we could create a sampler quilt with our 12 FMQ samples. I have seen several of these from other participants and they are wonderful.

Glamorous layout

Still, I know how I like to work, so instead of sewing them all together, I created 10" square samples for each month on plain muslin or solid light fabric and serged the edges. I wrote on each sample the month and expert to have an instant reference.

Closeup

This way, I can pull out each sample when I need inspiration on what to FMQ on a quilt. I am also reminded of the expert and can look them up online for even more inspiration!  I have created similar samples of different battings, it makes a great tool I can use.

Many of the tutorials are still available, so if you want to improve your FMQ skills with amazing experts, check out sewcalgal! Be sure to check out the links of the participating quilters as well, great reference and eye candy.

December FMQ Challenge

The December FMQ expert is Patsy Thompson and she shared ideas and methods for designing FMQ borders, as well as showing how to stitch a gorgeous feather border. I followed instructions and sketched:

Then I prepared a sample quilt sandwich for stitching, marking a border area with my black Frixion pen and the center lines with my orange Frixion pen.

As I was watching her video, I made a momentous discovery: she stitched her feathers upside-down from how I had been trying to stitch mine! I turned my fabric around and gave it a try, and I was amazed at how much better my feather-petals looked!

I continued stitching as instructed, and I am so pleased at my feather border!

GREAT instruction and demonstration!

I even added some of the "hyper-quilting" to see how it would look.

An amazing lesson to wrap up the year!

March Free Motion Challenge

I sort of feel like I am cheating on this month's Free Motion Challenge. I am a fan of this month's teacher, Ann Fahl, and have a well-used copy of her book, Dancing with Thread (it is one of my very favorite books on free-motion quilting) . I also believe the way my free-motion quilting has developed is much like hers. I have really enjoyed this challenge!

Ann provided a great tutorial covering her method for basting, quilting, keeping a sketchbook and various threads. She really encourages experimentation with thread and stresses the need for practice. 

I read through the lesson, announced my retreat to my studio, and sat down to play!

I warmed up with a scrap quilt sandwich, then moved on to the exercise.

I love the loops, swirls and free-form motifs. This was just what I needed to relax tonight.

I used muslin fabric, 18" x 22" with wool batting and YLI variegated top thread and bobbin thread. This free-form stitching makes me smile :o).

Thank you, Ann Fahl and thank you, sewcalgal for a fabulous tutorial!

Flimsy done

Don't you just hate sneak previews?

Hehe!

Got my "Radiant Star" top done. Just need backing and then I can quilt it! This is big, a full 108" square for my king bed.

I constructed the center star using Eleanor Burns' Radiant Star Quilts book/pattern. The borders are my own design. This is for me and my hubs!

In other news:
I taught my Free Motion Beginners Class on Saturday. I had 8 FANTASTIC students! This may have been my best class ever! Everyone's machines were humming along and everyone had smiles on their faces. I even got hugs! I changed up the class a bit, covering a lot of info before I had everyone sew. We had tons of excellent questions and everyone was engaged. Really a great day!

New Class Sample

September always heralds "Back to School" and at the LQS, that means a new schedule of classes. I have been teaching FMQ, a beginner and advanced for about 18 months now. I really feel good about my Beginner level class. I take the time to talk about needles, threads, battings, basting, setting up the machine and sewing space, as well as introducing great accessories to make it more fun, and maybe a little less intimidating.

I have made several samples to use, but I get tired of looking at the same old stuff, so I cranked out a new class sample:

I used polyester thread on the top and cotton on the bottom so my students can compare the two.

I have a BIG announcement coming up, and once that is in the rear view mirror, I am going to make a large, densely quilted sample to hang in the shop.

So many quilts to make, so little time!

Great Class!

I teach FMQ* at my LQS once each month. Last year was all beginner, and this year, I have developed an advanced level class. Yesterday was the first of my advanced class. 

I had 4 super, sweet and talented quilters, and we had such fun! We chatted about family, fabric, machines, oil prices. If only the world leaders were quilters, (sigh).

These ladies inspire me so, they all do absolutely beautiful work and I am humbled by their attention! And fearlessness, they will try anything!

All of them do such wonderful work. They do not seem to realize that for them, I am less of a teacher, but more of a coach. And I learn so much from them!

Thank you so much Phyllis, Connie, Linda and Marjorie! You made my Saturday so great!

*FMQ = Free Motion Quilting

Classwork

This year I am teaching 2 levels of Free-motion quilting. A beginner's class, in which I go over needles, thread, tension, feet, and then practice moving the fabric. My local quilt shop asked me to add an advanced class where I teach specific stitch methods. So, I came up with this drawing.

And this sampler.

Any thoughts?

A little Marketing mojo

I have put this hand-out together for the agent's open house tomorrow. Not too bad, eh?

On the quilting front, I have revised my lesson for my Free-motion class. I think this is going to be the best yet!