My work in progress

I have cut into my halloween stash and love the craziness of it all!
Normally I get in the halloween mood too late to make a quilt, but this year, it struck earlier. And it is fun!

August FMQ Challenge

This month's FMQ expert for sewcalgal's 2012 Free-Motion Quilting Challenge was Wendy Sheppard of Ivory Spring. I have been a fan of Wendy's work for quite a while. She is an awesome quilter and it was a delight to get her insights.

Wendy shared a stitch design she calls "Jester's Hat". It is a neat little half-swirl combination.

I sketched it out several times.

Then I moved to the machine to stitch.

 I marked a couple of places as I tried this design out.

It was a bit harder than it looks. I had trouble finding a rhythm. Then I checked out the blogs of other quilters taking part in this challenge and found ideas that really helped.

That is one of the great things about this challenge. Not only are we all learning from some incredible teachers, we are learning from each other!  It really feels like a FMQ community, and that is great.

Monolith, a masculine quilt

My next completion is "Monolith"

This quilt measures 51" by 62".
The prints are from the "Parson Gray" line. I was drawn to these by the masculine feel and the muted, sophisticated colors. I had them together with a light color of the collection, but it just felt too "matched". I liked it, but didn't love it. Then I saw the 3 yd cut of gray/blue batik blender and they all played so nicely together.

I started by sewing half-square triangles. I wanted to keep the quilt more masculine in feel, but modern. Or maybe the word I am searching for is "contemporary". Anyway, the off-set setting of the blocks just worked. It shows off the prints, and left these wide swaths for quilting.

My FMQ stitch design is arc-ed triangle-ish shapes. I think it looks like primitive carving.
The backing is a cute gray on gray dot.

Quilting away...

In an effort to relax, I retreat to my sweatshop/studio for some fabric therapy.
I have 2 completions to show for it.

First up is a wall hanging I am calling "Chroma".

I was inspired by a similar wall hanging by a friend. And I needed to use some of my forlorn scraps.

It measures 24" by 39".

My FMQ was inspired by Angela Walters, and the wish for stitches a bit more Mid-century Modern in feel.

Gratuitous shot of my gorgeous son holding said quilt.

Not bloggin' still quiltin'

As my workplace has again become full of stress and uncertainty, I have dove into my studio as often as possible to relax. No new quilt to show, but a work in process.
And i would greatly appreciate any positive vibes you can send my way as I wait to find out who my mew boss will be (and if she will keep me).