Sweet on you challenge blog hop

 

Today is my day on the Sweet on you blog hop.  Joan at Moosestashquilting.com, put this hop together.   So glad I am able to join in on this.   We were to create something that we are sweet on.   So, I am sharing this quilt that I just recently finished quilting.  I still need to bind it.   But, what I love about it is all the feathers I quilted on it.

I love quilting feathers.   When I first started quilting, feathers were one thing I wanted to master.   I practiced, practiced and practiced some more.  Eventually I got to the point that I felt good about my feathers.   One of the things that has really helped me to quilt my feathers is sketching them.   

Here are the other bloggers this week.   They all have something great to share so go visit their blogs. 

Monday Feb 20

MooseStashQuilting

Karrin's Crazy World

Quilted Delights

Selina Quilts

Sew Cute and Quirky

Days Filled With Joy

Scrapdash

 

Tuesday Feb 21

Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Creatin' in the Sticks

Quilt Schmilt

Ms P Designs USA

The Crafty Grammie

Vroomans Quilts

Words and Stitches

 

Wednesday Feb 22

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Quilting Gail

Just Because Quilts

Bea Quilter

SameliasMum

Kathy's Kwilts and More

Lynns Blog

 

Thursday Feb 23

Just Let Me Quilt

crazy'boutquilts

Quiltery-For the Love of Geese

Pinker n' Punkin Quilting & Stitching

Inflorescence

Purring Cottage

Just a final note, please leave a comment.  I will try to respond but I am having trouble getting blogger to work right.  It tells me I need to sign in, even when I am.   

The Christmas Quilt

 This was a fun quilt to do.   My friend had made this quilt and I fell in love with it.   It was a free pattern from  Wilmington Prints for a fabric line called "Cookie Jar Treats".   Unfortunately the pattern is no longer available.

This quilt is a table cover, of course you can put it on a sofa if you prefer. 

To quilt this quilt I used glide thread 40 weight in white  by habanddash.com.   my friend Judi at www.greenfairyquilts.com has put together a collection of great neutrals of glide thread. 

I free motion quilted this quilt.  I did feathers in the borders. 

I tried to do poinsettias in the red corners.   They are not perfect, but they worked.

 In the snowball blocks just did holly leaves.  I learned to do the holly leaves from www.lorikennedyquilts.com

And on the 9 patches I did wishbone and diamonds.  The diamonds were done using a technique called dot to dot quilting.  Both of these I learned from Angela Walters @www.quiltingismytherapy.com.

To do the binding I did a double fold binding.   I cut my binding strips at 2 1/4" wide, the folded it in half and stitched it to the front of the quilt.  Then I fold it to the back and stitch it by hand.   The binding wad a great project to do while we were on a road trip. (I have a habit of falling asleep if I don't have something to keep my hands busy.)

This week I am linking up with the following link parties:

thank Goodness its finished Friday (TGIFF) hosted by www.anjaquilts.blogspot.com

Finished or not Friday @ www.alyciaquilts.blogspot.com
Needle and Thread Thursday www.myquiltinfatuation.com
Brag about your beauties www.frombolttobeauty.blogspot.com
Can I get a whoop whoop confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com
Weight loss Wednesday www.inquiringquilter.com
UFO busting @Tish's Adventures in Wonderland www.tishnwonderland.com

How I get ready to do free motion quilting

Today I thought I would share what I do to prepare for free motion quilting.

When I am working on a quilt, I will take time to look up ideas on how I might want to quilt it.  Usually I find ideas on Pinterest.
When I was getting ready to start this Christmas quilt, I knew I wanted Holly leaves.

  So I started looking at tutorials on how to do them.   I used 2 different ones.  One is www.lorikennedyquilts.com, just look in the menu and find motifs.  She has lots of ideas.  The other is Tracy at https://www.whirlsnswirlsquilting.ca/.  She also has a you tube channel so you can search that. 

Once I decide on the design then I have to practice it.  So, I take a sketch book or blank paper and practice drawing the design.  This aids in muscle memory.   I don't erase my mistakes, I just keep practicing.

Holly leaves practice

Leaf practice for the fancy fox quilt

The next thing I do, is practice on scrap fabric.  I always keep a scrap quilt sandwich by my machine.   Then when I have a few minutes I practice.

This is my practice swatch.   I just use it until I can't anymore. 

  When I feel confident I start quilting on my quilt.  Even with the practice it still doesn't always look perfect.  But the more I do it, the more confident I feel.

The back side of the fox quilt

So where do I get my ideas?  I use books I have.

 And I go to Pinterest.  I have quite a board saved of quilting designs that I want to try.   One of my goals for next year is to take the ideas and practice them.  I am aiming for 2 a month.  I will practice drawing them, then practice on scraps and then put them on the quilt.