Free Motion QAL - Final Linky Party!

This probably feels like the QAL that went on and on (and on and on), but the time has come for our final linky party! Thanks so much to all of you who quilted along - I hope you found the video tutorials helpful, and have had lots of fun along the way :o)

Although most of you have been making a Giant Chevron quilt for this QAL, anyone who has used my free motion quilting tutorials to quilt something is welcome to link up. I'll be leaving the linky open for two weeks, so you have plenty of time to finish up your quilt and still have time to link up. I can't wait to see your quilts!

We have an amazing prize donated by Aurifil for the QAL - this beautiful box of 50wt thread. Aurifil is absolutely my thread of choice for piecing and quilting, so for those of you who haven't tried it it is a brilliant chance to try it out. Thanks so much to Alex (aka Mr Aurifil) for donating this prize :o)

Please link up a blog post, IG photo or Flickr photo here. It would be wonderful if you could check out some of the other finishes and leave some comment love, too!

Free Motion QAL - Quilting the Negative Space

Today I'm going to be giving you a few ideas for how you could tackle the negative space on your Giant Chevron quilt. Sorry this post is a week late (although I'm sure you're used to my slackness by now!!) - I've been very busy finishing off a giant secret project over the last couple of weeks. 

I haven't actually decided how I'm going to finish my quilt off yet - but I've done a few sketches to show you some ways you might decide to quilt the negative space. I think this is a really great pattern to play with quilting negative space - there isn't so much that it is overwhelming, but there is enough room there to have a play with some large scale FMQ if that's what you choose to do. 

Regardless of what you think you might like to do in the background, I would suggest printing out the colouring page at the back of the pattern (page 14 if you're making the lap size quilt) and doing some sketching. If I'm unsure about how I want to quilt an area, I always do this and have a play with different ideas. It's a good way to figure out whether something is going to work or not without having to unpick dodgy quilting, and you might find an idea you hadn't thought of.  

1. Straight Line Quilting 

I think quilting straight lines in the negative space would give a really nice contrast to all the FMQ in the coloured stripes. You could do horizontal lines, vertical lines, or lines that follow the zig zag pattern in the stripes - any of these options would look really great. Because there are seams through the background areas, you could use these as a guide to quilting too - which would make it a good way to try out FMQing straight lines. 

With my first Giant Chevron quilt, I straight line quilted the whole quilt, following the chevron pattern. In the background, I alternated 1" spaced lines with 1/4" spaced lines and it gave the background a really great corduroy-like texture. 

2. Creating more chevrons in the background

Another thing you could do is alternate different quilting designs through the negative space to create more chevron lines. I've alternated straight lines with curvy designs in this example, but you could do lots of different things. You could repeat some of the designs you've already quilted, or choose completely new designs (Leah Day has some fabulous designs and tutorials if you need some ideas). 

3. An all-over quilting design

Another option would be to quilt an all-over design in the background. It could be a good space to try graffiti-style quilting (as in the bottom part of the sketch), and combine some of the designs you've used in the coloured stripes. Or you could do a straight-line based design to contrast with the quilting in the stripes. I really like the lines with circles idea - I'm thinking that's the kind of thing I'll do at this stage!

The options are pretty much endless - but hopefully these sketches have given you a few ideas for how you might like to approach it. 

I'll be back with another post (on blocking and binding) after the holidays - probably in the first week of January. Have fun deciding on how you'll tackle the negative space :o)

xx Jess

Free Motion QAL - Feathers

Welcome to the final FMQ tutorial in the Free Motion QAL! This week I'm demonstrating how I quilt feathers. Feathers are fun and fast, and fill spaces on your quilt really quickly so they are a great addition to your FMQ arsenal. You can check out my video here. 

 As always I welcome your feedback - and I've set the camera at a wider angle for this one so I'm especially interested to hear your thoughts on how useful it is. I've had several requests for a video showing my quilting set up, so I hope to do that early next year.

I would like to apologise for the very sporadic nature of this QAL - I have learnt that I shouldn't commit to these things and have a set time line, as I seem unable to stick to them. So many things have come up over the time I've been running this QAL and it's meant I haven't stuck to my original schedule at all. I know many of you aren't phased by the relaxed pace but if it's annoyed you I am very sorry.

I will be back next week with some ideas of how you could tackle the negative space on this quilt, so that if you're planning on finishing as a gift before the end of the year you'll have time to get it done. The final linky party won't be until the end of January though, so you have plenty of time to get quilting!


xx Jess

Free Motion QAL - Piecing Your Quilt Top

Welcome to the second week in the Free Motion QAL! I hope you all enjoyed the excellent FMQ advice offered by Jen, Pat and Renee last week, and are really pumped to get started :o) Even if you're not participating in the QAL, it is well worth reading through each of the advice posts (here, here and here) - there are SO many tips and tricks offered by these ladies. 

One other thing I need to mention is that I may need you to be a little patient with me over the next couple of months of the QAL. My partner has a slipped disc in his neck, and will be having surgery next week (with six weeks recovery) - so I'm pretty stressed out at the moment, and I can't guarantee I will be able to get all of the posts up according to the schedule. I will try my best to get all the posts up on time, but please bear with me if they are a little late sometimes.

So, this week I will be talking very briefly about putting your quilt top together. There isn't much I can add that isn't included in the pattern - but I would suggest making use of the colouring sheet included in the pattern to decide on the layout of your five coloured stripes. I am giving everyone two weeks to get the quilt top together, and then I'll be back in two weeks to talk about basting your quilt. 

This is my in-progress quilt up on the design wall - I am having an absolute ball putting this together. I know I've mentioned it before, but the Cotton Couture I'm using is an absolute dream to sew with - the hand is incredibly soft and I'm anticipating it will be amazing fabric to quilt.

This is a very quick and simple top to put together - the hardest part is making sure you don't mess up the order of each row. I tend to tackle each row separately - so I sew each row together, put it back up on the design wall before dealing with the next one. I know some people can chain piece all their rows at the same time and get everything right - but I've learnt from experience I'm not one of these people. So to avoid ripping more seams than I sew, I play it safe and do it one row at a time :o) 

It's taken me a while to get organised, but I've started a Flickr group for the QAL - so please feel free to share your progress (and questions) over there. Starting with the next QAL post, I will be adding a linky party to each post, so you can share your progress here as well. If you are on Instagram, please use the hashtag #freemotionqal. 

xx Jess