Practice, Practice, Practice

The Cowboy quilt is coming along... The quilting of the borders and sashing strips were fun and easy to do with FMQ vines and leaves.  The outlining of the cowboys went quickly as well.  

 The background area will have loops and twirls and each block will include a butterfly, bumble bee or dragonfly.  It was the suggestion of Dave and I loved it, though I was intimidated the the thought of actually making them LOOK like the creatures they are to be.

I pulled out a step-by-step FMQ "lesson" from a past issue of American Quilter and started envisioning in my head the motions that would make them up.  Dave does some engraving and knows how much practice can go into a piece and he was very supportive.

I showed him a set-up that Tish Stemple had shared on her blog do be able to do such practice on a piece of plastic with a dry-erase marker.  He quickly responded with "I can make you one of those with a couple blocks of wood and a piece of plexiglass."  Yay!

Despite having his own work that he should have been focusing on, he created a FMQ jig for me in one day!  What a guy!  I think I'll keep him. 💗

You can see that I started with tracing the design and as I feel comfortable, I will move on to doing it free-hand.  

The next step with be trying it out on the machine... if it turns out fairly decent I may make some mug rugs out of them. 

I remember being so afraid of FMQ!  I love it now, even if I do get a little intimidated now and then.  But the best way to grow and improve it to keep trying and push yourself, even if only a little bit... 

What quilting skill/s would you like to improve?  

When I first started quilting I joined a block of the month.  The blocks for the sampler quilt varied in difficulty and technique.  And while I felt I was proficient as a sewer, my 1/4" seams were off and I ended up with cut off points and wavy blocks.  I didn't give up though!  

I am hosting a new sew along ~ Pieces of the Santa Fe Trail ~ that will feature primarily simple and basic blocks, perfect for beginners. Patterns are released every three weeks along with an excerpt of the book "Land of Enchantment" which is a memoir of Marian Russell who traveled the Santa Fe Trail five times, the first when she was just 7 years old. The first block and story are both available on the Kit In The Korner post.  Details of the sew along are in the announcement post.  Just follow the highlighted links. 

I must go practice!  Don't forget to leave a comment...

Blessings,

Melva

Linking with:

Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Off The Wall Friday with Nina Marie

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More

Friday Foto Fun at Powered by Quilting

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework

Sunday Stash at QuiltPaintCreate

Patchwork & Quilts at The Quilting Patch

Scrap Happy Saturday at Super Scrappy

UFO Busting at Tish’s Wonderland