Friendship Quilt

I decided to design a whole cloth the size of Express Your Love and incorporate the techniques that Leah is teaching. The graffiti lettering was fun, but challenging. It still lacks texture around the lettering. (Tomorrow!) This size (42x36) is really great because it is larger than any of the other pieces I have free motion quilted. I am in the process of piecing a twin-sized quilt as well as a queen-sized quilt so I can get used to quilting progressively larger pieces. I can't wait to see what Leah is going to show us this coming week!

#12 Quilt Along - My UFO - Closing In!

I have been quietly, and randomly following Leah Day's 2012 Quilt Along, doing projects whenever I have been able to find time. I just completed the microstippling on the wholecloth sampler. Now all I have to do is soak it, block it, and blind it. So far, this has been my favorite project. So much so, that I have designed my own wholecloth project to work on during 2013. I hope I can keep up with all of Leah's postings on a weekly basis in 2013. Free motion quilting is so much fun!

Quilt Along - #30

Before I retired, I dreamed of the day when I could wander into my sewing room and spend hours at my sewing machine. For the first two years of retirement too many distractions kept me from that. Finally last May I decided that the time had come to make that dream come true. I was inspired by quilts at a shop that were quilted by free motion and really wanted to learn that skill. I searched the internet and found Leah Day! I was totally fascinated with her free motion  designs and was incredibly excited when I discovered that she offers free lessons. The downside was that I was five months behind and soon we would be moving 1500 miles away to live in the mountains. (Another distraction!) I found bits of time to work on the early lessons; practicing stippling, working on straight lines, traveling, etc. Now I have more time to devote to this great project so, hopefully, I can catch up.
 

Practice Squares - Trying to perfect my traveling skills (so I can do the outlining on Quilt Along #11-the wholecloth wall hanging) as well as learn Paisley.

I pieced this quilt a couple of years ago and never knew what to do with it. Now each square will have a different design. I wish I had done the Paisley a little larger, as it is pretty dense. Oh well!