Giveaway Winner and Quilting

The really cool thing about hosting the Blog2Print giveaway... ah, besides the fact that the prize is so great... is that I already knew almost everyone who entered! I follow most of your blogs, and I count you as friends. The bad part is, "I wanted everyone to win!" But the good part is, "I'm happy one of my friends won."

She's an Aussie who lives in South Australia. Yay Emma! Emma blogs at Sampaguitaquilts, and if you don't already read her posts, you should. She's a young mum of two, and an extremely talented free-motion quilter. She recently switched to quilting on a Bernina 820 and has shared her views about that. Boy, you should see the stuff she quilts!

I follow the blogs of several free-motion quilters whose information helps me with my own free motion quilting. That's what I've been doing lately: quilting.

After reading my friend Karen's FMQ post showing her favorite go-to quilting design, I adapted it for my Disappearing Four-Patch quilt. (Click the "Nine Quilty Tutorials" tab for my Disappearing Four-Patch Tutorial.)

I began quilting the design by making a large comma, circling in and back out. Then I feathered around the comma. And finally I echoed the feathers once (sometimes twice) before moving on to quilt the next comma.

On the back.

These "feather flowers" show up best on a tone-on-tone portion of the pieced backing.

On the front, the design is so busy that the all over quilting doesn't show up very well. I'm glad I didn't spend more time on it, as I completed it in two days.

I'm hand-sewing down binding now.

Mentioning binding makes me want to comment about some younger quilters who are posting about how quickly they can stipple quilt a quilt, and machine sew binding with invisible thread. Well, I'm all for it if you're in a big hurry because your quilt is needed elsewhere.

For me, in recent years, making quilts has become more about developing skill sets and enjoying the process.

An aside: I can quantify my own quiltmaking efforts by telling you that I recently inventoried all my quilted items - quilts, wallhangings, table runners, and pillows. The number totals 114 items... in my possession. That doesn't count the dozens of pieces I've given away. 

When I spend time free-motion quilting, I'm learning how to manipulate the fabrics, try different designs and methods for marking designs, and work with my sewing machine's temperment. FMQing increases my appreciation for the efforts made by quilters who take time to quilt their best - by machine and by hand. And hand sewn binding? Well that's quite relaxing. I make this observation for myself and from observing quilters who sew quilts as a group effort. It's everyone's favorite part! And who can deny that a hand-sewn binding just looks nice?

I'll leave this topic with my point: Making quilts isn't about who can make the most quilts the fastest. It's the adventure and pleasure in the process.

Hmm, I bet you've heard that before. Well, I needed to hear it again. Linda

P.S. I have entered a pillow into Quilting Gallery's weekly online quilt show. You can vote for five pillows and I'd appreciate one vote for mine: "All About Selvages." Thanks!