Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Free Motion Challenge - Day 2

I was reviewing my Dianne Gaudynski book last evening and there was a lovely spray of not-so wonky, but not perfectly symmetrical feathers in the book. So for today's practice piece I'm using that as my inspiration.
This morning I made a long practice sandwich (10" x 24") out of some scrappy fabric. I want to feel comfortable being able to do a continuous set of feathers. Don't mind the spiders...I hate to use good fabric for these pieces.

This piece is quite long and I only spent a half an hour on it, but I'm pleased with it. I'm sure it'll take 3 days of practice time to finish it. And probably a fourth or 5th day to do some all over fillers after the feathers are done. Today I learned about broken threads and that I can actually recover from them quite well. Also part of this lesson is - Don't use cheap thread!

There is a special little technique to have the feathers split directions. That was a light bulb moment for me. And I find the spine of my feathers quite thick and light, but I can live with it for now.

I'll be FMQing every day, but I think I'll just post about my day 3, 4 on Thursday or Friday since we have an exciting post tomorrow. Hint: Grace models her new party dress.

Sew, did you do any FMQ today?

4 comments:

Donna's chitchat said...

Well, my FMQ for the day was more like FMK... with a few fast moving kids... One little one came running into my office, down my hallway, to MY bathroom, all the while chanting... I have to pee I have to pee...

Geesh!

Joanne said...

FMQing looks great. I love that Diane Gaudynski book, she has lots of great ideas.

Mary Johnson said...

Nice job! Threadiness is one of my issues with quilting like this too. I know a very thin thread is recommended but in general I like to use a thread with a little more weight.

Joan said...

I have obviously missed soem posts - sorry...I would like to know some more about how you split your feathers?? I like them :)