You have to stop practicing sometime and just quilt it!

I have been staring at, doodling about, and practice FMQing for the blocks for the Skill Builter BOM at Pile O'Fabrics for weeks.  Other people have posted their blocks on the Flickr group, but I was undecided how to quilt it.  Alyssa gave us a very nice example, but the background fabric was supposed to be stippling and I don't like the look of stippling in small spaces, usually.  At least MY stippling in small places!  So I practiced.  But tonight I decided to just do it.  I made some adjustments to my machine by changing out the bobbin holder to the "free motion bobbin holder" or "blue dot bobbin holder" for the lovely Janome 6600 that I own.  I changed from Isacord to Superior Magnifico thread, and I added a "Bobbin Genie" to the bobbin holder.  All of these made a huge difference in how my stitches looked.  Plus using more blending thread!

 Here is some of my practicing:

And here is the block:



Since it is called "Magnum", I wanted to FMQ a champagne bottle and glass, but it wouldn't show up on the fabric, so I went with something easier.

 

 

I have four blocks finished for the BOM (she gives us two each month and then the FMQ directions a week later), but this is the first one that I have completed. We are going to "quilt as you go" at the end. We were supposed to quilt out to the blue lines, but I want to do the QAYG method that doesn't involve hand sewing, so I am leaving the borders free at the moment.

 

WHAT I LEARNED: 

1.  When pressing, make SURE your seams are all opened before piecing.  The yellow strip had extra fabric at the edge and was difficult to quilt.

2.  No matter how un-round or not-on-the-line your pebbles are, when it is all finished, it looks great--as long as you use thin, matching thread.  It just looks like texture.

3.  Don't change your mind at the last second on the pattern you are going to quilt.  I did that with the dark black to follow the lines in the fabric and it turned out less than successful because it wasn't planned, or even thought out ahead of time.  It doesn't matter much because it doesn't show, but it might on the next one.

4.  Practicing may be fun, but it is very rewarding to free motion on an actual quilt. 

PROGRESS ON FINISH GOALS:
1.  design wall--I spent an hour in Home Depot today being sent from place to place looking for suitable nails for haning foam to the wall.  Finally a helpful person knew his nails and found the right size for me.  I hope to get it nailed to the wall tomorrow.

2.  I mailed off the baby quilt to my grandniece Lauren.  WooHoo!

3.  I bought backing and binding fabric for the baby quilt with the charm squares. 

4.  See above for progress on the Pile O'Fabrics BOM.

Finishing all four projects by April 1 doesn't seem so daunting now!  Having a blog sure helps motivate me to finish waht I said I wanted to finish.