Learning to FMQ

I just finished the free motion quilting on January’s blocks of the Skill Builder BOM.  I think the stipple turned out really well.  I need to work on the circles, though.Goodness, those circles are sad–I tired to fix them by going in to do some little circles but that made them look even more pathetic.  Oh well, it’s a learning process right?  I am very excited about my stipple though–I can actually say I know how to do a little FMQ now.  WooHoo!

Just so we all know I was cursing my machine last week because it started out great on my practice blocks and then 2 blocks in, I was getting all kinds of loops on the front and the back and eyelashes on every curve (which are kind of cool if you can control them, that’s the rub, you can’t).Now I can move on to February’s blocks.  I also need to do a baby quilt by next month and I just got this insane idea that I should make a quilt for my mother-in-law’s birthday 2 weeks from now…maybe  or perhaps just a table runner.  Does anyone have  any good ideas for the little 2.5 Moda candy squares? (other than scrappy trip along–not that I don’t like those but I would rather do that from strips)  I bought 3 packs b/c they are so CUTE and the right price…

Paper piecing rockstar..er, at least working on it

So this weekend, I decided to tackle that Schoenrock cross so that I could at least make one for the QAL that Leila from Where the Orchids Grow is hosting.  I listened to most of Lesson 1 on my Strip Paper Piecing class with Peggy Martin on Craftsy and instead of easing into paper piecing with the Polka Dot Twist block, I felt I was ready to tackle the Schoenrock Cross.  I always like a challenge.  It didn’t go too bad.  It took me about 6 hours but I did have to rip the seams out of 4 of the triangles (one twice).  Admittedly, it wasn’t too wise for me to use fabric that should be fussy cut because I didn’t get those little girls and foxes completely in any of the strips and my birds that I did fussy cut were an afterthought (you may notice they aren’t centered either).  That aside, I’m happy with how it turned out for my first attempt.

Sadly, I was hoping that I would be able to do 9 blocks of this and make a baby quilt but I don’t think my 1/2 yard cuts of Walk in the Woods is going to stretch that far if I have to worry about where I cut my strips.  So it looks like I will just be doing a some type of strip quilt/simple block design for the baby quilt and using some other fabric for more Schoenrock Cross blocks.  Here is my finished block:

My Schoenrock Cross

Isn’t that white embroidered dot cool?  I love it in the block–my machine however did not; since I don’t have a way to lessen the pressure on my presser foot, I was lifting it up every time I sewed over one of the embroidered dots (sigh, just another reason that I need a new sewing machine).  One day…..Anyhow, you should definitely go to the Flickr group that is set up for the Schoenrock QAL -there are some amazing blocks over there–beautiful use of fabric.

So I think I have conquered my fear of paper piecing; now I just have to get over my fear of wasting fabric.  I can see where the strip piecing probably saves on fabric as opposed to traditional paper piecing but I still ended up with a lot of odd shaped triangles (that I am saving but I don’t know that they are useable for something sewn).

Incidentally, the Craftsy class on paper piecing by Peggy Martin is awesome–I bought it during the pre-Christmas sale and it has 6 different paper-pieced quilt lessons in it.