Grand Finale ~ 2012 Free Motion Quilt Challenge
It was December 2011 when I heard about the FMQChallenge from Cindy Needham, in her newsletter! Oh, Thank you Cindy, I have learned so much and had a blast in the challenge. It was so much fun to meet up with other women, and so many of them, that LOVE working with fibre, fabrics especially, and doing Free motion quilting.
The instructors were Fantastic, and they kept the assignments simple enough to do in a month, yet particular enough to be a real challenge! Learned so many tips and tricks from every single lesson.
The participants, all you ladies, were so great to meet, and your encouragement, well, always someone out there willing to encourage and help and I so much appreciate all your input. And your creativity, I do believe you knocked my socks off a few times :) What you would do with the lesson amazed me! I thank you for inspiring me on to trying new and different things.
Sew Cal, well, what can I say that I haven't said already. You have blessed me so much. You brought the world of FMQuilting and all these new friends from all over the world, into my hometown out in the country. I thank you dear one!
Godspeed, and Merry Christmas.... Following are my samples from each months challenges!
Mary Fanslau
January with Frances Moore
http://cantstopstitchin.blogspot.com/2012/01/2012-free-motion-quilt-challenge-and.html
Frances it was a delight to be introduced to you in the quilting world. Loved learning from you and your pattern was used in these Dick and jane cloth books I created for my grandsons. They travel with Mimi's quilting (thats me) when in the car and take them to bed for their own story times when drifting off to childhood sleep or to look upon when waking! Thank you Frances for helping me complete this very special project!
February with Diane Guadinsky
Feathers with Diane... oh - can it get better than that! Love all her books! I FMQ yardage of these feathers, and then created an appliance cover for my Stand Mixer which sits on my counter. Everyone gets to enjoy seeing the quilting and it did not require any wall or flat surface space :) Fun Fun Fun~
March with Ann Fahl
What a fun tutorial Ann! Thank you. These light and fluffy flowers are on a doll quilt for a baby girl... maybe one day I will wrap a granddaughter up in this one! It is completed and safely tucked away. I have to tell you so many people enjoyed seeing this doll quilt as it was on display as part of a quilt gallery at a state university here in New England. I was honored to have quite a few of these on display!
April with Don Linn
May with Leah Day
Leah is so much fun! Love her book! When I heard she was going to be an instructor on the FMQC one month, well, I new we were going to be in for a treat! Love the tracks Leah. We originally had one main line going through the track, however when I saw one of the FMQ participants added the second line, well it looked just like a train track, and with two grandsons, you know I am using this pattern a lot! The block on the left is soon to be a pillow that goes with a quilt (my first pieced sampler) I made years ago.... what I made with the leftover pieces.
June with Cindy Needham
Cindy Needham is the best and have ordered her Craftsy Class. I first was introduced to Cindy Needham FMQuilter of linens watching an episode of the Quilt Show. And immediately ordered her e books, until I could find her one paperback book that was sold out everywhere. I eventually found it for sale at a little quilt store here in New England, they had two copies, and I was so glad to help one of the other FMQ challenge participants access the other copy. I was so excited to work on my first linen, in the challenge. I had been collecting linens for years, but had not put one to thread until this challenge came along. Thanks Sew Cal, it gave me the added courage I needed to do it. To my delight, Cindy saw it, and not only encouraged me, she posted it on her blog :) What a HUGE joy that was for me to be able to share my little chair I sip tea from with all of you over the internet as I enjoy the view from my window!
July with Angela Walters
Loved learning from Angela and have ordered her Craftsy Class! She is such a great teacher of the modern quilting style and so generous in sharing her knowledge. I used the tile pattern learned in this quilt... I call it Picnic Racer. It is a picnic blanket that we can use inside our out when the grandsons come over. I have FMQ a few racecars that can travel up and down the assorted blocks that form a trac. lots of fun!
August with Wendy Sheppard
I enjoyed learning the Jester hat FMQ pattern, and found once I got the rhythm in my head I could do this pattern easily. I remember some of the gals on facebook struggling so with this one, so I wrote an idea about this pattern on the FMQ facebook page - that if you make a number 3 with a great big curve at the top part and the bottom part, and then make a backwards 3 going in another direction with like a 90 degree turn in the direction, it may help you get the rhythm... Love her blog !
September with Paula Reid
I enjoyed learning about the rubber hand holders from Paula while doing this pattern. I took out two of my foam stamps I recently had purchased for the grandsons, and they worked great for shifting the quilt under the FMQ foot. Some of the gals on facebook had a hard time knowing where to start and where to finish, so I wrote a tutorial and posted the link to my blog on the FMQ facebook page. I heard it helped a few of the gals get this pattern into their minds eye :) My finished quilt sample was the bottom of a round basket cover. First introduced to Paula watching her on the HGTV with Alex Anderson years ago.
October with Teri Lucas
Loved learning this months lesson and including words in one of our projects. This was the drawing I decided to put on fabric. So glad to have been introduced to this artist. What a talent!
November with Sarah Vedeler
Really enjoyed learning Sarahs' way of doing spirals. It was fun to follow her ideas on practice and applying that later to fabric. First met Sarah on TQS a while back, and now enjoying her instruction of this years BOM on the TQS.
December with Patsy Thompson
Love learning from Patsy and have her book Feathers Abound! I was so saddened to learn of her quilts being stolen and learned from her not to let lifes disappointments stop you from doing what you love. She has shared her talent with us again and again, and on this project helped me with one of the hardest things in FMQ , what to do with those borders, and how to come up with the pattern that will work! Terrific class Patsy. Thank you!
Thank you all for the 2012 Free Motion Quilt Challenge
Godspeed,
mary fanslau
