Splat sewing

aka 2013 FMQ Challenge #1
You may remember the Free Motion Quilting Challenge run by SewCalGal last year. I took part and had a lot of fun. There were different tutorials and challenges to complete each month. (See mine here.) It really pushed me out of my comfort zone, and above all, made certain that I practised and practised and practised some more. When SewCalGal said she was running a challenge again this year I was keen to sign up.

My FMQ Sampler from 2012

The challenge has been run differently this year. Rather than a monthly focus there has been a series of challenges published throughout the year with most of them having the completion date of October 31st.
(The exception to this was the AAQI Piece, where we were encouraged to make a quilt to donate to Alzheimer Quilts. Sadly, in spite of good intentions, this date passed me by and I missed the challenge completely.)

So what I have labelled as Splat sewing was the first challenge offered. Libby Lehman was a guest on The Quilt Show demonstrating her Threadplay quilting technique. This was shown free for a few months so everyone could watch it and have a play with her technique.

I cant say I am terribly impressed with my attempts at this technique.  However, I learnt a lot by doing this, as usual it was good practise and it also opened up my eyes to other possiblilties with free motion quilting. Libby's pieces are beautiful, but mine need a lot more work to achieve a 'pleasing effect'!
We start by drawing a 'splat' on our fabric and outlining it in thread... just on the top layer of fabric at this stage..
Then we scribble inside the shapes (you really do need to use a hoop for this to keep the single layer of fabric taut. It was the first time I had used a hoop and found it really helpful. When I did some postcards later on I pulled out the hoop again).

This did get a little tedious so I started doodling, then covered
the doodles up!

Then 'shade' one side of each shape with another coloured thread...more scribbling, just a narrow band this time. [My main scribbling was done with Invisafil threads (100 weight) and the shading was a Mettler Polysheen 40 weight.]
Now sandwich and quilt as desired (hehe), and ta-da it's done.

Here is my Splat!

Apart from keeping within the lines, few fmq skills are required so it is good for playing and getting the feel for your fmq-ing . As well as getting the width of the band right, I think the real success for this project would lie in choosing your threads and colours well. I think it is a technique you could incorporate within a quilt, eg if you needed a ribbon or similar twirling, shaded shapes.
To see some of the fabulous work done by others who have tried this technique click here and scroll down to the Mr Linky.
So thank you once again SewCalGal for opening up my eyes to another technique. I'll be back in a few days with another of the challenges!
Happy sewing everyone,