My quilting thoughts and inspirations sprinkled with a glimpse of life down on the farm

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

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,

17 comments:

  1. Hmmm. You said your results need more work to be more pleasing, however I am very impressed with your piece! I haven't seen the "expert" piece and I suppose you are comparing yourself to her. I am a firm believer that so many quilters feel they can FMQ, etc. but only because they don't try. I think you can get some surprisingly good results just by jumping in and giving it a whirl. Great job! PS: I got your nephew's PC already and blogged about it today.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oops, I meant to say that "so many quilters feel they CAN'T FMQ"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh I think your piece looks great Raewyn... Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good show! I didn't take on this challenge--it seemed too challenging! *LOL*
    I think you have done well. It looks pretty from where I sit! : )

    ReplyDelete
  5. It looks lovely! I didn't participate this year. The brain/hand thing is just confusing....grin.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh dear me! Raewyn this looks both wonderfull and very difficult to sew. Great challenge, it must have been .-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. hey looks great!
    Interesting technique, the 'doodling' first on one layer, then make a sandwich & quilt. Good chance to play with threads.

    ReplyDelete
  8. that looks great... an excellent challenge..
    Hugz

    ReplyDelete
  9. wow Raewyn you are so clever,well done.xx

    ReplyDelete
  10. Amazing. What a great job you did Raewyn. Looks like you learnt a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your challenge is amazing Raewyn. Good on you for pushing the boundaries

    ReplyDelete
  12. LOve your splat Raewyn - so clever and looks fun.
    Gorgeous work.
    Carole of Madness & Mess had a class on her blog for FMQ a while ago too!
    Hugs
    Shane

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Raewyn, I think it looks GREAT!! We are our own worst self critics arent we. I think you tackle amazing projects - even the names of them have me stumped most of the time. x0x

    ReplyDelete
  14. love your splat I am such a big fan of Libby`s, bought her book years ago and never tire of looking t it, in fact think I will go and search for it when I have posted this and have another browse.

    ReplyDelete
  15. That is one gorgeous 'splat' you have there. I love that you don't shy away from trying new techniques however difficult they look. Tell you what.. you always make a great job of them too. What will be your next challenge I wonder..... :o)

    ReplyDelete
  16. You did a great job Raewyn. Well done.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting and taking the time to leave a comment. I read and appreciate them all and try my best to reply. Have a great day!!
(If you are a no-reply or anonymous blogger and would like a response, please leave an email address.)