Two Finishes for Project Linus - an FMQ Journey

Awhile back, I promised to share real pictures of my May Finish.  But more exciting to me is that I got 26 blocks out of my WIP pile. 

Most of the blocks were from several rounds of the 3x6 bee. I love the way they all look together.

They say the only way you will improve at anything is to practice, so I did a different motif from Angela Walters' Free Motion Quilting in each block.  I love that book.  Her instructions are super easy to follow, if maybe not so easy for me to execute.  Something about hand-eye coordination, and the disconnect between my brain and my muscles.

I decided on this block that I don't like pebble quilting any more than I did the first time.  But I do like the texture when it is finished.

I kind of wish that Angela would come out with a practice book like we used to practice penmanship when I was in school (I understand they don't teach cursive in school any more, let alone penmanship!  What's up with that?)  Then you could really do as she suggests and practice the designs with a pencil over and over and over...

I did the yellow quilt before I did Krista's quilt as a practice quilt so I would get at least a little better at FMQ.  It really doesn't come naturally to me at all.

This block is far from perfect, but it ended up being one of my favorites.  I tried 3 different motifs in this block.  I really love how it turned out.

I think I just got tired and did stipple quilting in this block.  Never a bad choice, right?

These were bee blocks, which have a tendency to vary in size, so I sashed all the way around each block to even them up.  I ended up trimming to 15", so each block finished at 14-1/2" square.

I tried paisleys on this block.  I really love paisley anything, and this motif was very fun to do.  I obviously need to work on the size consistency of my paisleys though.

 I used another stripe fabric from my Stripes That Bind bundle for the binding from my favorite fabric shop.  I think it looks like it was made for this quilt.

 In her book, Angela talks about not getting stuck in a corner, and that wasn't really my problem.  It was more that I would finish the block and find that I had left a whole big area unquilted, so I need to work on how to get around the quilt more logically.

I really love that these blocks are all so different, but coordinate with each other so well.  This one is more seafoam than aqua, but it still works perfectly.  And the yellow in this block blends so well with the sashing.

I pieced the back together from the two extra blocks and some leftover yardage.  I really like that blue swirl.  Despite its faults, I am fairly pleased with how it turned out.

The second aqua/red quilt is my ALOYF finish for June.  I sashed this one in aqua.  I like how it gives it such a different feel.

For this quilt, I decided I wanted to improve my swirls, as they are such a basic part of FMQ, so I did swirls in all 12 blocks.

 I hope my swirls improved over the course of quilting 12 blocks.

 Still pretty rough, I think.

 I used a different motif in all of the sashings in this quilt.  I like the wood grain.  Not polished, but really fun.

 Wavy lines in between some of the blocks.

 I tried pulleys up this one side (and then covered half of them up with the binding).  I think here they look a little like safety pins.

 These swirls are far from perfection, but I will keep practicing.

 The figure 8's were really fun too.

 These swirls might be {a little} better?

 The triangles were fun, but it took me awhile to get the hang of it.  The first dozen or more were backwards. 

 The wavy lines were harder than they look.  I never did get the hang of keeping them even, so I decided to just let 'er rip and have fun with them.  I really like the texture.

And stripey binding again.  This one was from my stash.

 This fabric was some that Krista gave me that her mom's friend's family had given her.  She brought it home to Arizona from Seattle in a Coleman Cooler, so we call it Cooler fabric.  LOL  This was a pretty large piece, although not quite wide enough so I added a couple of coordinating pieces to make it work.

The print reminds me a bit of Tarzan, or John Steinbeck's The Pearl.  In any case, I think it will make it boy-appropriate.  The ECMQG is participating in a large quilt request from Project Linus.  They specifically asked for gender neutral or even numbers of boy and girl quilts.  They are specifically to go to Camp Corral, a local camp for military children who have a parent who is deployed, wounded or fallen. 

I really had fun quilting these quilts, and perhaps I made a little progress in the FMQ department.  In any event, though, I hope they will keep a child warm, and perhaps let them know that someone cares.  These men and women have given great service to our country, and as always, it is often the children who suffer most.

With a husband who served 23 years in the military, a good bit of it in combat, I often think, "There but for the grace of God go I."

A Gift of Love

Now that Krista has received her gift, I can share it here.  A few months ago, Krista contacted some of her friends about making blocks for her chemo quilt.  She chose the Reverse Rainbow pattern from Kat (Diary of a Flutter.Kat), slightly ironic to me because I was in the original bee that Kat created this pattern for.

Anyway, of course I told Krista that I would be delighted to make her a couple of blocks and that I would be glad to make the quilt for her also.

I'm not really sure who made which block, to be honest.  I made the red one.

Here's dark pink...

And light pink....  I quilted each block individually, sampler style, using patterns from Angela Walters book.  Do you think if I practice enough I'll eventually get proficient at this FMQ thing?

I quilted feathers and leaves in the orange...

I love the way the colors in the blocks blend from one to the next in this quilt.

Wonky diamonds in the lime green

Flowers in the regular green.

I did the aqua block too.  I tried to use the most fun fabrics I had since I'm sure chemo isn't any fun at all.

I like the dark blue.  This is the first block I quilted.  These swirls are kind of scary, I think.  They surely need work.  {Melissa did this block.}

I tried a clamshell pattern in the lavender block.

I tried the herringbone pattern in the dark purple.  That circle print reminds me of bananas. LOL  And the one next to it reminds me of trees in the forest at dawn.

Dolores made this rainbow block.  She used lots of fun prints in it and made the star twice as big as the others.  It was perfect for a little interest on the back.

I actually remembered to put a label on this quilt.  Amazing.  (Sorry the pic is so blurry - note to self:  look at the photos before you pack up the quilt and send it off.)

And here's the overall pic of the back of the quilt.

I hope Krista will feel the love her friends poured into this quilt as she snuggles up in it as she goes through this experience.  Even more, I hope the chemo is successful.

As I was quilting these beautiful blocks, I couldn't help but think of the covenant the Lord made with Noah (Genesis, chapter 9):

"And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.  And God said to Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth." 

And I thought how comforting it is that the Lord is on our side.  He will be with Krista throughout this experience.

Please keep Krista and her family in your prayers at this difficult time.