Good Morning, Quilters!
It’s a busy week here at The Inbox Jaunt! Tomorrow my new Craftsy video, Creating a Quilting Plan: Approaches for Any Quilt is released! Be sure to check in tomorrow for all the details!!!!
And today we have a giveaway!
I LOVE HOME BLOCK OF THE MONTH
Block 4 is available HERE from Jacquelynne Steves
Block Four is the final block. Next month we add borders and finishing touches!
While you are stitching the blocks, it is helpful to start planning how you will quilt different areas of the quilt. Each area of the quilt will need it’s own “quilting plan” including batting, thread and motifs.
WHICH MOTIFS TO CHOOSE?!
There are so many possible motifs to quilt, we need to narrow the focus.
One way to choose motifs is to stick to a theme.
For this quilt, I looked for motifs that fit our I Love Home theme like hearts and houses.
The Sweetheart Border and Row Houses are perfect for the borders. Find the Sweetheart Border HERE and the Row of Houses HERE
Both motifs can also be found in my book, Free Motion Machine Quilting 1-2-3 HERE on Etsy (Personalized, signed copies make great gifts!)
To test your motifs, use a vinyl sheet and a wet erase marker.
Read HERE for more tips on this method.
OLFA GIVEAWAY!
This month’s prize is from Olfa– a cutting mat, rotary cutter, and package of Endurance blades. Olfa mats come in a variety of sizes and I have used them for more than twenty years! Thank you, Olfa for transforming quilting with rotary blades and mats and for this fabulous giveaway!
To enter, please tell us YOUR biggest quilting challenge. Is it planning the quilting, choosing the motifs, picking the right thread…or is it something else? Leave a note in the comment section by the end of the day on November 9th.
***Please note that this giveaway is open to US winners only this time, due to shipping costs.
MORE CHANCES TO WIN
There are seven other quilters participating in the I LOVE HOME project. Be sure to see their blocks and enter their giveaways for more chances to win!
- The Crafty Quilter
- The Inbox Jaunt
- Designs by Sarah J
- Farmhouse Quilts
- Penguin and Fish
- Podunk Pretties
- The Quilting Nook
- The Sewing Loft
Good Luck!
Tomorrow: Turn YOUR UFOs into completed heirloom quilts with —Creating A Quilting Plan: Approaches for Any Quilt!
Happy Stitching,
Lori
PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt. For all other purposes, please contact me at lckennedy@hotmail.com. Thanks!
590 comments
Marsha
My free motion quilting has improved since I found your blog, your Craftsy class, and your book! Therefore, probably choosing a motif. I notice you use mainly solids and I seldom use solids, so maybe that’s what stumps me.
Laurie B
YUP Planning is the biggest challenge. I look at the quilt top and see too many possibilities, Then I look at all the choices of motif’s… AGHHHHH. What do I do first?
Marsha Bohannon
I find pacing myself to avoid back pain and aching fingers to be my greatest challenge. I could quilt all day, but I limit myself to an hour or two.
dale
Its too hard to choose… I have trouble with each step.. starting with choosing the pattern, fabric, cutting it out, sewing it together…and then which motif to use after getting it all together.!!
But I love your site it has opened new avenues of fun and excitement for me to be able to work through your simple to follow instructions for so many free motion designs..
thank you for showing me the way!… dale
Marcia Gilbreath
My biggest hurdle is free motion quilting! I tend to tense up as I am doing it, so that my neck and shoulders are achy afterward. I wish I could learn to relax while quilting!
Eleanor
My biggest challenge is just getting started on the quilting.
dawk2012
I agree with so many others. The hardest part for me is usually choosing the right motifs that go well with the piecing and that I am capable of doing well. I will often fall back on an all-over design because I simply must get a quilt completed. Afterwards, though it looks fine, I’m frequently disappointed that I didn’t FMQ as I really wanted to.
Cathy
I seem to get in a rut of doing the same designs and challenged myself this year to try new ones with each quilt I do, even those I do for friends. Challenge is building confidence when I practice on a white board to then move to the actual quilt. I need that extra nudge – once I start on the quilt I just have a great time and have fun. How to get past that initial uncertainty.
Becky Thomason
Deciding on a quilting plan for a quilt, especially on busy scrappy quilts. I love all your motifs but I just don’t do many quilts where these lovely motifs show up. I do love using the dizzy daisies all over.
Pat Evans
Deciding what to quilt where is my biggest challenge, but trying new motifs is a close second.
Elizabeth Kuntz
my biggest quilting challenge has always been accuracy. Accuracy in cutting and accuracy in sewing a perfect quarter seam allowance.
piecefuldays
I guess my biggest challenge is figuring out how to quilt given my very limited abilities. Thanks very much for the offer.
Kay
My biggest challenge is trying to finish one project before I start another one. Craftsy classes (and your blog) have given me the courage to try new techniques and not be afraid to step out into an unknown area of this sewing journey I enjoy!
Gail K.
Definitely deciding how to quilt,
Janet T
My biggest is finding the “right” design for the quilt. I look thru books, go online, find something, then don’t like it, do more searching… until it is months later and do “something” just to get it done, or put it away until I find the “perfect” design. I have a lot of tops-in-waiting.
Maureen
The hardest part for me is the quilting. I’m going to try big stitch quilting on my next quilt.
Carolee Herechski
Free motion quilting,
Betty
Usually I am afraid I will ruin my quilt, after all the hard work of piecing it, by putting the wrong kind of quilting on it. Struggling with the bulk of a large quilt can be a challenge for me also.
Patricia
Finishing a project instead of starting another one. I always have something else I want to get started on. So many tops that need borders or just quilting.
SUSAN MULVIHILL
My biggest challenge is MYSELF! I am terrible about second-guessing everything: the fabric, the layout, confusing patterns, you name it! Argh. But I would LOVE to win this package!
Linda
Trying to figure out how to quilt it
Beverly Baker
Selecting the fabric is always my biggest challenge; will I like the color combinations in the finished product?
Susan
The quilting is always my biggest challenge from what motifs to use to the thread that would be best.
shoshana
my sticky place is still basting… no matter what i try, i end up with folds on the back unless i’m VERY VERY careful.
Maria Elena Blecha
I love the piecing but the quilting itself is a big challenge for me. It was the binding but I got that down now!!!!! Thank you
Janice King
It seems planning how to quilt is my largest problem, also! Wanting just the right designs to reflect my thoughts and feelings about the quilt, then planning how they will flow just makes me cringe! And, yes, I’m studying your book, hoping it will build my confidence! Lol
Terry
My biggest challenge is deciding how to quilt the quilt. With busy prints, I feel like I’m wasting my time if you can’t see the thread, so I am always looking for simple large scale motifs.
spierssusan
FMQ! Is still very intimidating – and I fear the plunge!
Kristine T
The hardest part for is deciding on a motif. I love the piecing but get stuck once it’s on the frame.
Donna W
Planning the quilting is my biggest challenge.
Jen B
the quilting
Barbara McKenzie
My biggest challenge right now is actually following a pattern! I’ve always done “my own thing” – it’s worked for me for more or less 50 quilts. Now I’m working with a kit and I have to really follow the pattern – it’s testing my patience…..
Anne Chrobocinski
My biggest challenge is the quilting design.
Carol A Jensen
My biggest challenge is doing smooth free motion quilting while managing a large quilt on my domestic machine.
Denice
My BC is figuring out the design for the quilting. Sometimes it’s obvious, others I have to leave the top out for weeks until inspiration strikes.
Susan Stanton
My biggest challenge is what to quilt and where! I love FMQ, but it’s a challenge to get started! Your blog with your ideas really helps.
Evelyn Haupert
The hardest part for me is getting started! I love all aspects of my hobby except for the actual quilting. =) Thanks for a great giveaway!
Darlene B
I think planning the quilting is the most difficult for me. I want to expand my skills, but my full-time job gets in the way!
Julia
Getting started… picking fabric, design, overcoming that first cut into the fabric.
sunnysewsit
I have trouble with the basting of a large quilt, as someone said, getting everything lined up straight. (Not to mention trying to quilt a large quilt on a small domestic machine!)
koquilts
The biggest challenge is deciding what to quilt.
IreneKF
The hardest for me is choosing the motif and the thread color. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve unpicked my quilting because one or the other was just so wrong.
cheriec12
My biggest challenge is to find enough time to work on my projects. I much rather be quilting than going to work and doing chores.
Lorraine Doyno Evans
My biggest FMQ challenge is not being able to decide what to do. Will it look good; will it be too complicated once I get it going; which color thread…so I procrastinate instead and it becomes a UFO unless it has a gifting deadline.
Vivian Lewis
Deciding on how to quilt my quilt. I think your new Craftsy class will me very helpful.
Verna A.
I never seem to know how to quilt my quilts without ruining the look of the piecing. I loved the tip you gave recently about using the vinyl sheet and markers to try out designs before actually quilting them. I will be trying that as soon as I get to the store for supplies!
caltexgal
Yep, even with your wonderful book my hardest part is still the Quilting. Second hardest is making the back ( hard maybe isn’t the right word) the Quilting takes so much patience & finessing….I have to hand it to you, you make it look easy!
Amanda Cannady
My greatest challenge in finishing a quilt is: the quilting process. I have pieced a beautiful quilt for my daughter and son-in-law as a wedding present. It is an Irish Chain which is her choice of pattern and fabrics. Now, to quilt it. I am afraid that I will ruin it and it will look messy and incongruent. I wonder about issues such as: how to mark the quilt, how much marking should I do, should I ditch ‘every stinking seam’, how to plan the quilting. I have listened and watched several or more tutorials and classes and seem to get more confused rather than encourage that I can do this. The quilt is a metaphor for life – I need to get in there and do it and have no fear!
Susan Thomson
I have a quilt pieced and sandwiched (Queen size) ready to quilt. I am still learning how to do FMQ. Seems I can’t practice enough. I’ve been working on charity quilts for my local group that gives me a bit of confidence with different stitches but I still have a way to go.
Debbie Lohnes
My biggest challenge is overestimating what I can do. I almost always underestimate the time it will take to finish the top, the I overestimate my quilting abilities. It’s a process and I’m still learning!
jomala1951
Fear of machine quilting! So I always end up doing straight line or serpentine.
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