Good Morning, Quilters! Welcome to all the new quilters who have joined us and to all our long-time friends!
We have almost 5000 followers of The Inbox Jaunt…That’s a lot of quilt experience in one place!
Today we have a new Free Motion Quilt Tutorial: Pebbles!
But first…
STITCH REGULATORS
Last Friday, we had a very interesting conversation about Stitch Regulators. (As SewCalGal points out–the stitch regulators on long arm machines are different than on domestic sewing machines…) Some people LOVE them, some of us do not…
The “Take Home” Message:
- Find what works for YOU…
- Stitch Regulators are not perfect–they will not solve all your FMQ issues. YOU still need to practice, practice, practice…
- You CAN get even stitches without a regulator–so if it’s not in the budget right now…forge ahead and learn FMQ anyway.
THE HUMBLE CIRCLE
For the last several weeks we have been using the Humble Circle to create several lovely free motion quilt motifs.
If you have been working through each of the previous tutorials, Pebbles will be easier.
First, we learned to stitch clockwise and counter-clockwise circles by stitching:
Next, we used Dots and Dashes to create The Race Car:
Then we stitched the String of Pearls. This tutorial worked on circles of different sizes, spaced closely together…
All of these skills lead up to Pebbles!
PEBBLES-The Free Motion Quilt Tutorial
Pebbles are a background fill pattern and do not require any “rails”. They look great in any (maybe every?) quilt!
I love how Pebbles look when tucked into other background fills. Every so often just add a small area of Pebbles.
I rarely fill an entire area with Pebbles…I think they lose their effectiveness…and for ME–they require a high level of concentration.
(See the Tea Cups Quilt in the post, When You’re Not Quilting…)
(See Eight Steps to Free Motion Quilting Applique)
BEGIN STITCHING
Begin stitching just like The String of Pearls...
Get in the rhythm of clockwise, counter-clockwise…
Instead of stitching 1-1/2 times around each circle, stop at any point to begin another circle…
This may be 1 and 1/4 revolutions or it may be 1-7/8 revolutions and anywhere in between…
Keep adding circles of different sizes…
Unlike other motifs, circles look great with over-stitching–stitching over a previous line of stitching.
Use Pebbles to outline any shape…or create a shape–using negative space and Pebbles…
For another look, stitch a normal Pebble, and then add a spiral into the center of it and stitch back on the spiral to the edge of the Pebble to continue to the next circle…
This has a “Bubble” effect and is quite fun!
Pebbles can be varied by add The Wind or Waves among the Pebbles.
Isn’t that fun?!
I thought we were finished with The Humble Circle…
But some new flowers have been appearing in my doodles…Developing…
May your stitches be happy this week!
Lori
PS…This tutorial was stitched on my domestic sewing machine, a Bernina 150 without a stitch regulator, on Robert Kaufman Kona cotton with Aurifil 50 wt cotton in the bobbin and Sulky 40 wt Rayon on top with a Universal 90 Schmetz needle.
PS…All tutorials, information and images are the property of Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to share with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt. For all other purposes, please contact me at lckennedy@hotmail.com. Thanks!
