Sunday, February 10, 2019

Project Quilting 10.3 - Bigger Than a Breadbox

I found this week's theme for Project Quilting very difficult -- Bigger Than a Breadbox.  The only requirement was that it had to be 9 x 17 inches or larger.  Oh my...where to start??  The possibilities were endless, but I had no idea what to do.

About mid week, I thought about making a tote bag -- it's functional, and I'd get some use of it.  I'm trying to get quilts out of my house, and I have no need for yet another mini.  My plan was to make the tote bag on Saturday, but I was not excited or motivated by the thought of making it.  So I procrastinated and worked on another project.

Time was running out.  I finally decided on a simple strip quilt where I could practice my free-motion quilting.  I sewed together ten 2.5-inch strips from my binding scrap box.  The motifs are a combination of ones that I'm comfortable with and new ones.  The challenge was fitting the motifs into the narrow 2-inch strip and trying new motifs.


First row - a mix of stipple and loops
Second row - wishbones
Third row - stars and loops
Fourth row - flowers and loops
Fifth row - boxy stipple


Sixth row - small and large elongated loops
Seventh row - square stipple (but don't make a box)
Eighth row - triangle stipple
Ninth row - sparkler/snowflake motif that I borrowed from Leanne @ Devoted Quilter
Tenth row - spirals


So now I have a 20 x 20 inch visual to help me decide on what quilting motif to use on quilts and to show me where I need to improve.

As much as I hate to "waste" supplies, this was a good exercise.  I will definitely make a larger piece in the future and practice again.





12 comments:

  1. I think having the visual to look at for quilting motifs will be a nice tool!

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  2. What a great practice piece! And pretty as well!
    Happy Quilting! :-)
    quiltinggail

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  3. Great motifs. I need to practice more. In a rush, I default to straight Line.

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  4. Great visual! My favorite is the red strip with the cute flower and loop de loop. What's yours?

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  5. Great idea! I have a sketch book from the dollar store where I try out ideas, but I like how yours are in one place.

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  6. What a great opportunity for practicting FMQ motifs, plus it will be a wonderful reference for when you are stuck on how to quilt future quilt tops!

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  7. This was a great idea for practicing FMQ! You did a really good job!

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  8. This was a great piece to practice your quilting motifs Anja!
    It is very inspiring ..... I’d like to make one too, this would definitely find a home on my sewing room wall as a great aide memoir (ooooh, I’m sure you don’t need an aide memoir, just saying I would ...... oops I’d better stop now! Tee hee!)
    I love it and the colours!
    Barbara x😊

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  9. Great idea for practicing FMQ designs. It's a much prettier way to do it than my usual plain quilt sandwiches that never become a finished piece.

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  10. i love this so much! i love that you used this challenge to practice free motion quilting and you're not afraid of it! This is absolutely the most perfect place to do that!

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  11. The title makes me snicker. (Because sometimes I'm a twelve year old boy ��) Smart to make an actual reference for your quilting!

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  12. Hi Anja, I'm just going through your Project Quilting posts. Great projects! This one will be practical and let's face it, the more we practice our FMQ the better we get!

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