Free Motion Challenge - Susan

This month at SewCalGal
Free Motion Challenge - we have a bonus tutorial by
Susan Brubaker Knapp! I have been following Susan's
blog Blue Moon River
for quite some time. Please visit her blog - one of my favorite
pieces that Susan did is "Friso" (the cat)! Stunning work!
She is also a Facebook friend.
You may also be familiar with her work in Quilting Arts Magazine.

Our challenge is to take some photos in Macro
mode (no problem here) and then print and
trace the obvious lines onto cloth. This will
be our original quilting design! I love this idea!

Looking through my photos; I can't decide which
0ne to use first. I want something simple as this
will be a "test".
I chose the mushrooms:


One day after it rained; I walked around the
garden with my camera and spotted some
very unusual fungi. I had never seen this
type before and they were very tiny. I also
found a couple of unusual slugs - slightly
pink in color and also very tiny.




This is the little group of mushrooms that I decided to use
for my project.





As the color is very light; I had difficulty finding the lines.
(my light box is in storage and I used the sliding glass
doors to trace the photo)

I thought that maybe it would be easier to trace
if I turned the photo into a black and white. Which
I did in photoshop.




This was a little easier to trace.

I used a washable pen to trace the design on one
of my hand dyed fabrics.


This is my first attempt. I didn't like the variegated thread
on this fabric. The design kinda gets lost if you stand
a distance away.


For test #2 - I used the same fabric but with black thread...


First of all - I think that the black thread shows more
of your mistakes. The second thing is - (-: I tried to
imitate the mulch and it didn't translate too well
into stitch.

So I tried using a lighter fabric and again the
black thread... test #3You can see more clearly where I back tracked using
the black thread. Also my mushrooms look like flowers!

I will still use this design - I need to get my lightbox!

This is a very fun project! Thanks Susan!

I will probably add more during the month!

Free Motion Challenge - Wendy Sheppard

This month's Free Motion expert is Wendy Sheppard.
I have been following Wendy's blog - Ivory Spring
for quite awhile. Her quilting and quilts are wonderful!


Wendy's lesson for this month (August) is "Jester's Hat" ....

I found this motif is very difficult for me. Maybe I don't
use the left side of my brain enough - don't know...(-:



Drawn on paper first....haha still kept getting lost.


On my first try - I started at the bottom and just repeated
the pattern on top of one another before I spread out -
just to get the hang of it. Well, I got so frustrated - I
just started doing scribbles! Let it go - come back tomorrow!



Next day: A little bit better....

I would start to get the rhythm but then I would get lost again.

Do I go up - down - or turn around.

I have three other practice samples but I won't bore you (-:


So, Wendy made a suggestion of making the motif larger
and then imagining sections -


did that and it was much better. (I think)


I didn't even try the more "cultured" hat motif as I wanted to
master the original first.

My plan is to still work on this motif and master it.


Thank you Wendy!

Free hand Feathers

This month for the Free Motion Challenge
we have Diane Gaudynski!


The Free Motion Challenge is hosted by SewCalGal. This is
not a competition or an on-line class; it's simply for us
participants to sharpen our skills or learn new techniques or just
practice on our own. So, if you are so inclined come on
down and join us!

I have free motioned feathers before but always
by marking them on fabric first. I wanted to try
the free hand feathers as Diane demonstrates.

I don't have to tell you that it's not as easy
as Diane makes it look! Or maybe you already
know that.

I only marked the spine and put the sandwich
under the needle - OMG It's hard!
Even after practicing sketching first - over and
over again.

Anyway here's my first try and I can't believe
that I'm posting it!



(o: It doesn't look too bad this little does it?





Oh okay, here's my first try:


OMG it's horrid!


I'm not one to be discouraged too easily so
I try and try.





Some improvement with practice!

and

practice



I tried using some variegated thread on my
hand dyed fabric.


Close-up I can really see an improvement.
The hardest part for me is echoing back down
the spine. It makes me feel that I'm going the
wrong way on a one way street.


I'm using hand dyed fabric that didn't turn
out the way that I wanted it. I can see
that my backtracking is still bad!

More practice (it's going to take a lot I can tell)

And finally this is my last piece. I can
definitely see an improvement!

I need much more practice but I love
the look of feathers so I'll go on. Free
hand feathers is very difficult at first
but I'm getting the hang of it.

Thank you Diane! And SewCalGal!