Quiltingboard Forums - “They Went That Way” made into a king size all FMQ on my DSM!

A while back Sheryl Till, Quilting Tizzy, offered to her blog followers to help out with a pattern. I turned it into a king size for my bed. I now know why you all love your long arm machines. It took forever to quilt this on my DSM. My quilting is not smooth and my stitches are not regular. However, this quilt was a learning experience and an adventure in FMQ. One thing is for sure, this quilt will wear out before it comes apart. The miles of stitching on this quilt astounds me!

Being new to FMQ and not wanting the quilt top to look like a disaster, most of the thread matches the fabric, thus, it’s not obvious what all the quilting is. So……(quilt police please do not look) I used matching thread on the back most of it can be seen clearly, and yes, it was intentional. I can also see the bird’s nests, skipped stitches, backtracking, wobbling, etc. Regardless, I am so happy I did all this and am even happier that it is done! (I heard letting your quilting show on the back is a no-no.)

The back is a BIG arrow block from the main design. Just enlarged it, then made it bigger.

Just so you know, the quilt pattern ended at the second red border. I added the rest which makes the quilt measure 101 x 103.5.

Because I am not a fan of yellow, and everyone says a little yellow helps a quilt top pop, yellow squares are the center of the directional arrows. I think it looks great. The center focus fabrics are detailed by outlining the birds and bird houses. If you look at the picture with the red border, you can see stars connected by squiggly lines. The green triangles beside it are quilted with vines and leaves. The red diamonds are quilted with poinsettias. You can’t see the detail unless you turn the quilt over. The blue around the diamonds have large holly leaves quilted into them. The inside border of birdhouses is micro-stippled so the birdhouses stand out. The rest of the open spaces are filled with turning designs.

This work would not have happened without the Quilt Board. Lots of inspiration here. Anyone would agree that Charisma’s pictures are great and she shows lots of close up pics with beautiful detail. I’d also like to mention the confidence provided by Patsy Thompson’s FMQ videos, Leah Day’s FMQ tutorials, and LuAnn Kessi’s blog and her constant sharing of sketches. Yes, I bought myself a sketch book and practiced the quilting designs until I got them right. The first quilting I did on this quilt was the loopy loops around the focus blocks. It looks the worst. But, I think I got better and better.

I took a picture of the snowmen fabric on the back. This fabric belongs to my late mother. My brother gave me the fabric she had left, which wasn't much. I am happy to had included it into this quilt.

http://quiltingtizzy.wordpress.com/
http://www.patsythompsondesigns.com/free-video/
http://www.daystyledesigns.com/365project.htm
http://luannkessi.blogspot.com/

If I didn’t have people walking around my house, I would use this quilt as a centerpiece rug for my family room. My quilt inspector agrees! No wonder pets love to cuddle on our quilts. We’ve touched every centimeter of them!

If you took the time to read this mini essay, thank you.