I got my new Kenmore about a week ago and I was practicing FMQ by drawing straight lines on a quilt I need to finish up. I wanted to try an applique pattern I got in the mail, and not having done applique before, I did a lot of research on the methods. I settled on the back basting method:

http://www.allaboutapplique.net/2008...hand-applique/

It was actually very easy to do! I can't wait to give a larger project a try. Once I finished the applique I decided to try some FMQ other than lines. It came out quite atrocious, but from far away, you really can't tell. Practice makes perfect right? :)

That is so cute. I think you did just fine.

Looks like you have a great start to FMQ. Keep up the good work!

I think you did great. I hope mine turns out as good, I didn't researched, I just jumped in an started sewing. Wished i had started on a small thing first, my UFO will be lapqt when finished. I guess you learn by mistake to. you are already ahead of me.

I think you did great!! Hope mine turns out that good!! lol. :-D :-D

Nice job on both the applique and the FMQ. :thumbup:

That back basting technique looks really interesting. I'll have to give it a try. I have only done machine applique, so it will be my first try at needle turn. Thanks for the link, and your little practice piece is really nice.

Thanks for the compliments!! It was fun to do, and even though it's not too great looking, I learned a lot!! I have it on my Halloween wall now. :) :)

jhjack: The back basting was great!! I used it even for the small pieces on the top of the jar and it worked so great. I think I tried (and failed miserably) doing the needle turn with freezer paper on top method, but found this so so much easier. I haven't tried machine, but read an interesting article that showed that the time difference isn't really all that much once you do the math. Here's the article:

http://www.allaboutapplique.net/2009...ed-experiment/

And she even said back basting was even faster than the method she used for the comparison! Plus once you add in time to change thread colors in the machine, the machine time goes up too. This project went a lot faster than I thought it would and the great thing is that it is also portable.

Rachel

Much better than I could have done. I have been practicing FMQ for weeks now, even took a couple of classes that came to naught.

Good job! I think your free motion is great.