Monday, December 15, 2014

Keep It Simple Make It Fun #33 and Easy Bow Threadpath

Well, I don't have much to share with you from my own personal quilting adventures this week--all I have done are customer quilts.  A year ago I read that unless you have a customer's approval, it is considered a copyright violation to post pictures of their projects on a blog--so no pictures from me this week, folks.

But...there were so many great projects linked up from last week that I chose 3!!!  Remember, you get a free PDF pattern from me if your project is chosen.

First, check out this beautiful wall-hanging from Jen at Jen's Crafts and Quilt Scrapbook.  She combined black thread on the applique and FMQ to create a sketchpad look.  What a clever idea!




Next to show is Emily's quilt from Katherine at Adventures in a Crafting Life.  I adore baby quilts and it was very clever to incorporate the baby's name in the quilt.





And last--but certainly not least--the type of plan we all need to get through our holiday sewing projects.  The MandM quilting theory by Val with Val's Quilting Studio.  This is so ("sew") much fun!  I need to do it.  Also, another fabulous quilt shared on her post as well.

FYI, all of my BROWN ones would be eaten first!!! LOL--What color would be gone out of your bag?




Just curious, when I started KISMIF, I shared a free-motion quilting (FMQ) thread-path every week.  Does anyone still want me to share those?  Does anyone want me to create them as a PDF to download?  If so, what kind?  Print and tape pantograph?  Just a FMQ how-to to apply to your custom quilting (which is what I initially created these for)?  I just don't want to do something no one finds useful.  Sometimes I don't know what my readers like.

Here is how to FMQ a bow: 

To practice these ideas, get a dry-erase board and a marker.  If you're using a long-arm machine, grab the marker in your fist vertically and repeatedly sketch out the motifs without lifting up the pen or doing starts and stops.  If you're using a domestic machine, have someone else grab that marker and you move the dry-erase board under the pen.  In no time, you'll have it down!

 First, start with learning how to do a basic clam shell.

Wait?  How can that turn into a bow?  On this diagram, the yellow star is the start point, the blue star is the repeat point and the green star is the exit or place to travel to the next motif.

1-Loop in
2-Start clamshell
3-Echo out
4-Repeat clamshell on other side
5-Echo out
6-Excit the motif and do your choice of back-fill over to the next bow (loop the loops or meander), or repeat another bow to create a bow border.  (Say "bow border" 10 times fast!  LOL)

Little bow

Big present bow.  This has 5 clam-shells around it instead of two.


Now, it's your turn to enter.  What have you worked on this week?  Keep It Simple and Make It Fun (KISMIF).




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