September One Monthly Goal

Hi Quilting Friends,

My “One Monthly Goal” for September was to continue quilting “Holidays at Home”. I wrote about the goal in my August PHD update, but I neglected to link up with the goal-setting post, provided by “Stories from the Sewing Room”, at the start of the month. Oh well! I’ve met my “somewhat private goal” for September, so I’m calling it Ta-Done! Have a look at the completed quilt-

“Holidays at Home” was a kit, given to me by a friend. I wanted to become comfortable with additional free-motion quilting (FMQ) designs, so I took the opportunity to practice my moves as I worked on this quilt. It was SEW much fun! Here’s a list of the patterns that I included on my quilt-

• Straight outline/ echo
• Continuous curves
• Spirals, with and without a hook
• Fans
• Dot-to-dot, two different ways
• Feathered border
• Elongated spiral border
• Leaves border
• Woodgrain border
• Wishbone

There are many more FMQ designs that I want to try, eventually. I started with the easiest patterns, and tried the more challenging designs as I became more proficient at moving the quilt beneath my needle.

Observations-

1. Always buy thread in the largest available spool size. (Unfortunately, my thread was only available on a small spool, which led me to observation #2.)
2. Buy more thread than you think you’ll need. (I went back to the store 3 times for thread, and used up a total of 9 little spools! Luckily the store is near my home, so it was easy to get there.)
3. Don’t be afraid to try new (to you) FMQ designs. (I had SEW much fun with this project as I challenged myself to grow my repertoire of FMQ patterns!)
4. If a new sewing machine is in your future, pick one with a large throat space and a stitch regulator if you want to do FMQ on your projects. (Princess Nina, my Bernina 770QE handled this project with ease; I wouldn’t have even attempted it with Nina, my old Bernina 1540.)

Now that I’ve developed both skill and confidence by quilting “Holidays at Home”, I’ve started quilting the first blocks of my “Black and White Delight” from 2020. Yay!

Happy quilting,

Sharon

Stories from the Sewing Room September One Monthly Goal Finish Link Up