Quilting To The Moon and Back
We have had this panel layered and pinned on our island for a few days. I read a suggestion by Pat Sloan that you should try practicing free motion quilting on panels. Ideally five, and then finish off the panels and give them away. I do plan on doing that in the near future, but thought I might start with this cutie. It’s called Love You to the Moon and Back.
Moon Panel
I was looking for some inspiration on how to quilt it. We had picked this panel up for Baby J once it was confirmed that ‘we’ were pregnant. This is going to be for Grandma Janice (or Grandma Sissy in our mind). She actually gave her approval earlier this week, and suggested quilting around all the big shapes:
Moon Stars and Elephant
When Sissy suggested that, it did click in my head. Yeeeeeesssssss. I could quilt around the big shapes like the elephant, the moon and the stars. Even the sheep could be outlined:
Perhaps I could try some circular free motion quilting inside the sheep outline? Those little circles are almost begging to be outlined or something . . . don’t you think?
I’ll keep you posted how this little project turns out. It hasn’t even made it on the weekly to-do list yet because I just wasn’t feeling it as far as quilting. Now that I have been mulling it over for a few days, I’m anxious to get at it! One last shot – here is the pretty Guttermann thread I think I’m going to use for outlining:
So, I would LOVE to hear your suggestions and thoughts on this. Half of me wants to just go for it – jump into free motion quilting and not look back. But the other half says this is for the baby – you want it to be more perfect than not – you’ll see it for a long time, so do you really want to be reminded of all the mistakes?! I see I forgot to take a picture of the backing fabric . . . so I will really HAVE to give you an update so you can see how cute it is!
Our Linky Parties page shows our quilting friends’ websites – see what they’re up to. Like/follow us on our Facebook page and share your current project. We would love to see them. Thank you!
If you are new to quilting, I would suggest you hop over the Lori Kennedy’s site, The Inbox Jaunt. She has a billion tutorials and tips for free motion quilting. I have learned so much from her.
Hi Bernie,
Thank you for the tip! I will check out that website. I am absolutely new to the whole arena of quilting on the machine. ~smile~ Roseanne
I practised FMQ on dolls’ quilts. I haven’t been game enough to try on a real quilt, yet. Echo quilting around the shapes is going to look great. A super cute panel.
Hi Pam! That is a great idea, practicing on doll quilts. Maybe the new baby will be a girl, and we’ll need to make tons of them! I was just about to get started . . . I’ve been dragging my feet, but it’s time to just jump in. It’s only a quilt! Thanks so much for your sweet comments and visit. ~smile~ Roseanne
Oh, that is going to be so cute and circles on the sheep will be great with the outlining of everything else. I am looking forward to seeing the progress on this one.
Hi Peggy – I’m a little scared about those circles . . . but I’ll give it a try. I think Ellen’s point about matching thread though makes a LOT of sense. ~smile~ Roseanne
You’ll do great and I agree with Ellen…but I am a chicken to have my stitches show too much. Yours will look great no matter what thread you choose.
Aww, Peggy – you are sweet and more confident than I. HAHA
Super cute panel! Love it! You are way more ambitious than I am, I usually do a grid lol.
Hi Pam! I love doing grids! They are in my comfort zone . . . but I’m trying to step out of that a bit. ~smile~ Roseanne
I would suggest using a matching thread rather than a high contrast thread. Any mistakes will be much less noticeable that way. Also echoing a few times around the shapes makes them pop. Some quilting inside the shapes is needed just to keep the batting stable. Have fun with it!
Hi Ellen,
Thanks so much for the suggestions! I appreciate it – I love the echo idea, and I know I can actually DO that. ~smile~ Roseanne