Free Motion Mavericks - Week 32 - Rainbow Sunray

This is a refinish rather than a finish.  I made this sunray wall hanging three years ago, before I had plunged headlong into the joys of free motion quilting, and quilted it rather badly by hand.

Very badly, in fact.  Just for old times' sake, I left in the big bad hand quilting on the yellow sun.

On the turquoise border I did a pattern intended to look like billowing clouds.  I left the hand stitching in and machine quilted over it.  It was easy to unpick afterwards because it was just three lines of running stitch.  Doing free motion quilting in the border of a quilt that was already bound was a bit hair raising at times.  Even worse was snagging the beads a couple of times with the hopping foot. 

The sunrays are made of gauze ribbon, with a length of cord down the centre with beads worked over it.

I had loads of tiny beads, so it was a good way to add a bit of sparkle.

There were lots of different colours and sizes to choose from...

... and I came nowhere near using them all up.

These beads were strategically placed to cover messy bumpy bits where the ends of the cords were hidden under the seam.

This quilt drove me slightly nuts when I was making it, and irritated me no end when it was hanging on the sewing room wall because the quilting was so atrocious.  On Sunday I did the free motion quilting and now I'm pleased to see it looks much better after its second finish than it did after its first.  To celebrate its new lease of life it is now going to hang on the wall in my daughter's bedroom.

Here goes for week 32...

Firstly, a special mention for Quilt Musings, who linked up last week and earlier weeks, who is the first person to link up from Macau!

Also, many thanks to Carole, Hilary, Judy, Gwyned, Teresa, Angie, Dora, and Linda for linking up last time.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  .
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France and Macau have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up with Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday