Free Motion Mavericks - Week 68 - Best Seen From The Back

Cushion covers are fairly quick to make as presents, and I have got half the quilting done on a cover I started earlier this week.  This is the backing, calico, and the dark brown bobbin thread shows up well in today's poor light.  The front is wide bands of different shades of brown, and the poor old camera just can't cope with it.  Likewise, when sewing, I am having a bit of difficulty seeing where I am going.  I am trying out different threads, using one shade for the main part of the leaves and another for the serrations all round them.  This means I am going back and forth along the stems twice.  It doesn't look too bad from a distance...

... but when looking closely you can see that the stems have four lines of stitching, which is a bit scruffy.  This leafs looks particularly slapdash where it joins the stem...

...but on the right side the slightly scribbly bits hardly show up.  I suppose that if I can't see where I am going off course it follows that the wobbles won't show up too badly.

As well as working in poor light (blame the rain), the calico is stiffer than the usual stuff I buy.  It was so loaded with stiffener that it smelt of wallpaper paste, so rather than just adding water and using it to decorate an alcove, I washed it.

Not that you would think so, seeing this.  This is what you get when your work creeps round the back of the machine and has a brief skirmish with the treadle belt.  It is nothing drastic, it will come off easily enough, but it is on the inside and a shade of brown to match.  If it weren't a present I would probably leave it.

Here goes for week 68...

The project in Week 67 that really caught my eye was Gwyned's Deconstructed Sunrise - version 3!  She has put together a winning combination of subtle colours with a sunray free motion quilting design.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more photos.

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 the 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 to Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday.