Free Motion Mavericks - Week 379 - Ivy

Design ideas sometimes elude me. Why have I never thought of quilting ivy leaves before?  There is plenty of it growing up our front wall.  Perhaps because it is a nuisance of a plant that I am forever ripping out, so I have no affection for it.  However this week I was scratching around for ideas, went outside and brought in some ivy, and found they were nice and easy, so an instant favourite.  The first time I tried it out was on the black and red stripe, and I opted for a thread with plenty of blue in it to blend in with the strip of blue beneath it.  At first I was considering a thread to pick up the bright orangey red at the top right, which is much more vibrant in real life than in the photo, but thought the shades of red might end up fighting.

I did the same again with the yellow and ochre stripe, and used a thread with a dash of purple to go with the maroon and navy stripe.  It can be quite tricky quilting on the striped fabrics.  If the thread doesn't show up particularly well the quilting design is swamped by the stripe.  If I use a thread that contrasts too sharply with the stripes, then the effect is too heavy, so I often opt for threads with plenty of contrasting shades in them.

Here goes for Week 379:-

Many thanks to Frédérique for linking up with photos of her Friendship Day and showing examples of Japanese quilting.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more.

If you have no free motion quilting to show, feel free to link up and show any project you like.  Here are the usual rules, but feel free to ignore them.  To keep the original emphasis, however, preference will be given to free motion quilting when featuring projects from the previous week.

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.

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 five days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Tuesday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland, Brazil and Sweden have taken part.  The 

first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.