Sometimes I Surprise Myself

I'm not super confident about FMQ. I would normally place myself somewhere in the advanced beginner category. I think in reality, I must be at an intermediate level. Not all days go well, and on those I consider myself a hot mess beginner, but then I have things come out like this.

I'm not winning any awards for this, but honestly, I never thought I'd quilt this well. Drawing is not one of my talents, and I'm not even a doodler. When I draw pictures with the grandkids, mine looks a lot like theirs, but neater. 

Here's the completed quilt, and I really think the quilting was a huge win. All that pink background needed to be broken up, and I think the dense quilting in a contrasting thread was a good solution. 

This was the first time I've stitched out that design, and I mean the very first time. I never do practice samples. I'm quite happy with how it came out, and I learned a LOT. 

When I first started FMQ, I tried new designs on busy fabrics so my mistakes wouldn't show as much. That was a huge mistake! I've been FMQ for a few years now, and on this quilt, it really hit home with me that there was no reason to try a fancy design in the border, because although, my mistakes won't show, I also can't see what I'm doing! I meandered in the border, which was hard enough to see. There's no way I could have kept track where I needed to go with the flower design on that busy border. The meandering I did is a similar density to the design in the center, so it blends in just fine texture wise. 

I found it much easier to quilt on solid fabric in a contrasting color. It just made seeing what I was doing SO MUCH EASIER!!! I use multiple lamps while I'm quilting, my eyes aren't as young as they used to be. I have learned the more light the better, and I'm never using black thread on black fabric again. Grey is easier to see, and still not glaring against the black. I don't always want the thread to stand out, and I will try for matching threads, but I'm not matching as closely as I once was, on purpose. Thread even a couple shades off is simply easier to quilt with, and still not super obvious on the quilt. 

Another thing that was re-enforced while working on this quilt is any FMQ leads to better FMQ. I meander on a lot of my quilts, make that most of my quilts. All those hours of meandering have made parts of FMQ second nature to me. I don't struggle to get even stitches, I'm better at smooth curves. When I'm trying a new design, those skills learned doing a mindless meander come into play, and make ANY design I try easier. 

Another thing I was reminded of is regularly quilting any allover design makes learning a new one easier. You've already learned how to move around the quilt and get yourself out of tight spaces, whether the answer is a partial motif, a smaller motif, or simply an extra echo or two. 

Some of you are likely looking at my quilting, and thinking, "Wow, she's got a long way to go!" and you'd be right. I have so much more to learn. Others of you are afraid to try FMQ or just starting, and thinking. "I'll never be able to do it that well". I used to always think that when I saw photos of other peoples FMQ. The thing is, if you keep at it, someday, you'll be surprising yourself too!