Practice Makes Perfect

Well, let me rephrase that. I am far from perfect, but I am getting a little better at free motion quilting, a.k.a. FMQ.


This project was born when I caught The Lizard doodling in a notebook while he waited for me at the train stop. Turns out he does this on a regular basis, but rarely am I able to sneak up on him.


I think he was a bit embarrassed at having been caught at first. I think he thought I would laugh at his doodles. Instead, I marveled.

"Babe!" I oozed. "You should be doing this on a quilt. This would make the most incredible quilt ever. Please let me teach you!"


He agreed. I set up a simple little quilt square for him. But with the big bike rides we've got coming up, and out-of-town guests arriving this weekend who want to take a trip up one of our favorite trails, he's got bikes on the racks and grease on his fingers for a few more days.

Which may be a good thing. If I'm going to teach The Lizard to FMQ, I need to get at least a little better at it. After I finished his little practice square, I decided to make one for me, too.

After machine basting in a color I didn't intend to use in the practice piece, I traced a lizard outline with chartreuse thread onto the turquoise blue fabric. Using a different color for the basting makes pulling the basting out a little easier at the end of a project.




My initial intent was to draw little pebbles all over the background. After six pebbles, I decided I should focus on "smooth" and "not jerky" for a while because, well, my FMQ is really awful. It looks nervous and uptight!

So I scribbled. I didn't pay any attention at all to the design. I just tried to make smooth, fluid motions. For a couple of hours!

This used up a ton more thread than I'd intended, but I think the exercise was productive. Toward the latter half of my project, I began moving more controlled, more evenly, without having to concentrate on it as much.


After I finished the square, I tried to think of a way to use it. After all, it turned out pretty darned awesome, in my opinion, even if it isn't perfect and even if it is just scribbling. Plus, I can't allow all that thread to go to waste, can I?

I've been toting along a purple snowflake bag every workday for my commuting crafting since about October. With all the snow we've been receiving the last couple of weeks, I decided it's time for the snowflakes to go. I need something bright and springy.

Instead of pulling out the old and time-worn summer bag, I turned the scribbled lizard into a new one. And I've been carrying it along with me on the train every day since!

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