FMQ: Getting Into the Groove

So I "finished" my Groove quilt back in the fall.  But it wasn't really finished.  The binding was machined to the front but not sewn down to the back.  And it was just so... plain.  All solid colors (don't get me wrong, it was fun to play with all solids) but the stitch-in-the-ditch quilting just wasn't doing it for me.

It was like 70 degrees on Sunday - that's the only time a hammock is appropriate in January!

My biggest quilting "resolution" for this year is to work on my FMQ skills!  That's just what the Groove quilt needs - some texture!  Much like many of the other Groove quilts you'll see floating around, I decided to use a different free motion quilting pattern in each color area of the quilt.

Echo paisley in the yellow portions of my Groove quilt

So far the yellow is full of echo paisley (it's almost echo shell, it doesn't quite come back to the origin enough... but whatever, I like it anyway!) and the orange has the start of some pebbles (yeah, I once said I was done with pebbles, but these ones will be bigger and in a smaller area).

Pebble quilting in the orange areas - it looks like a Band Aid in this picture

 The only issue I'm still really having is getting the tension right on the back.  I slowed my hands down so I'm not getting insane loopies on the back, but the tension is still a little wacky.  I've just been cranking the dial up to like 6 and it seems to be helping.  Does anyone else find that that's okay?  I had to do that before and thought it was the crappy thread I had at the time - now I am doing that with Aurifil.

You can see that the tension is a little wonky, especially in the orange-on-cream area

I'll have to master three more patterns to be able to finish this quilt!  I'm thinking swirls, wood grain, and something else.  I don't really want to do anything angular, it seems like curves fit this curvy quilt!  Any suggestions for the final FMQ pattern on this one?

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

Melissa

Groovin'

So on Wednesday, I finished up the quilt top I was working on (more on that another day).  Then I started starching all of my Groove fabrics!  Aerosol spray starch leads to sore throats.  I think.  Anyhow, I haven't starched everything yet (the blue and natural are still a wrinkly post-wash mess), but couldn't wait to attempt curved piecing!  So I cut out the orange.  Then realized I needed to cut into the yellow to get the other half of the curve piece.

I pinned the hell out of them (seriously like 12-15 pins - better safe than sorry!) and my first one turned out pretty well!

My first curved piece!

The Groove quilt is coming together quickly!

I decided to deviate from the pattern and cut and piece things in my own way - it seems like it will go faster.  It might not be the "right" way, but as Homer told us, "There's three ways to do things: the right way, the wrong way, and the Max Power way."  Turns out the Max Power way is the wrong way, only faster.  Hopefully the Melissa way is the right way, only faster :)

It's going to be a busy labor day weekend (Friday evening wedding, Saturday county fair, Sunday outdoor adventure with the family), so things will probably be on hold for a few days.  I'm anxious to finish this one up though - the colors are so summery, it needs to be finished before fall!