Quilting Practice - Paisleys

This week I used another pieced block from the 2012  Craftsy Block of the Month for quilting practice.

Paisley practice from Angela Walters Quilting Negative Spaces class was the goal. Before getting started with the paisleys, the center needed some quilting.

Those flowers in the center were worthy of some special attention so I outline quilted around them, then filled in the rest with a small meander.

I think that if I had it to do over again, I might have chosen a darker thread. This was a Sulky Blendable that was in my thread stash.

Once the center area was quilted, it was time to quilt some paisleys!

These were fun and easy to quilt. I like that the shape is smooth and flowing so it was easy to get into a rhythm.

I'm not sure how paisley-ish these look; raindrops or teardrops might be a better description. 

It's nice to practice on such a small piece. I found myself spinning the block around often in order to hit the paisley at just the right angle. I wouldn't be able to do that with a big quilt.

Here it is from the back. The stitching is easier to see with the contrasting color.

I'm happy with the way this block turned out.

Next time I practice, it will be time to start experimenting with combining designs...circles and swirls maybe.

Quilting Practice - Leaves

Quilting practice continues with an attempt to quilt leaves. The quilting designs are getting more challenging as I go. This one was mostly a challenge of memory motor skills. Some of the leaves would develop with ease while others evolved with many awkward starts and stops as I figured out where I wanted to go.

I enjoyed practicing on this block since there was lots of quilting real estate. I was able to both intentionally and unintentionally play around with the size of my leaves. There isn't a "real" project lined up for this quilting design yet. This one will require a little more practice before fully diving in.
 

Three of the twenty blocks I made last year as part of Craftsy's block of the month class are now quilted. My plan is to bind them separately and hang them as a group. I have a vision of all twenty blocks hanging together to make the appearance of a "quilt" while they remain as twenty separate pieces. The vision and the reality don't always come together, and we'll just have to see how this one evolves.

Paisleys are next on the practice list. They are similar to the leaves except they don't have points. They just *might* be a little easier.

Quilting Practice - Swirls

The next quilting design on the practice list as part of the Craftsy Quilting Negative Spaces class is the swirl. This design is much more difficult than the pebbles that I started out with, and will require lots of practice to conquer. It will be worth it though. It's a really pretty design.

I added to the challenge unintentionally by choosing to practice on a block with narrow quilting spaces. The swirls are supposed to be circles, but many of mine had a bit of a tail, which made them look more like sea shells than tight swirls. That's not necessarily a bad thing, just not the result I was expecting.

There's work to be done here to get a more consistent size throughout the design, and there's also more practice needed figuring out how to end one swirl and start the next. Angela Walters calls it "traveling" in class.

All that said, swirls make a really cool design and overall, I'm very happy with my first attempt.

I've already incorporated the swirls into a "real" project, which I'll be ready to share later this week. Next up on the quilting practice schedule: leaves.