Living This Creative Life

I have two favorite quotes. The first one is by Emile Zola, "If you asked me what I came into this world to do, I would tell you that I came to live out loud". I don't know who the second one is by, but it goes like this, "If you're not living on the edge then you might as well jump". Both of these sentiments sum up my personal philosophy of this experience we call life on earth. Enjoy!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Blocks #5 and #6 in the Machine Quilting Challenge



Here are the next two machine quilting stitch-outs for you to try. Both make great background or border designs. The top one is a large, Double, Wavy Cross-hatch and the lower one is a small, Single Wavy Cross-hatch.

To stitch the Double, Wavy Cross-hatch, begin by drawing or creasing (with a Hera marker) a diagonal line in the area you plan to quilt. Stitch along the marked line with a slightly wavy stitch line. Stitch a second line right next to the first line, a scant 1/4" away. Stitch a second pair of lines about 3/4" away from the first pair. Continue making pairs of wavy stitch lines each about 3/4" apart. Complete all of the lines in one direction. Draw or crease a diagonal line in the opposite direction and use it to stitch pairs of wavy lines, again keeping them about 3/4" apart.

For the Single Wavy Cross-hatch, use the same techniques as above using single lines instead of double and stitching a scant 1/2" apart.

Both of these stitch-outs will help you learn more control in the straight-aways - areas of quilting with long continuous lines. Remember, that a wavy line is always easier to free motion quilt than a striaght one.

Enjoy,
Until tomorrow,
Heather

3 comments:

Cass said...

These will be great additions to my quilt stitch library. Thanks for the exercises!

Unknown said...

Thanks for taking the time to share this. It's time for me to learn free form quilting. I stick with straight lines because I haven't given the time to learn curves and such.

Unknown said...

Thanks for taking the time to share this. It's time for me to learn free form quilting. I stick with straight lines because I haven't given the time to learn curves and such.