Thursday, March 21, 2013

FMQ and the Puzzle Box Quilt


I'm so excited! I finished machine quilting the 36 blocks of the Puzzle Box Quilt. I still have the borders to quilt but feel great that I've come this far! I tried to do a little bit at a time. I found if I tried to quilt too many blocks at once that I would get sloppy. My quilting is not perfect by any means. Some of the lines are not exactly straight and some of my loops are a little pointy rather than round but I feel I learned so much. I'm much better at using rulers to guide my way. (Although I did end up bending a needle by sewing over the ruler at one point!) I really just wanted to add texture in a somewhat nice design that would suit the quilt. I like the end results so far!


The top picture gives you a close up of the blocks while the second picture is further away. I love that the texture is visible even from a distance. This quilt seemed so flat to me. I felt it needed something to add some character.




Here's a view of the backing after being quilted. I love that you can see the shadow of the block and it's quilting! I had to do some back tracking when travelling between blocks. Do you just leave all those layers of thread there or try to remove them? I was going to remove them but they're not as prominent as I thought they would be.

Now it's time to come up with some ideas for the border. I was thinking of free motion quilting a paisley or sea shell design. I have some variegated black thread as well as a variegated bright multicolor thread. I'm going to have to experiment and see what I like better. I bought the binding fabric last weekend. It's a multicolored stripe that alternates with black. It will make a great binding especially if cut on the bias!

So many ideas! So much to do but also a lot of fun!

14 comments:

  1. Looks great, Rosemary! You picked a really good quilt design to bring the quilt to life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Auntie Em! It really does add a lot to the quilt!

      Delete
  2. it is so bright and cheerful... and will be lovely and snuggly xx thats what counts xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love that quilt--it looks wonderful close-up or far away and the quilting adds so much!! Great finish Julierose

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Julierose! I'm experimenting with the border. Hoping it will look good when it's finally all done!

      Delete
  4. Looking good Rosemary! Love the way you gave your quilt dimension.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Joanie! Adding quilt dimension was my goal! It just seemed so flat! Hope I can figure out what to do with the border.

      Delete
  5. What a wonderful quilt to texture with FMQ!!! You're doing great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Sharon! It's such a challenge to figure out how to quilt a top. I'm glad I tried this out. Now for the border!!

      Delete
  6. Your quilting really adds another design element to the quilt. I love the dimensional effect you achieved.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I really felt the quilt needed texture. It seemed so flat and square. I can't wait to wash it and hope it crinkles up a little!

      Delete
  7. Great job Rosemary! The texture on this quilt is awesome.

    ReplyDelete

I Like Thursday #228

Welcome to I Like Thursday! A bunch of us bloggers like to write happy and uplifting posts on a weekly basis. Please visit  LeeAnna  to link...