Week in Review 2013 - 10/10

Detail from Express Your Love II

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." I have been doing my utmost to make it a lemonade week. I had high hopes for starting work on ZenBlossoms when I tracked my thread shipment on Sunday and saw it had left Billings, MT and arrived at a shipping center just outside of Milwaukee, two hours from my home. For sure I would have my order by Monday, Tuesday at the latest. When it didn't arrive on Tuesday I checked the tracking again. The lemons rained down. The package was sent back to Billings, MT.  GRRRR! Not only don't I have my thread, but I have the added pleasure of having to explain the situation and seek a resolution from the vendor. The jury is still out on how this is going. So, where is the lemonade? I have spent the week working on Express Your Love II and trying out a few more free motion quilting motifs. I wouldn't have been nearly so far along with these projects, if I hadn't had the "bonus" days to work on them.


1) Finish a bobbin's worth of FMQ on each of my three studio days on ZenBlossoms - No thread yet, so this project remained on hold.

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments


Do whatever assignments Leah comes up with next. 



a) Foundation Piecing - Boy did I get a lot done on this. I finished piecing the red braided section and turned the edge(s) on all seven pieces in preparation for appliqué. It is just loosely positioned together on my photography backdrop to give you an idea of how the seven foundation pieced tresses will look together.

Tresses for Express Your Love II
are pieced and turned.

b) Free Motion Quilting - I experimented with three different free motion quilting motifs. Front and center is my own design that I am planning to fill the petals of ZenBlossoms with. It reminds me of undulating seaweed. Just below the seaweed is a horizontal version of Leah's Wiggly Maze. The tear drop shapes on the right is Leah's Fractured Paisley. All three motifs allowed me to practice my travel stitching and the Fractured Paisley is a great one for echo quilting practice.

The sampler using variegated polyester thread was a good
place to learn a few more free motion quilting motifs.

3) Visioning Project - Read and practice the next two Facebook tutorials. - I set up a Fan Page! I need to flesh it out more. I plan on updating my Fan Page weekly, just as I do my website and blog. 

I will be taking the next two weeks off from blogging. When I return I plan on: 

1) Finishing a bobbin's worth of FMQ on each of my three studio days on ZenBlossoms

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments


Do whatever assignments Leah comes up with next. 

a) Foundation Piecing

b) Free Motion Quilting

3) Visioning Project - Read and practice the next  Facebook tutorials. 


I am now linking up to two blogs on Friday's. The first is Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project and the second is Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays.