Friday 18 May 2012

TGIFF! and Bloggers' Quilt Festival - What the FMQAYGQAL?


Taking a moment
to smell the lilacs

Amy's Creative SideHi all! Welcome to those coming with the Bloggers' Quilt Festival and TGIFF! I'm M-R (stands for Michèle-Renée) and I live in Ottawa, Canada. I've been quilting for about 14 years steadily, but I made my first quilt in university. I've been blogging for a year (it was my blogiversary yesterday!) and have really enjoyed 'meeting' so many kind and supportive people.




Playing goalie
This is my second time participating in the Bloggers' Quilt Festival. The quilt I'm going to share with you is one I just finished on Wednesday. This was done for the QAYGFMQAL at Quokka Quilts to practice free motion quilting skills so I call it What the FMQAYGQAL? Okay, it's the only name I can come up with right now and since there were a few f-bombs muttered here and there when I messed up and had to unpick, I'm thinking that this name may be appropriate for this quilt, at least for the time being. The QAL started in January and we did two free motion quilting blocks a week. A great pace and lots of fun! And most importantly, flexible enough for a non-pattern/direction/instruction follower like me. He he.

Playing goalie backward
For those who have been following along for a while, I ended up going with white for the sashing so that the front there wouldn't be competition for the FMQ in the blocks and white for the back because I thought it made the white stitching stand out more. I couldn't get the idea of the Bright Remix rainbow stripe by Ann Kelle of Robert Kaufman out of my head though so I tracked it down and saw that it was perfect for the binding. I just love the pop it gives around the edge.

While I may have lessened my fear of using white, I have not lessened my fear of having white around. I'm trying to figure out where I can put it so that I can see it, but my munchkins can't. Ceiling?

Catching some rays
by the Rideau River
I think this is my best quilt yet in terms of free motion quilting. I may not be able to pick favourites with my kids, but I definitely can when it comes to quilts and this is now one of them! The quilt measures  41" by 62".




Some close up photos of my favourite blocks (a lot of these are from Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project):







If you'd like to see some close-ups of my blocks or find out more info about them, you can visit these past posts (I'm quite gifted when it comes to post titles, aren't I?):

As today is also TGIFF!, I'm linking up with our host Pat of ColorMeQuilty this week. She's got an awesome block for QuiltCon and her Bloggers' Quilt Festival quilt too. Check it out and feel free to link up one of your own recent finishes.





Thanks for stopping by! If I'm MIA on this blog over the next couple of days, it's because I'll be checking out all the inspirational quilts at TGIFF! and the Bloggers Quilt Festival. Have a great weekend!

[Edited: I almost forgot that this quilt is one of my finishes for the Finish-A-Long over at Quilter in The Gap!]

2012 Finish-A-Long

42 comments:

  1. Oh I am so excited to see this one all together, M-R! The binding is perfect, the quilting is inspiring and it's an all-round fabulous quilt. Way to go!

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  2. Such a beautiful quilt! Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Oh WOW! Your FMQQAYGQAL looks Fabulous. Well done!

    Thanks so much for linking up with TGIFF!

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  4. One word...gorgeous! I'm so jealous of your mad FMQ skills! Oh, that's more than one word; sorry!

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  5. A quilt to be proud of and certainly a useful reference. It looks wonderful.

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  6. I loved these blocks as you were going along and putting them altogether has made a really fabulous quilt :)

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  7. Great fmq.....love the variety you used in the stitches. Beautiful!

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  8. All I can say is "WOW"!! I love it soooo much.

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  9. It look AMAZING. I wish I'd used white now!!! I love that binding. I'm going to send people here :)

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  10. This quilt is stunning and the FMQ is some of the best I have ever seen.

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  11. Congratulations on 1 year of blogging!! So exciting! Your quilt is absolutely gorgeous! I love that you went with white and let the quilting be the star. The binding is perfect! Good job!

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  12. Very nice quilt! You can be proud of your FMQ skills! Good choice for the binding and the sashing : it puts the accent on the coloured squares!

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  13. Of course I had to snoop and see who left a comment on my blog. I am glad I did! Wow your quilting is amazing. Don you just love Leah's designs. She has been helpful in so many ways.
    When you said that you started blogging because you were always talking about, I can relate. It is encouraging to share your work with people who get what it took to make it.
    I will be "visiting" again.

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  14. Gorgeous! I've been meaning to try QAYG but hadn't had the time to scope out resources - thanks!

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  15. It is fabulous! The fmq is amazing and that binding is so perfect :)

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  16. love the quilt!


    Margaret
    http://quiltsoflove.blogspot.com/

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  17. I love this quilt. I love the colours and I love all your experimentation with free motion quilting.

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  18. Wow, very impressive. I love all the color and your quilting, wow, just wow.

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  19. Your quilting is so amazing!

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  20. Amazing FMQ work here!!! I love this fabulous quilt showcasing so many cool patterns. And hey, although I've lived in Vancouver for 26 years, I graduated from Sir Robert Borden in Nepean!

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  21. I love everything about this quilt and if you need a place to hang it without little kid fingers reaching it, well, you can always borrow a wall at my house! My kids are all over the age of 12 now. :D

    Gorgeous

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  22. Wow! That sure turned out gorgeous!! Your gorgeous FMQ almost inspires me to try. Afraid though.

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  23. Quilting is amazing!!!!! beautiful quilt
    Ann

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  24. I Freakin love this! I am in the process of making solid FMQ squares to do a QAYG quilt too! hope you don't take that as copying :P

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  25. This is AMAZING! I've nominated you to be a Featured Quilter for the Bloggers' Quilt Festival because seriously, this is such incredible work. I am in AWE!

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  26. Absolutely stunning quilting! I love the rainbow blocks and the unique quilting in each one!

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  27. Fantastic front and back. Love the quilting. I joined Leah's fmq along but got busy and haven't done anying...you inspire me to do it! Thanks for sharing and have a great day

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  28. Great job,love the color blocks and the amazing quilting.

    Come see my entries 64 (repro. applique) and 85 (antique appliques).

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  29. I love it!! Great job on the quilting- it looks fabulous!!

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  30. Oh, wow! Absolutely gorgeous

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  31. Totally awesome! I'm looking at these blocks thinking "she can quilt those designs better than I can!" Really pat yourself on the back and enjoy snuggling up with this awesome accomplishment.

    Cheers,

    Leah Day

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  32. Wow! I have SUCH a long way to go in learning my free motion. What a great way to try many different techniques. The impact is gorgeous!

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  33. Holy cow, this is amazing. Can't believe how beautiful this quilting is!

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  34. Fabulous front and back! It's been really nice to see this quilt grow! Congrats on the finish!

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  35. Beautiful quilting...just amazing.

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  36. Such a gorgeous quilt, M-R! Your free-motion skills take my breath away and I cannot decide which side is my favourite. Amazing work!

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  37. This quilt is breathtaking. I absolutely love it!

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