Hi everyone -- I hope you're surviving this crazy March weather. Here in the Northeastern USA we've had a few days of nearly 50 degree temps and sun - but many more days with sub freezing temps, nasty wind and snow. Although the sewing days have been fun, we're all ready to break into spring. Here's hoping it comes soon - these are the evenings I'm dreaming of... Keuka Lake - Summer 2013 - Family Fishin' In case you missed it, my latest free quilt design, "Chevron with a Twist" was published on the Moda Bake Shop on February 23rd. You can read my introductory blog post here or go directly to the Moda Bake Shop recipe by clicking here. In the recipe, I outline all the cutting, piecing and applique details for making the quilt, but only a few images and details about the free motion quilting. What's fun was that the free motion quilting was stitched using Aurifil 50Wt Mako Cotton (love that thread!!) on my Janome Horizon domestic sewing machine -- YOU can do it too!! In today's post I would like to share more about free motion quilting Chevron with a Twist and let you in on a great giveaway! Woohoo... Let's start with detailing the Curved Crosshatch quilting. Some background: Chevron with a Twist was my first attempt at using EQ7 software for designing a quilt. Although the learning curve was big, it was well worth the investment (time and $$). EQ7 Chevron with a Twist Design Print Just prior to finishing Chevron with a Twist, Linda Hrcka of The Quilted Pineapple announced her brand new QP Curve Templates for Free Motion Quilting (long arm, mid-arm, and domestic machines). Linda is one of the amazingly talented quilters that I follow on social media. She has a great blog, a Facebook page and an Instagram account that I stalk. I'm always inspired by what she creates on her long arm machine -- really -- over the top beautiful every time! Follow her - I promise you won't be disappointed. Even if you don't FMQ your own quilts, Linda's quilting designs will give you tons of ideas to share with your long arm quilter. Here is a sample of Linda's beautiful quilting. "Portland Rose" was created by the amazing Lisa Bongean (Primitive Gatherings Quilt Shop) and quilted by Linda Hrcka. The Linda and Lisa quilt won a BLUE RIBBON at AQS Paducah in 2014! What an honor and certainly much deserved by these two talented ladies. You can read/see more "Portland Rose" on Linda's blog here. Image courtesy The Quilted Pineapple SO, here is this very talented professional long arm quilter with a awesome set of curved acrylic templates that SHE DESIGNED... The QP Curve Templates. I had to have them! I ordered the entire set and started on a mission to find a way to use them. Back to EQ7 -- What's neat about EQ7 is that you can print a black and white image of your design (layout only) and use it to sketch potential FMQ motif. I was pretty sure I wanted to stitch feathers in the Chevrons, and because I was itching to use the QP Curve Templates, I came up with this new to me "Feather Fireworks" aka "Feather Star-Burst" design for the non-Chevron blocks I kinda liked the sketch so I started quilting. Chevrons first... after considering two different designs for the Chevrons I settled on feathers. What a great way to hone your feather skill - that's a lot of feathers! I will share the chevron feather process in a separate post. Next quilting step: Feather Star-Burst aka Feather Fireworks! Here's the design and I'll share how to stitch this one too -- in a separate post. **NOTE: I posted more information about Feather Starburst here -- check it out ** The full-size on-point blocks were all filled with Feather Star-Burst. I'm really having fun with this quilt and learning The QP Curve Templates! At this point I realize I need something a little different in the half blocks or the setting blocks.... A new sketch... Hummmh... this might work...Curved Crosshatching! Note: I'd been itching to stitch a curved crosshatch on my domestic machine since I purchased Karen McTavish's "Custom Curves" book. Karen and Rhonda Beyer make beautiful designs with curved templates in that book (a must have book for anyone that FMQ's). Ok - lets see if I can actually create a acceptable curved crosshatch on my domestic machine using The QP Curve Templates... I used the #20 QP Curve Template for the Curved Crosshatch Remember, I'm new to using rulers of any type on my domestic machine... Here's the trial run with a narrow Crosshatch... Trial run for the large Crosshatch Trial run for "Just the right size" Crosshatch It was fun to learn how to use The QP Curve templates on practice pieces ... Once they were created and I placed them near the quilt -- it was obvious that I should go with the "not too wide, not too narrow" design... ha ha ha!! (I won't mention that it had a lot to do with how much time I wanted to spend quilting...). The "just the right size" crosshatch had 11 lines each side of the crosshatch. Because I'm new to using acrylic rulers/templates I chose to mark each line on each block - it gave me piece of mind to get the quilting done with minimal ripping (picking). I used a run of the mill water soluble marking pen to mark each line. (Details in the video below) What's in a Foot? To work with acrylic templates on a domestic machine you need a foot that won't slip under or on-top-of the template. Many thanks to Amy at Amy's Free Motion Quilting Adventures for sharing her knowledge on the subject last year. I ordered the Janome "Free Motion Frame Quilting Feet Set" for the 1600P - Part# 767-434-005 which included a 1/4" Ruler Foot and an Open Toe Quilting Foot. Also showing (below) is the closed toe foot (not included in the kit) I use when stitching around wool applique. The 1/4" Ruler Foot is similar to a hopping foot for a long-arm machine. It is perfect to ride against an acrylic template that is 1/4 thick. On the Janome, if the template was much thicker than a 1/4", I may have run into trouble with it hitting against the built in walking foot mechanism. I'm just sneaking under it with The QP Curve Templates (thankfully). So I marked and quilted 13 outside 1/2 blocks, 6 inside 1/2 blocks, and 2 corner 1/4 blocks with the curved crosshatch. By the time I finished them I was feeling pretty confident -- maybe the next time I'll only have to mark my starting lines. Now I'll share with you my Not So Professional YouTube videos outlining the marking and quilting process using The QP Curve Templates. The first video shows you how I marked this particular quilt using The #20 QP Curve Template. (Click the image below to watch the video) The second video shows you how I quilted the blocks using The #20 QP Curve Template and my Janome Ruler foot. (Click the image below to watch the video) Please note -- these are first takes of videos AND the first time I've prepared anything like them. I stumble over a few words - but I hope they will still be helpful to you. Prepare yourself to see and hear me at my quilting finest ;) Do you want to see more of my quilting videos ? Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for upcoming videos. See more about Feather Starburst in this post !! *** Wow... that was a bunch of information... Now we're at the fun part of the post! The wonderfully talented and always gracious Linda Hrcka of The Quilted Pineapple is providing a COMPLETE SET of The QP Curve Templates to one lucky reader! Yes, that's right, an entire set of QP Curve Templates - that is 6 different templates including the smallest template that Linda has coined the "BFF Template" (Best Friend Forever). Image Courtesy The Quilted Pineapple The giveaway is open to domestic AND international friends alike!! The giveaway will close at midnight on Saturday, March 28th. *** This Giveaway has Ended - Congratulations Laura *** To enter the giveaway, leave One comment below letting me know what YOU would like to use The QP Curved Templates for, what kind of machine you're stitching on and how long you've been free motion quilting (if you are). For a 2nd chance to win, hop over to one of The Quilted Pineapple social outlets (Blog, Facebook or Instagram and let Linda know how much you appreciate her sharing TheQPCurveTemplates with us. Be sure to come back and leave me a second comment letting me know how you reached out to Linda. Please Note: If you are NOT A BLOGGER and/or you're not sure if blogger shares your email address on a comment, please, please leave your email address in the comment(s). For the last giveaway the random winner was tossed out twice because I had no way to contact them (So Sad). Blogger does not always share your email address with me - so please, if you're not sure, leave an email address in your comment(s). Thank You!! Also, many thanks for the support and encouragement you've shown me lately -- It's been a little nuts and I haven't been able to reply to each comment. Know that I read and cherish each and every one and I so appreciate you leaving them. Stay tuned - I'll share more FMQ details for Chevron with a Twist in near term posts. Hugs, Karen PS - Linking up to other blogging friends like Hope Studios Tutorial Tuesday, Quilt Story Fabric Tuesday, and FreeMotion by the River...