The last free motion quilting challenge for 2012 (ever?) was announced today. It was another by Patsy Thompson, and this time she focused on various treatments for borders — narrow and wide and all sizes in between. I had some spare time today, so I got to and did it!
Here’s my piece (click the photo to view it larger — it looks MUCH better larger). Unfortunately, reds, oranges, and yellows don’t photograph well on my camera. The fabric is a deep/dark maroon and I used a bright fluoro yellow on the inner border, a fluoro orange for the next one, followed by a fluoro lime green, and a variegated King Tut thread that combines yellow, green, and purple (‘Passionfruit’, colour #931) in the outer border. I wanted the stitching to stand out 😉
I enjoyed doing this one — thanks for your excellent instructions, Patsy — though I wasn’t happy with the inner loops (especially when I practised them going back the other way to make ovals — they looked really horrible!). I quite liked the shell variation (the lime green one on this piece) and intend practising that one some more. I did the feathers without a curved ruler — I just used the base of a thread spool to mark the curves 😉
So that’s it. The 2012 FMQ Challenge is over. The last step is to post a summary, which I’ll do in the next few days. Meantime, I’d like to thank SewCalGal for all her efforts in making this happen, the 2000 or so other quilters worldwide who participated, and the sponsors who donated prizes. I’ve had fun and I know I’ve improved my FMQ skills and increased my confidence. I tried some things outside my comfort zone that I enjoyed, and others that I didn’t — but it was all about expanding my knowledge and skills and if there’s a technique I’ll never use again, at least I’ll know why.
Rhonda Bracey: At Random 
That is a super cool piece!!! Since I haven’t been doing that QAL I haven’t done a lot of those stitches…..yours are totally inspiring. Am looking forward to time after the holidays to really focus on expanding to the very thing you have done so well at. I really love that combo (even though the photo didn’t pick up the true colors–my camera doesn’t do well with some colors, either!). Have a great day! Hugs, D
Really looks nice.
SewCalGal
http://www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com
I can’t believe you’re finished so fast, AND it came out so gorgeous! I just now read the tutorial. I hope mine comes out as nicely as yours did!
You over-achiever you 🙂 I love it! Its beautiful!
Very nice way to complete the challenge. What is the end size of this block?
Hi June
The centre square is 4″ and the final size is 12″.
–Rhonda
Te ha quedado estupendo. Lástima que termine el año de tutoriales. Pasó muy rápidamente.
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[…] the border I also used the technique I learned in the December FMQ Challenge of making the centre and corner elements ‘kiss’ each […]
Fabulous quilting!!