Friday, November 21, 2008

Foolproof Machine Quilting and Machine Quilting Solutions


I bought this book the other day from Overstock.com. I really like her attitude: "Free-motion quilting?! Who needs it!?" All of the machine quilting examples in this book are strictly done with the walking foot and/or decorative stitches.


She suggests using paper-folded-and-cut templates to create simple-to-sew-around quilting motifs. It all looks so easy to do. Plus, I love her use of embellishments. She uses lots of buttons and rick-rack trim--it's just something unexpected and very pretty.


I also bought this book: Machine Quilting Soutions. This one, on the other hand, is all about free-motion quilting. And, she's RIGHT. She says: "how many of you have walked over to your machine and actually attempted to quilt a flower with no prior knoledge of how to draw a flower?" Okay... I admit it, that's me! Instead, you're supposed to practice, practice, practice drawing until it becomes second nature to draw the flower you want to quilt. Muscle memory is key. HOWEVER... I don't understand how muscle memory works because I'll be holding a pencil with my right hand to practice making the shape. When it comes time to actually free-motion quilt, I'll be holding my hands flat... doesn't that require DIFFERENT muscle memory? I think it does... right...? I'm not sure.





No comments: