Hey Everyone, welcome back to Free Form/Motion Friday.

Yesterday, I introduced you to this cool and funky art quilt that I dumped fabric glue all over. Ooops! But it doesn’t seem to be any worse for wear and I can start stitching down the pieces now that all the glue is dry.

I’ve decided to use light coloured threads for the stitching as I want the pieces to stand out. Using the light coloured threads will provide a very high contrast on the darker fabrics. Especially since there is very little value difference within the fabrics I used to create the funky ‘J’ design.

Did you see the ‘J’ in the design?

I think I’ll name the quilt – Funky ‘J’

I chose 4 variegated threads in a 100% cotton. Three of them are really light and the fourth one a little bit darker.

The threads

When I started quilting and stitching this in class I was using a straight stitch at the edge of each piece. The same as I did on my Dahlia mug rug – the difference is I used batik for the mug rug and cottons for this piece. The cottons tend to fray at the edges where as the batiks not so much. In hindsight, I am glad I sewed through all those layers and had to rip out because I don’t think I would have been happy with just the straight stitching at the edge.

So I have changed the stitch and I am using a free motion satin stitch. I went with the free motion version because it is a lot more organic looking than a regular satin stitch which I think suits this design.

Since I am doing free motion quilting I’ve got my gloves, free motion foot and Supreme Slider all in position and ready to go.

All set and ready to quilt

What a difference the light coloured thread makes.

Organic free motion satin stitch

And another reason I chose the free motion version is because it actually goes faster and it is easier to make points and go around corners with – precision is not required.

Now I have a few threads to pull through, tie off and bury. Must get out my handy dandy self-threading needle for this job.

Ready for the next colour

Ready for the next colour and I’m thinking purple.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Happy Quilting!