A Fun Resolution for the New Year…and a Give-Away!
About 8 or 9 years ago, I had learned how to free motion quilt, but I was still feeling kind of overwhelmed by the world of thread. You have to understand that for about the first 25 years of my quilting life, there really wasn’t much out there in the world of thread, but then all of a sudden, thread exploded. I mean really exploded! There were tons of types of thread, colors of thread, weights of thread, brands of thread, and purposes for thread. It all just seemed so daunting to me and when I’d ask other quilters about threads, most of them seemed to be as perplexed as me. This began my first year of what I call “fun resolutions.”
I’d never really been much for New Year’s resolutions, but that New Year’s Eve, I resolved to spend the next year learning as much as I could about all these different types of threads, and to learn how to handle them on my sewing machine. Little did I know that this was the beginning of one of the most fun journeys I’d ever taken! Playing with different types of threads to create texture and dimension and colorful embellishments to my quilts has enriched my quilting life in ways I could never have imagined. Since then, I’ve been making a “fun resolution” every New Year.
I’m bringing this up because there’s something about putting a task on “project status” that seems to ensure getting that task done. Most of the time, I do this with tasks that I really don’t necessarily want to do, but I need to do. In quilting, there are all kinds of things I’d love to do, but they take a lot of time, so they keep getting pushed into the future. That’s where making a “fun resolution comes into play. It’s a combination of making a commitment and giving yourself permission to devote time on a regular basis to learn something you’d love to learn but keep putting off. Every time I’ve made one of these fun quilting resolutions, it’s paid off for me in spades, so I’m hoping it will work that way for you.
So, where am I going with all this? Do you find yourself surfing web sites and blogs and seeing all kinds of quilt photos where you’re wondering how a quilter created some interesting quilting designs?
…or maybe you’re more enchanted by frame designs and you’re wondering how people create quilted designs like these:
…or maybe you’re wondering about how folks make beautiful border designs on their quilts:
Whatever type of free motion quilting you’re aching to learn, there’s a great opportunity just waiting for you in the new year:
Thanks to Darlene of the SewCalGal blog, you have the opportunity to sign up for a free (yes, totally, 100% free!) year of free motion quilting lessons by several wonderful free motion quilters who are putting together all kinds of lessons just for you! I’m happy to say that I’ll be putting together the border lesson for the month of December 2012, but check out this list of quilters who will each be contributing during the 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge:
Irene Bluhm
Leah Day
Ann Fahl
Diane Gaudynski
Susan Brubaker Knapp
Don Linn
Frances Moore
Cindy Needham
Paula Reid
Wendy Sheppard
Patsy Thompson
Sarah Vedeler
So, this is your big chance to make a fun resolution to learn all you can about free motion quilting during 2012! Will you need to practice? Of course! Will it be worth the effort? You bet! All it will take for you to get in on the action is to go here to sign up for the 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge! And one more thing…I’m cleaning out my sewing room and am happy to give away these 6 spools of thread to a receptive quilter:
If you’d like this thread (4 spools of YLI variegated cotton and 2 spools of King Tut variegated) and are willing to pay shipping, you can enter the give away simply by posting a comment to this blog post telling me what you’d like to learn about free motion quilting over the next year. Entries are open until 11:59 pm eastern time on Wed 1/12/12.