Wow, it has been a busy few weeks. Not only did we a university graduation out of town, but our 25th wedding anniversary, Father's Day, and our twins' birthdays. That is a lot of celebrating...and cake! The weather has been lovely and I've been spending more time outside than down in my basement workshop. Still, even relaxing on the deck I've been hand-stitching some hexies and it has been wonderful to work on them peacefully in the fresh air. We even had a morning long power outage and it was so quiet - perfect for sewing in solitude.
I have knocked out several blocks in my t-shirt quilt with free-motion quilting, trying to pair the design with the theme of the shirt. So far I've used arc swirls, linked squares, outlining, flowing meander line, twinkle stars, dog prints, and a grid. It's lots of fun to try out designs taught by my favourite authors and quilters. I'm not concerned with perfection but simply enjoying the process, experimenting, and having fun.





I've added a few books to my inspiration quilting shelf, including that Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting I shared in this post. Shape by Shape 2 is the next in the series by my favourite, Angela Walters (also co-author of the Ultimate Guide!). In this edition, Angela offers even more designs suited for particular patchwork shapes and areas in a quilt. It makes it very easy when you're stumped to reference a certain design and find inspiration. If you have triangles, check out those pages. If you have hexagons, she's got ideas for them. I have the Shape by Shape original book and I use it all the time as I'm planning my quilting. This second copy just adds to the collection and I was particularly excited to see the hexagon motifs since I'm working on that English Paper Piecing project.

When I bought the EPP books I added the Free Motion Quilting Idea Book to my order. I didn't know anything about it but it's written by Amanda Murphy, another great Craftsy instructors. At first, I was disappointed when it arrived because it's a small, spiral bound book. There is little to read and it is more along the lines of a sketch book. Similar to Angela Walters' book, Amanda shares designs categorized by where they'd be used in a quilt: allover, blocks, sashing, borders and individual motifs. Once I accepted that it was a quick reference tool and not something to curl up with to read, I realized it truly is an idea book and handy to keep by the machine for fast inspiration. I'm totally changing my attitude this summer with regards to my quilting and just keeping myself open to the playful side.