Project Simplify - Day 56
August 23, 2011 I DID IT!!!!!!! I really did! I officially declare myself an FMQer. For real! Oh I'm SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS!!!!! My cross-hatch handcuffs are gone forever.
Let me show you my flowers.
Here are some of my hits,
and my personal favorite,
And some misses, of course. Must show the misses ...
How cruel is it that the high contrast fabrics make a slightly bad flower looks colossally hideous? Chalk it up to Murphy's Law, I guess!
(Oh, and I don't even want to KNOW what you gutter-minded peeps from yesterday see in this picture below ... ) tee hee
But by the end there were hardly any misses at all! Oh, except for this ... grrr ...
Never mind. Nothing is going to spoil my mood.
I think all that practice with Stones really helped me improve my control. Although I think Stones is actually harder than Flowers! Go figure. :)
I sure have come a long way from this back in March (geez, five months ago!). I remember how embarrassed I was to show you this ...
And how hilarious I thought this was in June ...
When I remember all the fear, practicing, trials & errors and a few (ok, maybe several) bad words that went into reaching my goal of learning FMQing, I'm kinda sorta proud of myself. Oh, who am I kidding. False modesty can be so unattractive. I'M AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahaha!
I'm starting to wonder why I took a few decades to get here. But I made it! And it feels SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD!!
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
I'm so hap, hap, happy!!! I just want to hug everyone. So if you're reading this, consider yourself virtually hugged! :)
Seriously. I think forcing myself to do this in front of an "audience" made all the difference. I shamed myself into not quitting - which I'm SURE I would have done ... again ... if I hadn't commited to this publicly.
So thanks.
Really.
Yay me! :)
Project Simplify 
Reader Comments (33)
Oh....my....word..... those are a thing of beauty!!!!! You ARE awesome. You have given me hope that I, one day, will also accomplish FMQ - just hopefully not publicly. LOL!
I am truely impressed - my FMQ looks smiliar to your original example...just worse!
Congratulations, friend! :-)
Fabulous! Now you have inspired me to get to work and practice so I can do as well!
Yeah girl, YOU'RE AWESOME! ABSOLUTLY AND TOTALLY AWESOME! I can see why you love your perfect flower but honestly I see a butterfly in the picture below. And for your mistake: last time I sewed right side to left side, grr. BTW I'm making a 'Sweet Pea' quilt at the moment just need to quilt it.
Consider you hugged back;-)
Hildy
A big fat YEAH for you and a virtual hug from me....way to go girl...the flowers turned out fab! I have been practicing my flowers on paper while I daydream during calls for work :)
You have come a long way baby...not really, I thought you were doing great from the start, but what an accomplishment..I am sure Camille is smiling too!
Lisa in Texas
You a FMQer? YEAH, YOU ARE!!! K., you totally rocked this! I've said it before, and I'll say it again...you are the best inspiration! I believe I can do this! Uh, oh. I feel a song coming on! :)
Woohoo!!! Congratulations on the big finish!! I love your little flowers - they really are perfect for this quilt. Hope you get to kick back, relax, and revel in all the gorgeous quilts you've completed with this project!
Oh, and p.s.- for whatever it's worth- I see a dragonfly. But that shouldn't come as too big a surprise! :)
Yes! Yay you! I linked this post on my little blog. You were so brave to go public and this allowed me to feel comfortable sharing my progress too. Thank you Krystyne! Toni
Great job! You stuck with it and conquered it Woohoo!!! Your flowers look adorable. I am going to have to try them now, thanks :)
Who's a clever girl then??? :)
Thanks for the hug. :)
Vivienne x
I see you have been practicing! That is fabulous!!! I am inspired to try the flower design myself now. Happy official FMQer day to you!!!
Sandy
That looks so nice! I confess you have inspired me to try my hand at FMQ. However, I'm not as brave as you are; I signed up for a class at my LQS. I'm hoping it goes smoothly and I'm disciplined enough to put in the practice you have.
Those look great! Thanks for taking this journey publicly... once I have my machine up and running, I look forward to following in your footsteps!
Pretty, pretty flowers. Congrats! Your success still won't convince me to try though :) I'm happy sticking with my plan to hand quilt my next quilts.
Your flowers are wonderful! You have inspired me from getting away from just meandering and try the flowers. Have been enjoying watching your quilting, so fun!
You're too funny!!! Just say No to alse modesty. You're FABULOUS! What a great job -- Congratulations!
1) standing ovation witha whoop whoop sound!
2) awesome flower shapes!
3) porn?? in a QUILT??!!! shame on Y.O.U. (please send it to me)
4)and kinky porn: handcuffs??!!
5) yes, when i typed in your blog name i snickered...(old and immature, still)
6) i hope the green gingham doesn't go blind...she's so pretty. it would be a shame.
lastly, you kicked ass you funny little Canuck! thanks for the laugh....my address for the porn quilt is: Ina M.
Alcatraz State Penn for the quilting insane
123 The Rock
San Francisco, CA
90210
Wow you did it! Congrats I knew you could.
Take care.
Carole Y.
Okay. I am going to haul out all the UFO's in my cabinet and start making flowers on them. AWESOME! You did great. And I am going to learn. I am. Really soon.
I'm proud of you!
Many hugs coming your way! The flowers are beautiful and as usual, I am so impressed....I really gotta start practicing and do this.....sending all my quilts to the quilter is getting expensive.
As for the "gutter" minds, count me in, although I didn't really notice it until you pointed it out! LOL
Holy Cow!!!! You did a beautiful job on those flowers!! A Hug and a High Five for you! Ok, now start spilling your tips!!! What brand and size thread are you using for your free motion? Are you using the same brand and size in your bobbin too?
We never had a doubt you would succeed!! ........what's next? :P
Wow! I'm so impressed! Those flowers look amazing! I hope one day I can master FMQing as well. :-)
Your flowers are beautiful! I need to follow your example and just commit!
Totally awesome! You inspire me to even start to try cross hatch! I can't wait to get started on all the swirly twirly fun stuff too!... scary... but exciting... thanks for all the tutorials and fun ideas!!! :O) Bari Jo
I love your loopy flowers. I tackled them this year too and they are addicting. This is one of those moments that I would totally High Five myself! LOL
Your fmq flowers are fantastic - good on you.
This is FABULOUS!!! I am just sooo impressed - the FMQ turned out wonderful and you deserve to be doing the Happy FMQ Dance! I'm inspired enough to actually consider trying out some FMQing on some of those pretty quilt tops in my closet (I'll be happy with a nice cross hatch)! I'm with Lisa though, could you let us know the thread type you used, and if it was used in the bobbin too. Also, where on your quilt did you start?...the middle, a side, or..?? Maybe a tiny tutorial like the flower tutorial?? Please, oh please, oh please!!!
You are awesome. Totally awesome. Not only awesome, but inspirational too! Well done...you've come such a long way :)
Congratulations! Such a great job. I think people would have to look very hard to see the "misses".
And thanks for the hug - I needed a hug :)
Fabulous - well done!! I have been neglecting my FMQ - I must start again!
Absolutely gorgeous!!!! This gives me hope... he he... I've been struggling with FMQ for a long time now. I hope to get this handy too!
Kudos to you-- you are an FMQ Queen!!! I aspire to someday be able to overcome my inhibition (and adherence to straight-line, in-the-ditch quilting) as you have done-- and I joined you as a follower when you were just attempting it!! Very proud of you!! Hurray!! YOU GO GIRL!! A happy dance for you!!
Yay you! Very well done! It's amazing how much you have improved yourself in such a short time! I'm really proud of you and virtually give you a big hug back!