If things had gone as planned...

If things had gone as planned I had intended to work on my Farmer's Wife quilt top during my recent Lazy Bum Quilting (Virtual) Retreat!

Instead I was hand cranking my charmer quilt which is my April Lazy Bum challenge!  That one will be next on the machine!

Well I have finished stitching in or near the ditch of all 64 FW blocks  - phew fierce concentration required to not see my stitching!   Why was I doing this? 

Well I have just finished watching a Craftsy class called Design it, Quilt it with Cindy Needham!   She is one no-nonsense teacher but very clear and good I thought!  One thing she is very clear about is the need to stabilise your quilt blocks by stitching in every single ditch.  So I am trying it out on this quilt to see if I like it.  



I am almost hoping not as otherwise I am destined for oodles of ditchstitching which I find boring, challenging and tiring....even if I only finish the projects I've already started!?  Argh!  It pains me to think about it...

Anyway the boring bit is done! and the awesome fun can begin!  Cindy also taught me about adding dimension to your quilting by having some of it seem to be in the foreground and other bits in the background.  Haven't quite managed the whole caboodle but my quilting is meant to disappear behind my pieced blocks so they float on top!

My trusty aid in this venture is a polystyrene pizza base!  I'm using it as a stencil to mark out circles and then I'm Free Motion Quilting some Angela Walters designs inside the circles!  Also refreshed my memory about Angela's quilting by looking at her Craftsy class Machine Quilting Negative Space!  Love her and her designs!

I may need to repeat a few or invent some....but I am about one quarter done  and enjoying every minute of this phase!

And I'm thinking I'm not the only one who has looked at it

And liked it - cat approval is good enough for me!