#MachineQuiltingBlogHop Week 6 - Cornered

Welcome to Week 6 of the Machine Quilting Blog Hop!

Today we are working on Chapter 6 of The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting by Angela Walters and Christa Watson, Cornered.

I decided to practice this week's designs on an old round robin UFO with some questionable fabric choices but good borders to practice my quilting. I apologize for the photography. It has been raining for days. Not that we complain about the weather.

One of the designs I am having a lot of fun experimenting with is the triangles in all their variations. They're simple and quick - no more work than stitching in the ditch but much more interesting! I'm not marking them at all; I just aim for the point of the triangle and swoop over. No, they are not all exactly the same and they are not perfect, but I love the texture and effect.

The design that I thought I would like and which didn't look all that complicated is this spiral flower. It was way harder than I expected, and the first one definitely had to be ripped out. You know I don't do that lightly! I'm a big believer in practice and that it doesn't have to be perfect, so you know it is bad if I pulled out the seam ripper.

It got better as I went along.

The spiral hook design is beautiful but a little bit difficult to wrap your head around. I practiced it on paper quite a bit before attempting it on the quilt, and I still had some awkward moments. One thing I need to practice more is how to move around the space and fill in the gaps.

I'm a huge fan of this wavy plaid design. It is even easier than it looks and creates a beautiful texture. I think this would make a fantastic all over design in the negative space behind applique. 

We're moving right through the book, which is still on sale over at the Martingale site. Don't forget to visit Vicki, Kristin, and HollyAnne to see what they practiced this week. I think it's so cool how different we each approach the same material.

Please jump in and join us on your favorite social media channel using the hashtag #machinequiltingbloghop and post pictures of your progress. No blog required! It's lots of fun and it really does help improve your machine quilting skills.