FMQ Friday - This is Only a Test

Gerry Largay has still not been found!  Please visit the Maine Dept of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Facebook page for updates.  For the latest on the search click here.  Trained SAR volunteers are needed this weekend, and they are still searching for the unknown caller who tried to contact George.  Please share across social media outlets and keep praying.

Today is Free Motion Quilting Friday over at Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project.

The rules are simple:

1. Link up with a post that features something about Free Motion Quilting (FMQ). 
2. Somewhere in your post, you must link back to Leah's site, or you can just post the FMQF button in your sidebar. 
3. Comment on at least a few of the other FMQF links. Share your love of free motion quilting and make this weekly link up a fun way to connect!  

After last week's feeling of accomplishment, I had high hopes for finishing the Family Ties quilt this week.  HA!

I did get some more of the white sections quilted, but I haven't even started on the pink and purple.  I'm trying to figure out what exactly to do there.  I'm pretty concerned that this quilt is going to have too much quilting - a concern I've never had before - and that it will be stiff.  In these pink and purple sections, I want it to be quilted enough that it doesn't feel uneven or off balance, but not so much that it adds to the stiffness.

I bought some gorgeous purple Aurifil when Mom and I went to Sew Main Street the other day, so I thought I'd try that out along with the white.  I couldn't find a pink that worked, so now I'm in a dilemma about whether I should try to match all the fabrics and find a pink thread, keep quilting all in white, or quilt both the pink and purple sections in the purple thread.

Too many decisions, and you know this is when I get bogged down and put a project off to the side to work on something else that is much more fun.

Here are a few examples of what I tried.  Your input is welcome and wanted!

This is a loopy flower that I like in the white thread.

A simple meander in the purple thread.

On the left is a double wavy line in the purple thread that reminds me of ribbon. Get it?  Family Ties?  On the right is a pretty terrible loopy heart design with a bunch of stray threads that make the quilting look even worse than it is.

So here are the questions:

1. Do I use white or purple thread?  Do I need to find pink thread too?
2. Which design works best?
3. Am I totally over thinking this?  (Wait, I think I know the answer to that one.)

What are you making more complicated than it really is today? 



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