FMQing Clamshells and Lines

The last times I discussed this Taupe/Gray/Cream/Black quilt were in my post for 2/4/20 where I showed the assembly of the top and in my post for 2/6/20 where I discussed seaming the backing. It is hard to believe I let over three months slide by before tackling the quilting. I was feeling guilty that so much time had lapsed but I reviewed my intervening posts and realized I had been busy. I'd completed three other quilts in addition to a myriad of smaller projects which included dolls, burpcloths, pillowcases, kitchen valences, and masks for the coronavirus pandemic. While I was otherwise other occupied I subconsciously contemplated the FMQ on this quilt. A suggested FMQ design was given in the instructions in the source magazine, the Spring 2013 edition of McCall's America Makes Fast Quilts. Even if I do not slavishly follow the sample, I always like a proposal much better than the dreaded phrase "Quilt as Desired". The illustrated FMQ placed a rectangular spiral design in each block. Circles fill the pale gray perimeter strips. The border features a feathered vine.

I liked the linear aspects of the rectangular spiral but I thought I wanted something more curvy since the blocks were so straight. Plus, the square spirals were too much ruler work I told myself. I have alway wanted to learn how to do a clamshell filler so I decided to try my hand at that in the rectangles made of solid grey and put lines in the plus signs made out of a variety of prints. Lines would add texture and anything fancier would just get lost in the print. So much for my reluctance to do ruler work. Here is my sample practice block and the multi-clamshell ruler I used. I checked on the HandiQuilter website and I believe they redesigned the ruler to have only one arc instead of two on the smaller sizes. Pity. Having two is so much more convenient and requires half the ruler movement. I will treat this ruler with care since it would be difficult to replace

Surprising myself, it took me only a couple of those solid gray rectangles to get the hang of the HQ multi-clamshell ruler. I used the smallest size arcs, and learned how to adjust by compressing each row of two arcs by a bit so I got full arcs that were not flat or truncated at the top of the rectangle. I definitely am getting braver with my FMQ and using a thread color that contrasts. If I am going to do all that slow-going work, I want it to show. The occasional major clamshell slip was quite obvious but I forged ahead and picked it out after the block completion. Gross clamshell slips only happened about three times. Out of 35 blocks that is less than 10%.

I found the straight lines to be harder since the ruler kept slipping. On my first blocks, some lines had a jog, some lines drifted at an angle, and some were not equispaced. This next example block is probably one of the worst for line goofs. I may go back and pick some lines out if they continue to bug me, but a fellow quilter cautioned me to move on and not spend my time in un-sewing. She said you want to get better at quilting, not better at picking out. These lines are more textural in nature and tend to match the background color more so I may indeed let them be.

For the straight lines I tried both an HQ Mini Ruler by HandQuilter and a Slim ruler by Angela Walters.  I liked the Angela Walter ruler better because the dashed line guides alternate between black and white, making them visible on either light or dark fabric. But the rubberized back did not grip sufficiently to keep the ruler from slipping. I added the sandpaper grips by HandQuilter and, "Voila!", I had the best of both worlds. I used the Angela Walter "Slim" rule with extra grippers since the white/black lines were so much easier to follow. My lines were much improved.

Here are four blocks. I repeatedly rotated the clamshells and lines by 90° since the plus signs went up down and side to side. It took me a half hour to do each block but I took my time and did a few blocks a day. I have a sit-down long arm so I rotated the entire quilt with each block. This approach also meant I had to break thread at each block to start at the lower left corner of each block. I had 35 blocks. I took me a while but I was getting better all the time so it was worth it. I put on some music from my iPad and tried to chill and remain patient as I worked.

I made a chart for myself with arrows to indicate which direction the clamshells were to face so I would know where to start each block. I numbered and checked off each block as I completed it.

Constantly repositioning my quilt to do the next block, I kept losing my clear rulers in the folds of the quilt. I used those sticky post-it flags to make each ruler more visible.

I wondered if what I was doing was still called free motion quilting since strict meticulous use of rulers is not really motion that is free. Curious I googled the question and found this article by Leah Day defining free motion quilting. It boils down to FMQ implying being free to move in any direction whether marked or stenciled or guided by a ruler. So this quilting plan qualifies as FMQ. Why this is important totally escapes me; chalk it up to "Inquiring minds want to know". For the other sections of the quilt, I am toying with the idea of outward straight lines like a piano keyboard in the outer border, rather than a feathered vine in the outer border. I am reluctant to mix ruler work with will-nilly free-form work, as the proposed free-form feathered vine would be; but that may just be over-fussiness on my part. As for the suggested line of circles in the pale gray perimeters, I have to pick something else since I do poorly with circles. There are enough half circles with the clamshells anyway.

This is a quilt of neutrals which are not my first choice for colors (or lack there of). I prefer brights and jewel tones. My daughter is of the same color preferences as me and when she read my blog posts she commented, " Hmm... that's definitely an interesting color (non-color?) combination", and that the back was "a lot of Taupe". At least the fabrics allowed me to focus on the quilting, which is where I need to build my skills, and not be too distracted by the fabrics. The neutral tones, plus my daughter's remarks, inspired me in naming this quilt. I am going to call it "Fifty Shades of Taupe".