FMQ on Hungry Caterpillar

In my previous post date 4/10/20, I described the assembly of a Very Hungry Caterpillar kit from the first of two Fons and Porter kits I'd bought in 2008. What I particularly liked about the instructions with the caterpillar kits was that they provided a free motion quilting (FMQ) diagram for the way the sample in the magazine photo was quilted. I did not know if I would follow this suggestion (I am terrible at circles) but at least it was a starting point. Providing a straw man diagram is much better that merely stating, "Quilt as desired..." – which is ultimately what I plan to do anyway. Capricious woman that I am, I want a diagram so I can ignore it. As it turns out, that is exactly what I did – ignored it.

Instead of all those pesky circles around the caterpillar, butterfly and leaf of the panel, I echo quilted using a ½" foot extension, the shocking pink ring that looks like a lifesaver candy in the next photo. The set of three feet from Handi Quilter also comes with a blue ⅜" and a green ¾" size in addition to the pink ½".

My hand may not be quite as steady as I would like, but that quivering introduces motion into the quilt. I imagine that the leaf is sending out ripples where it landed on the surface of a pond. The itty bitty caterpillar on the stem is along for the ride.

In the next photo, the butterfly is fluttering its wings making me think of the butterfly effect from chaos theory, (not from the movie – which is horrible). 

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state. The term ... is derived from the metaphorical example of the details of a tornado (the exact time of formation, the exact path taken) being influenced by minor perturbations such as the flapping of the wings of a distant butterfly several weeks earlier.

That very hungry caterpillar in the next photo is wriggling along, radiating his vibes to the universe. I tried to locate a caterpillar photo for comparison but none were nearly as cute as this little fellow by the author/artist Eric Carle.

Eric Carle's art is distinctive and instantly recognizable. His artwork is created in collage technique, using hand-painted papers, which he cuts and layers to form bright and colourful images. Carle attempts to make his books not only entertaining but also to offer his readers the opportunity to learn something about the world around them. When writing, Carle attempts to recognize children's feelings, inquisitiveness and creativity, as well as stimulate their intellectual growth. [In his own words] I believe that children are naturally creative and eager to learn. I want to show them that learning is really both fascinating and fun.

To make each piece of fruit puff up slightly, I outlined it on the inner border by traveled one way horizontally over the top half of the fruits and retreating in the other direction over the bottom half of the fruits. I transitioned from one piece of fruit to the next in a straight line connecting the holes, much like the same direct path a caterpillar would take munching his way through.

I used the same technique with the larger snacks of the outer border, even detouring a bit to capture that itty-bitty caterpillar between the cupcake and the watermelon wedge and to encircle the tip that broke off the bottom of the ice cream cone. Hope it does not drip too much.

For the in-between, semi-solid borders, I wanted to imitate the shape of an inching caterpillar. I quilted a wave using the deeper side, 1.5" peak to peak, of a Handi Quilter HQ Wave F Template ruler, using selected variegated King Tut thread in a heavier, 40 weight 3-ply. I usually use a 50 weight 3-ply thread by Essentials Threads which is presumably lighter but, to me, not noticeable so. But I wanted to try the suggestions of others to make the quilt lines more prominent.

In the orange space I concentrated on centering the wave shape within the seam lines using King Tut #929 named Chariot of Fire. In the green space, I spaced each wave equidistant from the seam lines with King Tut #923 named Fahl Green. Each has a different look and I do not have a strong preference. That they are not the same, is a moot point. As much as I pondered over my thread choice – variegated and heavier weight – the double wavy lines are only slightly visible and then solely when one is looking for them.

In the space surrounding the three central panel leaf, butterfly, and caterpillar motifs, (full of circles, perhaps being the holes from the fruits and snacks) I avoiding adding more quilting circles. Instead I used horizontal and vertical free-from waves in a multicolored thread King Tut #921 named Cleopatra.

It was less arduous than the precision required of the wave templates and I liked the carefree look. The following photo is a closeup.

King Tut thread is made from 3-ply extra-long staple Egyptian-grown cotton. I find it a clever sales tactic that the thread names all have an Egyptian flair to them. The three I used were called Cleopatra, Fahl Green, and Chariot of Fire. 

Fahl is an Egyptian clover written in Arabic as (فحل) F and scientifically called Trifolium alexandrinum. Coincidentally, the quilter Alex Anderson is a spokesperson for this thread. From the fact sheet for Eqyptian clover I learned

Egyptian clover is a winter and spring annual, grown on nearly four million acres as a winter forage or green manure crop, usually preceding cotton or summer vegetables. Most modern day Egyptian clover varieties can be traced to one of the Egyptian landraces: Miscawi, Saidi, or Fahl, representing the three general types of Egyptian clover, based on stem branching. Miscawi is a basal or crown branching type that can be cut five or six times during its growing season. Fahl is a stem branching type that can be cut only once. Saidi is both basal and stem branching and can be cut two to three times during the growing season.

I needed to add some minimal quilting to the caterpillar, butterfly, and leaf motifs. I did not want to flatten them out too much but they need some level of stitching. The stitching pattern for the caterpillar and butterfly was pretty obvious; I followed the lines within the butterfly's wings and within the caterpillar's body. I quilted along the wings of the butterfly with the multicolor 40 wt King Tut variegated cotton thread titled Cleopatra - an appropriate name for a fancy butterfly in my opinion. For the reticulated body of the caterpillar I used the variegated King Tut in Fahl Green.

I would use the same variegated Fahl Green for the leaf also. The leaf had few lines other than the central spine to serve as inspiration and guidance so I had left it for last until an idea came to me. Then the light bulb went off in my mind. Quilted feathers have a spine so why not use the leaf spine for a feather spine? I like the feather style in the book Hooked on Feathers by Sally Terry since there is no backtracking. To me, backtracking with variegated thread is not very attractive. I drew the design first on plastic, practicing the movement, and then stitched it onto the leaf of the quilt.

For the square corner blocks I used the same wavy checkerboard pattern I had in the central panel. For the small purple squares I stuck with the multi-color Cleopatra. The 4" square corner blocks were a small enough area I did not change to a variegated purple thread. Not matching the purple assured the stitching shows up better than the waves did on the long sashing strips. I suspect I am getting braver – I am allowing my FMQ to show!

I reverted back to white thread on the four larger alphabet corner blocks and repeated the wavy lines in orthogonal directions. The letters and numbers are kind of helter-skelter so I like that the quilting lines repeat the feeling. Now all that remains is the title, label, and binding; then this quilt for the soon-to-turn-two grandson will be complete. Afterward there remains a second caterpillar quilt for the older, soon-to-turn-five grandson.