So maybe you saw my Happy-Mail video the other day when I opened a package in my car and was just tickled pink to have gotten a copy of Tracey Russell’s newest book Free Motion Quilting 101.. I promised a more in-depth review and here it is!
Tracey’s book is a well done, self-published look at her innovative free motion quilting design work in action! Check it out here at her website.
100 pages and motifs of quilting instruction that will knock your socks off.
This book is a direct riff off of her very popular daily Youtube series where you can see these designs in action. The book adds to this by giving you something to trace, study and use to increase your muscle memory as you work your way through the options. Check out one of her fun and helpful videos right here!
As for the book. This is a very well done print job, with both a nice spiral bind as well as good heavy paper and excellent color and print quality. Plenty of room on each page for you make some notes and the illustrations are large enough so you can really understand how the motif in constructed.
Best yet I have one to give away!.. Drop a comment below telling me the most difficult part of free motion quilting for you and you will be in the hat for a chance at your very own copy of Free Motion Quilting 101 by Tracery Russell!
Consistent stitch length. If I am not going to get a new machine I know the answer is practice, practice, practice. I guess I want to time to do that practice.
FMQ takes time and patience to become good. I’ve spent hours tracing patterns, working those tired brain muscles, looking through magazines and drooling at all the beautiful stitching asking myself “Why can’t I do this?” On a practice piece I spend at least a ½ hour warming up my fingers, doing some deep breathing exercises and stretches to relax my neck and back. I then put my quilt on the machine ready to give it a try. I’m envisioning beautiful feathers and swirls all over my quilt but instead my stitching looks like an earthquake just happened. HELP.. I need a good book, with good instructions & pictures.
The hardest part of FMQ for me (and I’m VERY new to it) is being smooth with my movements. I’m getting better at modulating my speed but I tend to be a bit herky-jerky. Practice Practice Practice!!!
I have had my Sweet Sixteen quilter for 2.5 years and have yet to quilt the first thing on it! I am afraid of it!! Really, though, I don’t know which design to use and cannot decide what to use where! I hate ripping out stitches so badly!! I need help!!! LOL! Most people hate cutting out and piecing quilts but I love that part. I have a gorgeous quilt all basted and ready to quilt and am afraid to start it!! Been folded up for two years, just WAITING!!!
I have more of a problem with the different weights of thread and using a different color of thread in the top and bobbin and having the bobbin thread show on the top!
I’ve just started machine quilting on my home sewingmachine for about a year now…and have now purchased a longarm and finished my first quilt on it….NOT anything to brag about….lol….I need help coming up with designs….I love Tracey’s youtube videos.
Keeping the scale consistent is the hardest part for me, especially when i stop and start back agin the next day.
I’m having trouble with coming up with simple ideas. Everyone wants custom quilting, but they don’t want to pay for it. Tracey’s designs are perfect. She gives you the basics and you can modify the design to make it fit your needs. They are fast and easy to do.
Love the freedom free-motion gives, just learning & being left handed makes me have to really work to get that left to right flow without jerky motion. Love the whirls& swirls as they tend to meander both ways
I continue to struggle with visibility …..it is hard to navigate and see where I am going at times. Maybe if I had a long arm and could stand …. that would be a dream wish come true!!
Coming up with a design to fill a space is difficult for me. I’ve been following Tracey on Facebook, and am amazed at all the designs she has come up with! I would love to have her book!
whats not difficult I just can’t seem to wrap my head around it, however I know I need to spend more time really sitting down and watching videos and just practicing….its the one thing holding back my quilting.
The most difficult part for me is deciding on a design, then keeping it flowing without getting too directional or dense.
I just recently found Tracey’s videos on YouTube…and love watching them while walking on the treadmill.
I have been watching her videos, they are great. I would love to get this book.
My most difficult part of quilting is getting started, I can come up with a plan but getting in there… Once I get going I’m pleased with how it looks. I quilt on my domestic sewing machine and have so much fun. Thanks for the giveaway, I’m excited to look thru this book!
hardest is getting started. i’ve seen hundreds of ideas over the years but they are scattered in my brain and never completely remembered when i need them so i just don’t feel confident.
Keeping everything the same size and not getting into a corner.
I find figuring out the right pattern to use is my biggest challenge
The most difficult part of the longarm process for me is the design and vision of the finished design.
Quilting in manual mode with out the stitch regulator on. It is noisy and it does not feel as smooth. Yet when I try to stitch in manual mode, I have trouble keeping my stitches even and getting a smooth rhythm going.
Thank you for the chance to win the book. I love Tracey’s videos.
I don’t have a long arm but I think the most difficult part of free motion quilting for me was learning to stitch out a nice round curve or circle, once I had that mastered I found feathers a lot easier to learn.
I am incapable of backtracking perfectly! Which makes some patterns such as feathers a challenge.
Coming up with a quilting design plan is hard. I need more practice!
Hardest part for me is that after a few designs are chosen, making them play nicely and be equidistant for evenness of loft. I hate quilts that are so quilted you can stand them in a corner.
I struggle with moving the machine in a smooth line…I am probably the only one who notices my herky jerky lines and I am pretty sure it’s muscle memory and strength!
Stopping the stitch line and anchoring the thread!
Biggest challenges are figuring out a design and wobbly lines.
I don’t have a long arm (yet!) so manipulating all that quilt on my sewing table drags me down!
Honestly, getting up the nerve to start. It’s intimidating to think about taking that plunge after all the work of piecing and basting, etc. The book might well make that a bit less daunting. Thanks!
The hardest part after finally learning to do feathers is figuring out what to quilt every time! I love watching Tracey’s videos everyday!!!!
The most difficult part for me is travelling across the quilt without losing the design plan. I have watched many of Tracey’s videos and she is fantastic with her instructions.
I am just trying to learn new designs. I see designs everywhere…the time to try them is another story!
Trying to decide on a design to use. Thanks for a chance to win.
I haven’t try free motion quilting yet. Tracey’s work is so inspiring. She makes it look so easy that I need to try it. Very talented lady.
Hardest part is deciding which design elements to put together .. I love Tracy’s designs.. 🙂
Just getting back to quilting and the hardest part for me is how to quilt the top. What design should I use…what will compliment my top. I follow Tracy and love that she is sharing designs on the long arm machine.
I have trouble coming up with what design to to put in the area I am working with. This book would be a big help in making those decisions. Thank you for the giveaway.
my biggest issue on my domestic machine is regulating the stitching speed and thus my stitch length. I practice and practice, but I can not get consistency!!
I think for me it is deciding what to quilt, I do a lot of standing and staring at the quilt top trying to decide what will look good.
The most difficult part for me is basting the quilt sandwich so that I can FMQ without puckers on the back. This looks like a great resource–any book that is spiral-bound wins my approval!
I have to agree that just getting started is the hardest. I’ll procrastinate about loading then stare at it (or more accurately, avoid the whole room). Practice will get me over this. Think it may be time to start quilting some donation quilts!
For me, it’s a P.I.A. to free motion on my DSM. I used to have a frame for the DSM and that made free motion quilting feel like flying… wonderful. I just do not like pushing fabric under the needle. 🙁
I have been following Tracey from about design #105 through the 200 & current 300 series. She makes long arming very user friendly. Remember to doodle EVERY day!!
Freehand is all that I do, listento a good book and go for it. But am always looking for new designs to add, so am always watching Traceys vidios for new ideas.
Once I stopped breaking needles – about 14, then I was out of needles for the day, LOL – I would make lovely swirls and swishes, then realize I was hemming myself in. I would panic. Like PANIC!! I couldn’t stop though. My hands kept moving. My foot kept pushing the pedal. There was nowhere left to sew! I had to throw myself backward to make it stop. Out of breath. Out of my mind. I’m trying to learn to follow a path to avoid the free motion panic attack. I can’t even cross my fingers for luck because I need them to guide the fabric, sighs. I need help.
Oh to have even, smooth stitches. Yep more practice is what it should take. I am not yet in to the fancy designs but I do want the easy FMQ I do to look smooth and even and the right tension.
I also have trouble deciding on a pattern to fit a space.
I can free motion BUT coming up with original designs is where I really fall in a heap, I’ve been following the videos that Tracey does which I might add are fantastic! I would dearly love my own copy of her book for guidance to sit right beside me and keep me company encouraging my brain to function using BOTH sides!
Deciding what to quilt is the most difficult part for me. I am a new longarm quilter…working on my 3rd quilt…..but I want each one unique. I love tracey’s work.
Will my customer like it?
One of the hardest things is to loosen up and trust that I can freehand! More doodle time would help.
The hardest part for me is deciding what design to do.
I just started playing with FMQ and I have been terrified I’ll get “lost” but I think I have over come that fear on the small pieces I’ve done and am looking forward to working on some larger pieces very soon! I definitely will follow her on YouTube..